POSED AS A MAN.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXXIX, Issue 6335, 1 May 1923, Page 3

POSED AS A MAN.

DISGUISED FOR 17 YEARS,

An extraordinary story is revealed

by the death in West Ham Infirmary

of a woman who posed for nearly 17

years, it is said, as a man.

It was through an accident in the street that she was taken to the infirmary, and it was not until then it was discovered that her real name was Annie Millar. She had been going about under the pseudonym of “Charlie Richardson,” states the Westminster Gazette.

For the last ten years she had been in the employ of Mrs Powis, of Charles Square, Hoxton. It was the difficulty of getting a job as a woman that made her don male attire, and she found the disguise so effective that she never dropped it. Mrs Powis, who keeps a marine store, found her a remarkably capable workman, and was all the time in the dark as to her sex.

"Charlie Richardson” was big and burly, and about 40 years of age. She had a roughish voice, mannish habits, and went about always with men. There are many stories of how she would go into a public house with a man, and exchange drinks and stories.

She kept her hair short, of course, but nobody ever seemed to remark ,on the fact that she did not shave. She was of a pleasant disposition, with fair hair and blue eyes, and was a consummate actress.

Behind the story of her identity lies something of a mystery which cannot yet be fathomed. Mrs Powis was amazed when the police came to her and told her that her workman was a woman. She has been very much upset by ‘Charlie’s’ death, and said she could never have wished for a better worker. ‘Charlie’ apparently could play many parts, for Mrs Powis has not always been in the same line of trade and wherever she went ‘Charlie’ went with her.

‘Charlie’s’ employer speaks with great admiration of her pluck. “It was no mean task to go about as a man for so many years,” she said. “She was often subjected to hardships and trying situations, especially in the war, but she always carried them off, as we can now see, with extraordinary cleverness and courage.”