Romantic, Fantastic, Tragic Flights of a Boy Pretender
LHe Told the Girls, “I’m a Prince”—Then the
Police Came and the Shooting Began
r
f
NERVE WRACKING
"To my horror, Pott*
pulled out a revolver
end taidi T have a
fond mind to end
everything here.' My
consternation wa#^
doubled when I law
that hid companion had
also drawn a pitted.
Imagine my
predicament! There
wa* I in the flat with
two young men, both
distraught and
armed . ,—From Mi*»
Madge Miller’*
Statement to the
Cambridge Police.
(C) Graphic f’lioio l ruow.^ •
SHE WAS PLUCKY
(lltrutin Miu Madge Miller,
Dance ln»tructre*», Who
Cave Pott, and a Companion Shelter
When They Were Down and Out.
She Wa» One of Many Girl* Who.e
Society Pott* Eagerly Sought.
LONDON
VEK siuce the days of Oscar
Wilde, when members of the
aesthetic set wore knee breeches
•nd carried lilies, artistic cults have
been considered fair game for satire
and ridicule. Of course, there is no
way of eradicating them, but they have
been regarded as rather comic mani
festations of the self-conscious spirit
•f youth at Oxford and Cambridge
■Universities, add therefore trivial.
Recently, however, at the latter
proud seat of learning, a triple;tragedy
was enacted, whose roots stretched
back into one of thdse eccentric
“movements.” and the college authori
ties, expressing amazement and horror
that such should could be the case,
began a searching investigation into
the past of handsome young Douglas
Newton Potts, 19, who had precipi
tated the seandal.
Pott’s conduct and dress nau always
been considered odd, but up to trie
time that he killed two men and sent
a. bullet spinning into his own brain,
no one ha9 detected symptoms of actual
Insanity in him. The victims of his
•uddcn rage were a middle-aged pio
fessor and a detective. After dispatch
ing them young Potts turned his gun
wpon himself, and the three-cornered
tragedy was written out.
Behind the sensational shooting, it
•came out later, lay a weird Poe-like
story' of double personality, always
colored, in Potts’s case, by hi* fan
tastic love of display and almost child
ly ability to convince himself that his
day dreams were real.
Potts was in the habit ot inyst®rir
rusly referring to himself as “Prince
.orraine.” and even succeeded in con
vincing the more gullible of his Cam
bridge associates that there was royal
blood in his veins. His life was in
sured, he boasted, for 20,000 pounds
(about $100,000). Another of his
•whimsicalities was to don a pair ol
hom-rimmed spectacles and a set ot
ginger-colored whiskers prior to sally
ing out into the
neighboring vil
lages on his rest
less forays in search of
excitement.
He did not restrict his
gayeties to the suburbs,
however. With one of his
chums, who testified at the in
quest, “Prince Lorraine’’ made a pro
tracted and aimless tour of London
just before returning to the college
and his death. At this time he was
running away from debts and bad
checks wihch had already brought
about a police investigation.
One of the many girls whose society
he sought—and there were fully a
score—ha and Newman visited. At
this girl's flat a grotesque episode, like
an old-fashioned melodrama, was en
acted before she persuaded the two
vouths to quit the premises.
inis young woman, wusa
Miller, dancer at the smart Manhattan
Club, was able to give the authorities
valuable information about Potts s
crazy conduct just prior to the mur
ders and suicide. Madge, exceedingly
pretty, with rich auburn hair and pale
complexion, tearfully told how Potts
crossed her path.
‘'Douglas rang me up at my flat at
three in the morning," she said, "t
had met him last Christmas and knew
him fairly well. He told me over the
‘phone that he and a friend were in
the greatest possible distress. He said
they had no money, had been in an
accident with a motor bicycle, and had
been sleeping on the Thames embank
ment. Could I let them have the spare
room in mv apartment? 1 agreed to
do so and they came around.
‘‘They were both almost exhausted
when they arrived, their clothes dirty
and bespattered with mud. Douglas
told me quite frankly they were in
serious trouble. Then, to my horror,
he pulled out a revolver and said:
‘I have a good mind to end everything
here—to end it ali at once.’ My ■con
sternation was doubled when I saw
that his companion had also drawn a
pistol.
“Imagine my predicament! There
(C) Graphic Photo t’n'on.
"I'M A PRINCE!”
