STOWAWAY CAUGHT

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28728, 28 October 1958, Page 11

STOWAWAY CAUGHT

Two-Way Trip On Liner NEW YORK. October 26. William R. McAteer, of la verpool. who was arrested by Federal agents last night on a charge of having stowed away on the liner Britannic, was believed to be a brother of the British boxer, Pat McAteer, a Cunard Line spokesman said today. Immigration officials said William McAteer, aged 28, probably would have successfully completed a two-way voyage had it not been for a New York police investigation of a murder. The officials said McAteer, a New York resident, had stowed away in the Britannic when it left New York on October 3 by mingling with the passengers. He had eaten by taking food when it was served to deck passengers and slept in deck chairs and in toilets. He had walked off undetected when the ship docked at Liverpool and visited his wife and children there. After visiting his family, McAteer had boarded the Britannic on the day before it sailed and reached New York undetected. He had walked off the ship when it docked last night and had gone to his car, which he left parked near the pier during his three weeks’ absence, they said. Unfortunately for McAteer, police were checking all cars in the area in the course of their investigation of the murder. A trunk, containing a man’s body, had been pushed into the Hudson river between the Cunard and French Line piers. Detectives returned McAteer to the ship for .questioning by immigration officials, who later scheduled a special board of inquiry for tomorrow because of McAteer’s status as a resident of the United States. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation then arrested him on a charge of violating the Federal Stowaway Act

Persona] Investigation.—From the East Midlands Electricity Journal: If you tell a man that there are 270,678,943,141 stars in the universe he will believe you, but if a sign says “wet paint” he has to make a personal investigation.—London. October 27.