GOLD-LINED CLOTHING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8334, 5 June 1905, Page 2

GOLD-LINED CLOTHING.

THRIFTY HAWKER WHO

SEWED OVER £230 ROUND HIS

WAIST.

The life's secret of a hawker -who was literally padded with gold and silver was revealed in an unexpected manner at Nottingham. The man, Harry 'Gregory by name, had been given into custody on a charge of theft (which proved to be groundless), and while he was being searched, at the police station, in. the usual course 'Of T procedure, he was discovered to "be wearing two pairs of trousers. Stitched in the lining of the inner pair were found a number of jiarcels of gold 'and silver coins, the parcels varying in value from £1 to £4. . The coins had been wrapped in paper, then covered with pieces of old canvas, and stitched on to the trousers round the waist. The whoio formed a lumpy band of metal. On the monoy being counted, the police found teat the man had in his poa-. session £80 10s in gold and £165 3s 6d in silver (mostly in two-shilling pieces and half-crowns).

While the counting was in progress the poiicex superintendent asked Gregory whether/he knew to £50 how much money he had, and the hawker candidly confessed that he knew no more than the man in the moon. Gregory related 'a romantic story of his possessions, and investigation by the police proved it to be true. The money represented tho savings of fourteen or fifteen years, and the hawker had carried his treasure, about with him day and night. Many of the coins had, by rubbing one against, another, become quite worn. The treasure belt weighed over 401 b, and although Gregory is a sUghtly-biiilt, ■ and by no means a robust man, he had carried his burden with apparent unconcern. Th© man further explained' that he had been employed by commercial travellers to convey their samples on a barrow about the city, and he had often to push Heavy loads. Ho had put money aside regularly every week, but Had never denied himself proper food. He proudly stated that during the last sixteen ypsirs he had not' spent a penny upon intoxicating drink or tobacco. But the most astonishing part of Gregory's story was that during all these years he had been staying at a common lodging «housß in the poorest pkrt of the town. Ho slept in a room in which three or four other casual lodgers were a€ times accommodated, but his secret was never discovered. Ho secured a certain immunity from suspicion by throwing the outer pair of trousers on the bed. Asked why he did not bank his money and so derive some income^ from it, the thrifty hawker answered that he had never had much faith in banks, and preferred to, have his money about him. It was his hobby, just as other people had theirs. Gregory was induced by the police W leave the treasure in their safe keeping for a time, and he left the station quite content with the small sum handed to him for his immediate wants.