THE PROFITS OF FEMININE BRAVERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2375, 7 September 1899, Page 55

THE PROFITS OF FEMININE BRAVERY.

Though even the brave deeds of women frequently go unrewarded, it is gratifying to find that they are occasionally recognised in the current coin of the realm. Some time ago a Manchester young lady was presented with a £5 note by the judge at the local Assizes for the extremely plucky manner in which she tackled a burglar in her father's house. The' knight of the jemmy was busily engaged in ransacking the premises when she became aware of his presence; and, jumping out of bed, she seized him and, despite his struggles, held him fast until masculine aid arrived. The sum of, £5 was also awarded by the judge at the Old Bailey, London, to a brave young Jewess who was instrumental in bringing a, couple of burglars to justice. The latter had raided some premises at Mile End, and but for the spirited action of this brave daughter of Israel, they would undoubtedly have got clear away with their booty. On observing them as they departed from the scene of their operations, she was not content with raising an alarm, but chased and actually captured one of the depredators single-handed. She well earned the cash and compliments paid to her by the judge at the trial of the offenders, who were rewarded for their part in the affair •with long terms of imprisonment. From the reward given in these two instances it would seem that the courage which enables a ■woman to capture a burglar is worth £5. The bravery which 18 months ago prompted a Beckenham lady, Mrs Jane Gower, of Arthur road, to assist a policeman who was violently attacked while endeavouring to arrest a couple of wrongdoers resulted in a gain to her of a silver teapot and a purse of money. Several men who were standing by having refused their aid, she pluckily stepped forward, and taking the constable's whistle from his tunic, blew it until another policeman came on the scene. She was warmly commended by the magistrates for her action, and subsequently presented with the articles mentioned.. Not many months ago a Lancashire ser- , vant maid wsis the recipient of a handsome silver-mounted umbrella and a £10 note for rendering a similar service to the police, but under circumstances of perhaps greater danger. While arresting a dangerous character an officer was set upon by a hostile crowd and so severely maltreated that he became unconscious/ Though threatened with personal violence, the girl pushed her way r.hrough the crowd, and taking up the policeman's whistle blew it till-assistance arrived. To face a vicious, howling mob in the firm manner she did would have taxed the courage of the bravest of the sterner JbCX. No less heroic was the conduct of a •woman in a northern town who, in endeavouring •to save three children from being biften by a mad dog, became the victim of-the animal's ferocity herself. A sufficient sum was raised to send her for treatment to the Pasteur Institute at Paris, and by the time she returned home a sum of £30 further had been collected for presentation to her. This was a fairly substantial profit, but none too much considering the terrible risks to which her noble courage exposed her. Three hundred pounds was the amount vhich a Gloucestershire girl's bravery brought her a few years ago. When out one day in her charge, her master's seven-year-old son happened to fall into a dangerous pond, which he had been strictly forbidden to approach. Notwithstanding that she was well aware of. the dangerous character of the pond, the girl waded boldly into the water to his rescue, and but for timely assistance must have perished with him. 'When fished out she had the child in the tightest of grips; and her employer was so pleased at her conduct that he set aside £300 for her, which, with the interest that had accrued, was presented to her on her wedding day, three years afterwards. More profitable still was the pluck displayed by a Liverpool young lady, who «fas. on a visit to some friends, when a fire broke out in the house in the small hoiirs 'of the morning. The household was soon roused, and everybody rushed out of the doomed mansion except a poor, half-witted girl who assisted in the kitchen. It was pretty clear she was still asleep in her room; and before anybody could stop her, or even say a word, the young lady visitor dashed upstairs to the servant's room. A couple of minutes afterwards she could be seen coming down again, half carrying, half dragging the witless kit-chen-maid, whom she had enveloped in a blanket. Her burden was practically uninjured, "but on reaching the front door her own dress and hair were on fire. The flames were quickly extinguished, but not before she had. been severely burnt; and in recognition of the great bravery she had dis.played her» host left her by his will a legacy of £2000, in addition to a diamond bracelet which he had presented to her in his life-time. Perhaps-the most profitable act of courage was that of an American girl, who, after a desperate struggle, succeeded in rescuing from drowning a would-be suicide who had been thwarted in love. The man was so impressed by the plucky manner in which she prevented his self-de-struction that a few weeks afterwards he asked her to marry him. With American promptness she consented; but the husband did not long survive the wedding, for, two years later, he was killed in a railway accident. All his property, amounting to nearly £200,000,- he had, however, bequeathed to his widow, who therefore benefited by her bravery to the extent' of almost one-fifth of a million pounds, not to mention the reward she received in the shape of a husband.