REVELLER’S ADVENTURE

Taranaki Daily News, 24 July 1931, Page 9

REVELLER’S ADVENTURE

UNWITTINGLY KIDNAPPED. TALE OF A MOTOR SMASH. Four people have been very much surprised .by the latest case of a motor-car theft in Paris. They were the two thieves, a midnight reveller, and an antiquary, A commercial traveller named Porteron set out with his friend Bienvenu, a cabaret singer, to spend a joyous evening, Borteron driving his own car. There were many halts at restaurants.. Bienvenu so appreciated the hospitality of his friend that when Porteron, having to make a call near the Gare St. Lazaro, left his friend alone in the ear for a few minutes, Bienvenu lapsed into slumber, and slipped to the bottom of the car.

Bieuvenu was astounded, on awaking, to find the car in motion. But there were two figures instead of one on the driving seat. Having assured himself that he was not seeing double, and that neither of the people in front resembled his friend, he lowered the window and called lustily for help. The two men in front simply jumped from the driving seat, leaving the car to go its own way at full speed. The vehicle eventually crashed into the window of an antiquary’s shop, still bearing the bewildered Bieuvenu, who found himself sitting among a mass of broken glass and ob.jets d’art. Damage to the extent of £l2O was done to the antiquary’s shop; the collision had not improved the condition of the “ar; and Bieuvenu was taken to hospital with pains in the head which were to some extent caused by the smash. The police theory is that the two motor thieves attempted to steal the car, believing it to be unoccupied, and that they abandoned it in panic when they found that they had unwittingly kidnapped a man.