ONLY GIRL “TOMMY.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19349, 9 December 1924, Page 13

ONLY GIRL “TOMMY.”

CAUSES SCENE IN COURT. A dramatic intervention occurred in Court at Hastings, England, recently. The case was one in which Maud Taylor, aged 39, said to belong to Islington, was conmitted for trial on a charge of attempting to murder her six-year-old daughter Irene by trying to poison her. A woman at the back stood up and in a loud voice said: “I want to state some facts.” She was called forward, but Taylor declined to call her as a witness, and she was told she could not be heard. William Henry Sinden, with whom Tayor had lodged, said he was willing to look after the child, although he had six children of his own. 1

The woman who had previously spoken said, “The child is all right. I can see to that. There is a motive behind this. Can I give some facts now?” The Chief Constable: "We don’t want any of that here. The Woman: Very well, then; I’ll wait until the assizes. The child was handed over to the care of the matron of a home. The woman who interrupted was Miss Dorothy Lawrence, who, as “Sapper Lawrence,’’ of the Royal Engineers, achieved fame as the only woman to join up and vo to Eranee as a “Tommy.” She has interested herself in the child.