FOUND DROWNED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 125, 30 May 1938, Page 7

FOUND DROWNED.

CINEMA CASHIER. WAS IN DANCE FROCK. i MYSTERY WOMAN IN BLACK. I ___^ LONDON, May 12. Florence Beatrice Pettman, 24-year-old cinema cashier, found drowned in a dance frock on the foreshore of Gravesend, was afraid of a woman in black i who had come between her and a boy. At the inquest at Gravesend Madeline Hooker, of Waterloo Avenue, Gravesend. the second cashier, said: "On Monday Miss Pettman (she lived at Clifton Grove. Gravesend) came to work with her eyes all red as though *ihe had been crying. "I asked what was wrong and -he put her arm round my neck and said: 'You wouldn't understand.' "She then told me a brut a woman in black who had interfered between her and a boy. She seemed afraid of her. "She asked me if I would go to the woman's house if she found "Ht "here {she lived. She <?aid she lived at North- ! fleet, but did not know which mad. "Miss Pettmaii said the woman in black w.i< middle aped and that I knew ! her. but I cannot recall her." MNs Hooker added that -Miss I'ottinaii a!-(» told her that s-he met a man named George King last X-vnnber. He had come home from abroad and lived at North fleet. She said he wa-s J jioli.-einan. thai lie was tall, tanned, dark and pnt>d-lu«>kin;.'. ', The Coroner: Had »he any rea-i.:; to 'be afraid of her? —I cannot siiy. Fur the last two weeks she had seemed worried. Were you surprised when M:s-« P-tt-man was found in the riser'. - —Yes, because she seemed so happy again. Detective-Sergeant Wag«taff said n«i one appeared to have seen Mi~s PetTimn after she had left home to go to the dance, and added: — "I have traced a policeman named King who used to be in the Kent force at SittinjiWurne. He it'xigned i'i !'■'■;<• uud went to the Malay States. H- lias not been home since. '"I have been tumble to trace 'he woman in hlack and have als.. been unable to find the coat Mis< lVum.iii was wearing when she left home."' He did not think there was any foul play. The coroner recorded a verdict of "Found drowned.' , and said there wa* no evidence that she had committed suicide.