TRAGEDY ON THE VENTURA.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13069, 8 May 1913, Page 4

TRAGEDY ON THE VENTURA.

A NEWSPAPER MATCH

AMERICAN'S VISIT TO AUSTRALIA. SAN FRANCISCO, April 30. Mr Percy Drew, believed to be a wealthy resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut, poisoned himself while being taken off the mail steamer Ventura on Friday, m charge of the Federal officers. There was some trouble about landing, and Mr Drew's wife, formerly a Miss Margaret Fortescue, to whom he was married m Australia, was held at Angel Island, the immigration depot, by the authorities. The question of her right to enter the United States is said to be ! the reason. Drew was married m Sydney as a result of a newspaper advertisement. SYDNEY, May 1. "Wanted to marry, Protestant* colonial girl, brunette, by young man (27), of good family, two first-class references, returning to United States April 6. Please state age and answer m time for boat, enclosing photo, and address, P.M.D., G.P.0." ' This advertisement, which appeared m a Sydney newspaper on Tuesday, April Ist, contains the germ of a romance i which ended m tragedy, and has led to the leisurely repentance of another Sydney girl who rushed into matrimony. The initials "P.M.D." were those of Percy M. Drew, an American citizen from Connecticut, who was only a few days m Sydney when he succeeded m, finding a girl willing to have him a-s a husband, and to marry him on the spot. Mr Percy Drew was of the true Ame- ' rican type. Tall, lean, smai'tly-dressed, and a persuasive way of guessing and calculating that would Afaxn almost any girl's head. When he spoke about his ranches m Connecticut lie just made a woman's head spin round. He was a man with" a personality and a hustle, and apparently ho had money to burn. He only arrived m Sydney from New Zealand on Easter Monday^ March '2A, by the Ulimarba, having booked his passage m Wellington for San Francisco by the Oceanic Steamship Co. 's steamer Ventura, which sailed from this port on April 5. Drew had 12 da\'s at his disposal m the height of the holiday season. For seven days he was quite satisfied with all the good things Sydney, could provide m the way of amusement, and when a man with a hustle on reaches this city at Easter time he can get all the jollification of a lifetime. On the eighth day he appears to have been suddenly imbued with a desire to marry ; and preferred to advertise for a wife m preference to making a long journey through life m search of an affinity. His desire was widely advertised, and a number of applicants willing' to throw m their lot with Mr Percy M. Drew, of Connecticut, filled a fair-sized mail bag. He chose one and rushed excitedly into the shipping office, and throwing some gold on the counter, exclaimed, "I want to book a passage for my wife." The booking clerk; immediately wrote out the ticket. That is all they know of Mr and MJi's Drew. I At the wharf before the sailing day of the Ventura, Drew hustled down and inquired, "Say, does this ship carry a chaplain among its officers." "Guess not," was the reply. "Can you direct me to the nearest Protestant parson. I'm a passenger by this sliip, and I want to marry my wife and /bring her with me." He was told by a man on the wharf to tro to fcfce Registrar-General's office. The haopy counle were all smiles when the vessel cast off.