STRANGE AS FICTION

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3374, 6 October 1931, Page 2

STRANGE AS FICTION

NOVELIST’S DAUGHTER ROBBED. THEFTS AT LEISURE. The only daughter of Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, the author of “The Prisoner of Zenda,” has recently been the victim of a crime as strange as any adventure in the pages of her father’s romantic fiction. Sir Anthony’s daughter is Mrs. James E. Minoprio, who, with her husband, left her town house in Victoria Square, Westminster, a few weeks ago to go on a yachting cruise. The servants also went on holiday. The house was shut.

Then two men went to this house in the quiet square near Buckingham Palace. They entered, chose their bedrooms, and* made the house their home for some days. Victoria Square saw nothing. Leisurely every article in the house was examined and appraised by the two men. They liked the wine.

Mr. Minoprio’s wardrobe was found good, and all his trousers were packed in the best trunks left in the house. Some jackets were left — apparently not fitting well about the shouldei".

A large section of Mrs. Minoprio’s* clothes was chosen, some of her finest jewellery was packed, and then the trunks were full.

The next morning one man called a taxicab. The other stood by hatless, smiling and at ease —the perfect picture of a host parting with his guest. The luggage was stowed carefully in the cab. Victoria Square said nothing. The servants returned to the looted house, but Mr. and Mrs. Minoprio, when the last mail left, were still somewhere at sea, unaware of the drama enacted in their home.