FABRICATED STORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19832, 30 December 1927, Page 10

FABRICATED STORY.

AN IMAGINARY BURGLAR. "I LOVED A CERTAIN GIRL." a Displaying several knife wounds in the chest and on the wrist, in support of his story, Joseph Wirz, a young Swiss, 25 years of age, boarder in a house at Glebe, Sydney, told the police recently of an alleged exciting experience with an intruder shortly after 3 o'clock in the morning. vVnz said that he was asleep on the front verandah, when he was awakened by the sound of movements. On going \ to investigate, he found a man on the ' point of entering a side window. The man made off on seing Wirz, who gave chase, finally catching him in a laneway at the rear of the house. A fierce struggle ensued, during which, Wirz alleged, the man drew a knife, and Wirz received two cuts on the left side of the chest, and three on the left wrist. VVirz at length succeeded in knocking the man out Making further investigations, he found that a car had been removed from a garage, and left m the yard. A remarkable feature of the story was that Wirz then retired to bed, and nothing was known of the alleged occurrence until about 7.30 o'clock, when he told a fellow-lodger of the incident. The lodger advised him to inform the police, which he did immediately. He was later examined by a doctor who found that all tho wounds were slight, not necessitating stitching The police inquiries that were made led to an admission by Wirz that his storv was a fabrication, and that the wounds he had shown the police were self-inHicted. He said: ' It is a story 1 concocted by myself, because 1 loved a certain girl and wanted her sympathy. The cuts inflicted on my chest and arm 1 did with a safety razor blade to myself." Wirz has been in Australia three years. Hecently ha was instrumental in stopping a bolting horse, to which was attached a sulky, containing a woman and several children. He received a silver watch and H'cin from the lady as a token of her giatitude.