WOMAN’S MASQUERADE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 102, 30 March 1929, Page 9

WOMAN’S MASQUERADE.

“CAPTAIN” BARKER ON TRIAL. DRAMATIC COURT SCENE. (Australian Press Association.) LONDON, March 27. There was a dramatic scene in the Marylebone Police Court to-day when “Captain” Barker, the masquerader, who i scharged with perjury, was brought face-to-face with Miss Haward, the young lady the “captain” allegedly married. . _ , Although obviously distressed, Barker succeeded in keeping calm until Miss Haward was called into the witnessbox. Then she almost collapsed and endeavoured to hide her head in a large neck fur—the only truly feminine touch in her attire. Barker became seibed with a fit of anguish, shook violently and burst into tears. The magistrate asked her to raise her head in order that Miss Haward might recognise her. “No,” Barker pleaded. The magistrate insisted, and the accused raised her face, and the eyes of the pair, met. “That was my husband,” said Miss Haward.

It is not difficult to realise how the masquerade was successful. Barker stood head and shoulders above everyone in the packed court. Taller and broader than any policeman present, she seemed strangely out of place in female garments, even though they wore of a distinctly mannish mode. At the conclusion of to-day’s hearing Barker fainted.