SINGER ORDERED FOR DEPORTATION

Evening Star, Issue 17536, 16 December 1920, Page 12

SINGER ORDERED FOR DEPORTATION

ON ACCOUNT OF BOLSHEVIK LEANINGS. Adding a recommendation for deportation, the Magistrate at West London sentenced the well-known singer; Madame Tosti, to six weeks’ imprisonment for breaches of the Alien Restriction Regulations. There was much mystery concerning the earlier stages of the ease, when accused. Floriane de Gretorieff alias Teresa Tosti, 63, described as a Pole-Ukraine, living at Talgarth Mansions, West Kensington, was charged with failing as an alien, to furnish the necessary particulars as regards residence, etc. She called’ at Hammersmith to complain about the landlady, and admitted that she had not registered within two months of entering the country. She was further charged with failing to supply certain particulars to a keeper ot a lodging-house as required under the Act. Mrs May, the wife of a Civil servant, living at Talgarth Mansions, declared that in response to an advertisement defendant took a loom there, but refused to sign the aliens’ .re'-isfration form. Mr, Pike (cross-examining); You objected to this iady because of her rather eccentric habits?—l objected to her having men in her room at night. Do you know she is writing a book?— No, I do not. And that a gentleman visited her in connection with that?—l only know that men used to _ creep in and out of her bedroom window in the early hours of the morning. Really! she is 63. Do you suggest anything against her morals?—l don’t care if she is 163. I object to that kind of thing at 3 a.m. When the case came before the magistrate Bolshevik and anti-English tendencies were alleged against her. Mr Barker, for the police, stated that there was an order that accused should-not be allowed to land in this coustry, but for some reason that prohibition was withdrawn. There was no question of her Bolshevik tendencies, and he was in a position “to show that she was of German parentage. ■ He was instructed to ask for an order of deportation. The Magistrate: The real point I have tried to discover is whether the police suggest that she deliberately broke these regulations or acted innocently, and whether she is regarded as an ill-disposed person. There seems to have been some reluctance to disclose all the facts of the case. Mr Barker: Oh, no, sir; I will take the Court entirely into my confidence as well as I can. As a matter of fact the authorities did not know that this woman had landed until the reports of the earlier proceedings of the case, appeared in the papers. Station-sergeant Sticklaud, of Hanunersmth, who arrested accused, deposed that in his hearing she had given utterances to denunciations of the police and the country generally. He heard her say: “ The daywill come when policemen and police courts will bo abolished. It is a shame that the police are in the streets to protect the rich.” For the defence, Mr G. H. Bennett, stated that it was at his suggestion defendant came over from Paris on a legal matter connected with the estate of her grandfather. He believed the lady was born in Germany of an English mother, and that she married a Russian prince. Dr Alfred Buslien, avocat at Berne and Paris, explained that he first came in contact with defendant in 1917, when he defended her in Switzerland on a charge brought against her by the military authorities. *

Mr Pike (defending): Is she engaged in political propaganda ?■—Oh, no. You are positive about that?— Yes. Has she displayed Bolshevik tendencies or ill-will towards this country?— No. Defendant: Au contraire, j’adore Angletsrre. You know she is Madame Tosti, a famous singer?— Yes. Her husband is in Paris?— Yes; they are people of good repute, moving in good circles. The Magistrate observed that after hearing all the statements he came to the conclusion that defendant deliberately intended to break the regulations. She would be sentenced on each charge.to six weeks’ imprisonment as a first-class misdemeanant, the sentences to run concurrently, and there would also be a recommendation for deportation. On hearing the sentences defendant, who was sitting behind her solicitor, sank hack in a chair, put her hand to her forehead, and showed signs of great distress. She had to be assisted from the court.