THE REMARKABLE CASE OF MR LEVY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 8125, 23 March 1887, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE REMARKABLE CASE OF MR LEVY.

WELLINGTON, Mabch 3. Alfred Lipman Levy, erstwhile Secretary to the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Temperance Alliance, whose mysterious disappearance occasioned a great deal of comment at the time, was a passenger from Sydney by the Wakatipu last night, having been absent eight months. I interviewed him this morning, but as he is disinclined to make public many of the particulars of his extraordinary case, I am unable to send you much information concerning him. _He informs me that he does not recollect going on board the vessel which took him to Australia, and has not the slightest recollection of anything which transpired between that time and ten days, ago, when he found himself at the house of his brother-in-law in Sydney. This statement gives colour to a report current in Wellington a little time ago, that he was an inmate of a lunatic asylum in New South Wales. He has no recollection of being in Melbourne, and does not believe he was ever out of Sydney. In regard to the statement -that he went over to Sydney with a girl named Ohlsen, who was for some time housekeeper to a well - known resident, he states that she went to Christchurch three weeks before he disappeared, and in proof of this he says his wife re-, oeived a letter from him before he left. Since his return he has been told about the letter which his wife received six months ago, bearing the Newcastle postmark. He believes he wrote it, but has no recollection of having written it. Levy looks remarkably well, but states that he is three stone lighter than when he disappeared. The following are extracts from an interview with Mr Levy:—While giving an absolute denial to the statements and accusations made in connection with his leaving Wellington suddenly, he freely alluded to the occurrence, but declined to give a detailed explanation of what occurred until after consultation with a friend, whose advice he considered necessary, as it was possible legal proceedings might arise out of the affair, and ill-advised publications of certain particulars would perhaps militate against his case. “ Firstly then,” said Mr Levy, “ I deny emphatically that I went away with any girl, or anything of that kind. There is not a word of truth in that statement. ‘ The girl, whose name was connected with mine in this unwarrantable way, left for Christchurch for a reason of her own a month before. She was a friend of my wife’s, and before getting her a situation at the Central Hotel she lived with us a week or ten days. I had known her from childhood, and she and my children were brought up together at Waikouaiti. Then, again, what reason had I to bolt? I was not in debt, my accounts were all right, and I was as happy as a man could be in his home. All I have to say of my going away is that I know nothing about it, and knew nothing about it till I, as it were, came to myself in Sydney last Monday week. Though asked by my brother-in-law to wait for replies from New Zealand as to whether Ihad better come back here or not, I said I would go home at once. I had nothing to be afraid of. How do I account for my going away ? Well, I was under some strong influence, of what kind I don’t pretend to say, and I know the fact is undesoribable, but it was only what I had been threatened with previously. After the closing of those hotels (this was alluding to the closing of the Army and Navy and the Prince of Wales Hotels), I had been warned on several occasions, but had laughed at the threats. I have no recollection of writing to my wife and mother from Sydney. I am told I did so, and what I said in the letter, but I do not remember anything about it. What I am told I said, however, oddly enough concurs with a dream, a kind of nightmare, I had constantly after receiving the threats, and since my departure. I don’t remember any detectives coming to me at Sydney. I was told they had been looking for me. Where did I go when I got to the other side, and what did I do ? Well, you may think it strange, but I cannot- tell you. I have no recollection beyond last Monday week. No, I did not call in anywhere for a temperance drink on the day I must have gone on board the steamer, so that I was not drugged in that way. The last thing I remember is being in Willis street on my way home to tea; all the rest is a blank. I was on the wharf that day, looking about a case I was interested in, in which a brother was being made to find support for his sister. The idea of my re-labelling a girl’s boxes, and all that, seeing that I was as wellknown as the town (flock, is absurd. I must have known I should be traced at once. Ido not know how I could have got on the steamer without having been seen. The whole affair is a mystery, except that I believe a certain threat was carried out against me, and I was moved by an influence which made me unaccountable for my actions. This is all I feel justified in saying at present. I know it sounds incredible and unsatisfactory, but it is the truth.”