Adventures of a King’s Courier

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12513, 31 July 1926, Page 11

Adventures of a King’s Courier

I MR. CLAUDE KNIGHT’S FATE |

§ eiiiiiiiniiiiaiiitiiiiniicsiliiiEfiiiiiciiiimHiiiKiimmnniulniimiitiE THE romantic career of Mr Claude H. Knight, a former King's Messenger tor the Dritisn -Legation in Mexico (whose body was found recontiy in a. suburb of Mexico City with a bullet wound in the forehead), was ended, it appears, by suicide, not by murder as many of his friends supposed. After a conference with the police his brother, Mr John Dare Knight, express'*! the opinion that lie had shot himself. Mr Claude Knight had been without employment for somo time. He hail evidently sought to conceal his identity, for ho left a note signed “Charles Jones” requesting that he should, he buried immediately in Guadalupe, which is outside the jurisdiction of Mexico City, where he was w cll-kno wn. I Mr Knight acted os Kind’s Messenger for somo years, and he had an adventurous record. He was held up by bandits more often than any olher man in Mexico. No attempt to relieve him of his diplomatic pouch ever succeeded. On one occasion brigands

ordered him out of a Pullman coach and demanded th© pouch. Mr Knight drew liis revolver and declared that he would kdl himself or b© killed before he his foot off th© pouch containing “His Britannic Majesty’s correspondence.” He was allowed to proceed. Mr Knight was noted for the help ho extended to women travelling alone. British and American women often waited many days in order to bo on the with him. ~ uimimmmmmtmmiimimiiiiimißimi