KLEPTOMANIA KINK?

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 October 1931, Page 9

KLEPTOMANIA KINK?

A “SPLENDID SERVANT”

LONDON, September 7. “She is a splendid servant —most capable and willing, but I have come to the conclusion that there must be some kleptomania kink,” said Mrs. Walton Nagel, of Haverstock-hill, Hampstead, concerning Florence Pulling, 34, general servant, of- High-road Chiswick, who pleaded guilty at Marylebone on Saturday, to stealing jewellery valued at £25 over a period of three months from her mistress’s house.

Mrs. Nagel said that the accused entered her service in September last under suspicion of having stolen from her previous situation. She was so capable that when witness went to India for about four months she left her in sole charge of the household. When she returned she learned that accused had tried to put down her own accounts in witness’s name. Pulling confessed that she had taken money from the pocket of witness’s son-in-law. A quantity of clothing was also missed. Witness spoke to accused several times, and implored her to keep straight. She vowed that she would. There was rio need for her to steal. The Rev. C. H. Kew said that the accused’s husband had been in an infirmary for a long time, and six children at Ashford Residential School of which he had been chaplain. She was a devoted mother and a hard worker, and was most anxious for the welfare of her children, husband and sick sister. He thought that she had lapsed under the strain of anxiety. Mrs. Nagel had engaged the accused although she was under suspicion. Was it right, therefore, for her to go to India leaving her in charge of the house ? The magistrate (Mr. Bingley) said that the accused had committed a serious breach of trust, and sentenced her to two months in the second division.