GIRL’S LIFE AS A MAN.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 242, 26 September 1922, Page 6

GIRL’S LIFE AS A MAN.

LEADER OF GANG OF ROUGHS. New’ York, August 9 The astonishing career of a twenty-five-year girl, Florence Gray, who lived for nearly eight years as a man. is described in dispatches from Philadelphia. The girl, who is the daughter of a lawyer, adopted’male attire after she had worn treusers on r> rummer yachting trip. As “John McConnel” she obtained a situation as driver of a five-ton motor lorry. After she had been promoted the position of “foreman” she became the leader of a gang of roughs known as the “Iron Gang,” and she kept the members of the gang in order with her fists, earning the sobriquet of “Battling Kid McConnel.” Later she became a breaker of hearts, and was “engaged” to various girls in quick succession. She also earned fame Hy swimming the Delaware river, and for some time she added variety to her existence by joining some w’omen in a trapeze act — still in the guise of a man. Yesterday she was met on the street by a former member of the “Iron Gang,” who, catching her unawares, knocked her senseless with a blow in the face. The police then discovered that “Battling Kid” was a girl.