A SQELCHED SENSATION.

NZ Truth, Issue 120, 5 October 1907, Page 4

A SQELCHED SENSATION.

FACTORY GIRLS IN A FRENZY.

A Case of What Might Have Been.

" What Would ' Truth • Say of It !"

History would, be quite different if events which might have come off had not been prevented from eventuating by some untoward circumstance. In this category may be placed an abortive adventure m Wellington, which had enough striking features about it as to rival even the Opunake tarring and feathering case. The individual m this narticulas case had been carting his bit of skirt out with loving solicitude for a period of two years, when one day, without the slightest warning of any kind, he failed to keep an appointment, and the incensed female found subsequently that he had been out with another cat. The bloke might have given notice of his intended desertion, especially after two years of undeviating devotion and the girl friends of the disconsolate bit , of skirt HELD AN INDIGNATION MEETING co consider matters. They work m two Wellington factories, and there are a large number of them. Various measures of aggression against the unfaithful bloke were suggested and rejected, and finally it was resolved to follow the scoundrel and his new girl to their loving lair on the first evening when it occurred to them to go out. The party of avenging girls would nrobably be forty strong, and against this regiment of Amazons the erring swain would have, no chance. It was further resolved that he should be stripped of his clothing and thrashed ; that his donah's garments should also be removed, but that she should escape corporal punishment :

and that the man should be dressed up m the girl's clothes and the girl habited m the male person's duds and that they should be driven into the open light and be left to entertain the passers-by, who would probably follow them, no matter where they went to effect a change. An alternative to this was that the clothes of the pair should be taken away altogether, and that they should be left to find their homes m the guise of Adam and Eve, clothed solely m a blush of self-conscious-ness. However, the party intended to be guided by circumstanses. Now, the dishonored voune - man had a pal who was a particular cobber of the factory -girls, and he got to hear of it. He is

A DIPLOMATIC YOUNG MAN, and fealty to his mate induced him to exercise his diplomacy. He got the most indignant of the Amazonian ringleaders together, and made several representations to them. What, for instance, would John Norton's "Truth" have to say about it; what about their employment and the reputation of their families when their names were blazoned forth to the world ? Besides, how could they blame the girl ; she didn't know anything about the deserter's two years' attachment to the other tart ? (It is an extraordinary fact that women always blame the woman m these affairs.) Besides, Court proceedings were sure to be instituted, and the prospective PERPETRATORS OF THE OUTRAGE couldn't afford to leave work to attend the tribunal, nor to pay the possible fine, nor to go to gaol if it came before the Supreme Court. This astute pal of the delinquent painted the consequences m their most gruesome light, and so appalled the ringleaders, that after a hasty consultation the word was passed around, and no a.dventure took place. The faithless lover was quite ignorant of the fate he had escaped, and when informed by his pal he almost fell on his knees m gratitude. "But what a sensation it would have been for Johnny Norton's "Truth" !" remarked the pal to a casual stranger, whom he didn't know, was on the staff of "Truth."