GUARDSMAN AND DANCER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 306, 17 March 1928, Page 12

GUARDSMAN AND DANCER

KILLED IN STREET RiUM THROUGH FORTUNE A remarkable story of an ex-Cuards-man who spent a fortune of about £23,000 in two years was told at Westminster, at the inquest on Allan J. Pauley, aged 34, of Sidney Street, Chelsea, who received fatal injuries when crossing the road at Ivnightsbridge, says an English exchange. Pauley was identified by Captain Charles Burne, R.N., retired, of Charles Street, Knightsbridge, who said that the man had been managing a business for him and recently he had been engaged in winding it up. “Before he came to me,” he said, “Pauley was a man of •independent means. He had served in the Guards and the Air Force during the war, and came into a fortune and lost it. Visit to Cuba The Coroner: Did he run through it?—He ran through it in 1922 and 1923, I understand. The Coroner: Was it a large fortune?—He told me it was £23,000. Pauley went to Havana, in Cuba, and put money into a tobacco concern, men he went through his money and had no means left. “1 was introduced to Pauley in London by a friend. Hearing his story, and knowing that he was a capable man, I took him into my employment. The Coroner: He is supposed to have rushed across the street in a manner described as almost suicidal. Do you know any reason why he should have taken his life?—l do not at all. Because he was a most active man, and there was no reason. Flat in Paris Captain Burne added: “What money he had I supplied him with. He was tremendously liked by everybody, and was full of good spirits. At one time he drank, but during the last few months he had corrected the habit. Mis accounts were in perfect order. He was peaceful and nearly in the 'pleased* state when in drink.” Pauley was an exceedingly good dancer, and wanted to go to the Riviera as a teacher. A friend in France was going to assist him. He acquired his dancing ability through his social life, as he had a flat in Paris for two years. The coroner said as it was a street fatality he would adjourn the case for the attendance of a jury.