MAYFAIR PARTY “MURDER.”

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18620, 16 July 1930, Page 2

MAYFAIR PARTY “MURDER.”

GIRL “STABBED TO DEATH.” Mayfair, which has explored most places and most w’alks of life for its amusement, found a new diversion in the early hours of a recent morning—- “ Murder.” . Mrs Arthur James, who, in the days when she was Zita Jungman, was a prominent Bright Young Person, was “stabbed to death” by a well-known nobleman. This is how the ghastly tragedy was discovered. Twenty-five of the most elegant people in London were dining in Lady Ribblesdale’s house. There was good wine, good food, and good conversation. There was also an empty chair. The conversation stopped. There were some glances at the chair which was inexplicably untenanted. Why? someone asked. “Oh! just a girl who is staying with me,” answered Lady Ribbledale. “She must have gone out to dinner without telling me. Yet she would hardly have done that.” v The dinner proceeded, and still there was so sign of the missing guest. A search party was suggested. They knocked at the door of her room. No answer. They entered. A terrible sight met their eyes. A beautiful woman, her face as white as the sheet beneath her, her left eye horribly, brutally bruised, lay still—terrifying stlil—on the bed. It was Zita James. An immediate examination of every clue at once took place. Mr Alfred Beit picked up a revolver which exploded with a loud bang. Its five other chambers had not been fired “Promissory notes” from Lady Colefax were beside the bed. A threatening letter from Sir “Buffles” Milbanke beginning: “If you dare breathe a word to Sheila. . . .” Cuttings from an agony column reading: “Darling. don’t see L. before we meet tonight, Ali,” and “Left stuff this morning, take at once, George.” Everything pointed to one thing—a Mayfair murder. A still burning cigarette of an unusual kind was still smoking in an ashtray. Mr Gordon Leith, one of the guests, dashed towards it. It was not stained with rouge. It had been smoked by a man—the murderer Who smoked the brand? The guests produced their cases. One case contained a supply of that rare brand. The case belonged to the Duke of Marlborough! The guests compared notes. Miss i Elsa Maxwell examined the clues that had been noticed by each of the guests, and decided that Mr Michael Herbert was the winner. And so ended what was considered one of the best jokes that Mayfair has enjoyed for some time.