STARVING NOBLEMAN

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 10510, 14 February 1928, Page 3

STARVING NOBLEMAN

RUSSIAN COUNT’S POVERTY

LIKE IN A BEACH HOVEL

A Russian count lias been sharing a hovel on the foreshores of Carrington beach, New South Wales with a number of down-and-out sailors.

The appalling condition of some ol the sailors who have been paid otr from their ships at Newcastle was revealed last week when a stabbing affray attracted attention to the beach-combers at Carrington (says a Sydney paper). In the hollows in the sand, in disused pipes, and even under worn-out coal trucks, these men uf the sea exist.

In the daytime they collect food wherever it is offering. Sometimes they are supplied by brother seamen from ships ui port, and, occasionally they do odd jobs lor a lew shillings ; but every night, wet or fine, they huddle in their bleak resting places, using old newspapers for a covering until another dawn breaks. . Known to his mates as “Stiff,v.” Count Kherson, a Russian aristocrat, experienced tlie pangs of hunger and the miseries of the long nights in a hole in the sand.

Nobody knew “Stilly’s” real name until a few days ago, when lie confided it to a companion in distress. “Stitfy” had found a ship and ivaleaving port that mglit. lie produced papers to prove liis identity. During the war “Stitfy” served with a crack British regiment, was three times wounded, and, lor conspicuous bravery, was decorated by the King. He went to England before the war, but a desire to again reach his homeland forced him into a merchant ship when hostilities ceased. Three months ago ho came to Newcastle, was influenced by his companions to leave his ships in a search for shore work, failed miserably, ana had lived on starvation rations ever since.