TELLING FORTUNES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16669, 13 October 1917, Page 8

TELLING FORTUNES.

WOMAN SENT TO GAOL

"INTERESTING, BUT. HUMBUGGING." i A sprightly . well-dressed J middle-aged woman ■ named j Ella; L Hart, better ' known as! Madame Eller, of Ponsonby Road, was. charged in the, Police " Court ■ yesterday ' before Mr. -P.. V. Frazer,S.M., with tolling fortunes, v V - ,v \<\'/' ; v'?,' When asked', to plead, defendant said she pas a' palmist, but not at fortunetoller. However, sba admitted foretelling ' the future. r ~.„" ........ ax "i .Chief-Detective / McMahon said that defendant was one of a class of women who had,been preying oil; the servant girls of this city for many years past. Domestics only got small wages, said Mr. McMahon, but this made no difference to women like defendant, who took what they could get. Since the war they had pretended to givo information as to soldiers at the front. The police matron -..and assistant matron visited defendant at' her "consulting rooms," and were told how long they would live. ■'"'"■ ''; ', Defendant (interrupting); I did nothing of the kind. I only said whether their lives would be long or short, and I nover gave dates. . . ,• - .' Mr/McMahon said 'that both' matrons visited Madame, who interviewed them separately! • -To Miss Campbell, the assisant matron, she said, " You will live until you aro about 65 or 70 years, but I cannot say for sure. You will marry, but you will have a disappointment first. "An admirer of yours is going to die or meet with an injury that will prevent you marrying him. Do yon suffer from indigestion ?" . Miss Campbell replied in the negative, whereupon Madame continued, "Well you will, later on.; You would do well in business, as you : hs.ve plenty 01 brains. A relative J of yours is going to receive an injury to i his head." . . •-. She then asked if I Miss Campbell would like to ask a question, and Miss Campbell said, "Will my brother return from the.war!" Defendant i replied, " Yes that is the relative;!, spoke I of. He will he wounded in the heaq, I will not sav he will be. mad, but it will 'be a wound, that will cause brain fever." Defendant also' said Miss Campbell would I be very well off, that she was artistic and I would make a. good milliner, and that she ! could be persuaded, but never driven. [ Miss Campbell , paid 2s 6d and left. j ) With respect to the police matron, Mrs. Mackle, defendant said she was very 1 I artistic; would make a gorfd milliner,' and ! could arrange, flowers beautifully. She went on to say, "You would be out of place among the < sordid. '. . /-You are slow to make friends, but when yon make them you keep them. v After asking what was -her- birth month and receiving the reply "September." defendant said, "You would make a good detective, and be quick ' at finding "things lost or hidden. . .- . You are very-even tempered, but when

you ; are put out . you will say just what you thins. You will marry again, and I go a long sea journey." Mrs. Mackle also 1 paid 2s 6d. v "-."'V- -v- ."! ■■■■' ;''. ■ ? - V-u''.; ?.- Mr. Frazer, to defendant: 'How do you justify these statements? • '-'?. '4.- ; Defendant: Simply by. the lines of the hand.l did -not say her brother, but a relative. : She said, " Would it be my brother and I said it might be. It is done simply by the lines, you see. - Mr. Fraaer: Ido not see, ■..'." * .''.Defendant said she had been here four months, and Iprior to that was in England, and had given readings in a Judge's house in Leeds. She' had also entertained a I party ;of" ; celebrities /at the house of v a J member of Parliament., ;* v •/•.•-..' j Mr. Frazer: -Entertain, yes; bit .not j foretell the ; future for money. I have reen people > read tea leaves and other ffilly - things. How can you [ say' from the 'hand that a man is going^to'have his head ; injured? ; ;i, '-"">,;■' "':■""'' v ~JA% : --'-, Defendant :f Simply ; the lines. v I follow what the, books Bay. Things I have said have come true in the past.' A death I; foretold happened 18 months, afterwards' and I ; have also actually foretold illness and other things. j, - % ]"t l >7'"' ," 'K , I fj!Mr. Frazer: Yes; I suppose some things are bound to come, some time.'Very interesting, no doubt, but quite humbugging. 4 : Fourteen days' hard labour. - >■' ■ ■■•-£. similar charge against a Mrs. Richards was adjourned for a week.' 3 -/ ■, ■.■ .?-■.,■:.!.!,■>■■.:■■■"■-'■■-- -■ -'■ ■ ■■■-• l "- - . \