RUSE TO GAIN MONEY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 104, 2 April 1929, Page 11

RUSE TO GAIN MONEY.

VISITORS TO ABBEY DUPED. “STARVING” MAN’S SHAM FITS. The authorities at Westminster Abbey have been troubled by several forms of trickery lately. While visitors were gathered about the grave of the Unknown Warrior the other day a man collapsed in what appeared to be a fit. . A woman with him tearfully informed the sympathetic visitors that lie was an ex-serviceman, and her husband, and that as he was out of work they were both starving. In a few seconds she had collected a fair sum of money and the man had recovered. Next day the scene was repeated; but after it had been performed a third time the vergers told the pair that the Abbey was not the place for its enactment. Another trick., is the familiar attempt to obtain money from the offering. This is usually made by women, who plead that they have inadvertently contributed to the collection more than they can afford, and suggest that a certain amount be “refunded.” The vergers also continually receive requests from people, who declare that they have lost tlieir purses and have no money for their fare home. Most of them apparently live a very long way from London.