MISTAKEN IDENTITY?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22825, 9 March 1936, Page 10

MISTAKEN IDENTITY?

Miss Frances Blackett, nn Englishwoman, was arrested in Munich recently while attending a public political meeting. She was kept in custody in the Ettstrasse political prison all night without being allowed to communicate with the British Consul, and released at noon the following day without any charges haying been brought against her. Miss Blackett was formerly a political speaker for the Metropolitan section of the Conservative Party in England. She has been in Germany several months, studying political questions. At the meeting she was accused of taking notes and failing to give the Hitler salute, and was taken into custody by Nazi political officials. She was thoroughly searched in prison, and her notebook ' and all personal papers were confiscated by the police. When asked why she was making notes she replied by demanding whether it was a political offence now to take uotes in Germany. The police refused to answer and referred her to the Nazi political department At 6 o'clock in the morning Mias Blackett was given a cup of coffee and a piece of drv bread. Three hours later she was questioned. When she was released at mid-dav all her papers were returned to her. The explanation given by the police was that she had been kept in prison as a result of mistaken identity. A woman closely resembling Miss Blackett, according to the police statement, had stolen some money, and they wanted to investigate the case. Miss Blackett will probably protest to the British. Consul,