STRANGE STORY

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23316, 27 September 1945, Page 2

STRANGE STORY

Woman’s Masquerade (N.Z.P.A.) AUCKLAND. Sept. 26. To have lived, worked and played as a man for more than 10 years, to have been accepted as a man by the world and to have recently undergone a form of marriage with a young girl, and then to have her real sex exposed under questioning was the experience of a 30-year-old woman. Last night, in an Interview with two reporters in an Auckland city flat, she told a fantastic story of the masquerade which must rank amongst the strangest in the annals of human behaviour. The woman looked, talked and comported herself as a man. The woman and the wife are both employed in the same city factory. The extraordinary facts surrounding the case first emerged when the Regis-trar-General discovered that the name on the marriage certificate issued in July was the same name as that of a person rejected for military service in 1940, when the medical examination revealed that the “man” was a wellnourished woman. Police inquiries were begun, and on Monday last detectives interviewed the parties. The “husband” admitted identity and true sex, and that he went th.ough a form of marriage with a single girl of 18. In a long interview with reporters, the “husband." one of whose arms was tattooed, spoke freely of the past wten assured that his identity would not be disclosed. He explained that he had a natural inclination to masculine pursuits and a strong physique. He lost two jobs where he was accused of being a boy masquerading as a girl, and said l.e had held his prese job for two years. Nobody regarded him as anything but a man. He was disappointed when he was unable to °o to the war followin'* his motners disclosure to the authorities of his ie< He added that he and his wife were happv, and as far as he knew, there was nothing illegal in their partnership.