Cried Douglas Newton Potts,
19, Cambridge University
Student, to Other
Undergraduates. The
Eccentric Youth, After a
Series of Fantastic Adventures
in London, Returned to
College, Where He Staged the
Dreadful Triple Tragedy
Related on This Page.
was I in the flat with two
young men, both distraught
and highly nervous, armed
•with loaded pistols. The only
thing I could do was to reason
with them and eventually I
persuader them to put their
guns away. They stayed on
with me till the following Monday.
I lent them a little money to get
some things that had been deposited in
Charing Cross cloak room, and Potts
obtained some other money by pawn
ing a platinum watch chain and some
links.-’
AS me preliminary one-px uietcu*
tury’a most extravagant arid desperate
crimes, this scene so graphically re
el rated by Miss Miller is unique. The
boys, obviously dreading to return and
face the music at the university they
had fled from—the girl, rigid with
fright, yet heroically keeping control
of the alarming situation by sheer
pluck—these are elements that would
be welcomed as plot ingredients by all
writers of mystery shockers.
Potts, seems to nave oeen nirung
with the fascination of death ail
through his London misadventures.
“Whatever happens,” lie told Alisa
Miller, “1 shall never be caught. I’ll
shoot myself without hesitation if they
try to stop me." He kept perpetually
fussing with his pistol; cleaning it, dis
playing it, and producing ammunition.
This routine so got on the jangled
nerves of the pretty dancer that she
implored both boys to go back to Cam
bridge and bravely submit to the or
deal ahead of them. Finally, they con
sented. .
But Potts didn’t go through with it
at once, claims Miss Miller. Instead
he went to Tonbridge to visit another
girl—one to whom he was' thought en
gaged. The police, after the tragedy,
even investigated a sensational rumor
that “Prince Lorraine” had been se
cretly married. Actually it was estab
lished that he was exceptionally pop
ular with young women, and the names
of four were injected into the pro
ceedings. All four girls knew him as
a good-looking student who liked to
spin fantastic yarns of his royal
The Various
Symptoms of
Shaking Palsy
By HERBERT L. HERSCHENSOHN
(Phrtician and Surgeon)
SHAKING palsy is a disease of
later life occurring around the
age? of fifty or sixty and affect
ing about twice as many men us
women. It is characterized by certain
. tremors together with peculiarities in
.posture, facial expression and gait.
The disease is not hereditary and is not
4 due to excessive udfe of alcohol, clissi
- nation, or to social influences as is
.. often supposed. No one particular
cause has been ascribed to this con
dition but it is generally believed by
many authorities to be brought about
i by continuous worrying, constant ex
posure to inclement weather, and liv
4 ing in damp rooms.
• The onset of this disease, medically
known as paralyse apitans, is usually
gradual, taking several years from the
time the first symptoms appear until
the condition Is fully developed. Per
fcaDS the first peculiarity noticed is a
shaking of one hand. The thumb and
index finger rub against each other as
if rolling a pill. The tremor is regu
lar and fine. The hand shake;? about
five times a second. As the disease
progresses the movements become
slower and coarser. The movements
cease whenever the hand reaches for
aii object. They can also be stopped
at will, but only temporarily. During
slow but continuous motion, such as
writing, the tremor persists and may
become exaggerated. Excitement only
tends to intensify the tremors. Dur
ing sleep, the hands and fingers are
motionless.
As time goes on, not only are both
hands affected but the legs may also
develop a tremor. It is especially
noticed in the calf, sometimes in the
thigh and toes. The head, too. in a few
cases moves from side to side. The face
is expressionless and mask-like. Despite
the appearance, the intelligence of the
individual remains perfectly normal.
The posture assumed"vfmle ♦niidmg
and walking is characteristic. The back
is stiff and curved. The head is bent
forward. The arms are bent at the
elbows Which are kept away from the
body. The hands are placed in front
of the abdomen. A year or two after
the onset of the disease, the walking
attitude changes. The person makes
the first few steps with difficulty, but
having started he runs or shuffles as
though he were afraid of falling for
ward. It requires effort on his part to
come to a stop. ,
The speech after a while resembles
the gait inasmuch as there is a certain
hesitancy at first which is followed by
a rapid succession of words. The voice
is often shrill and monotonous.
To date, no cure has been found for
this affliction. Nevertheless, periods
of pronounced improvement are ob
served when under medical care. Par
ralysis agitans may last ten, twenty, or
even thirty vears. The disease is not
fatal in itself, but it so weakens the
person .that he falls prey to such infec
tions as influents and pneumonia more
readily than he would under normal
circumstances. It is for this reason that
shaking palsy is considered a serious
disease.
lineage. Keally, he was the son of a
well’to-do London business man. The
other students at Cambridge knew him
as a clever chap, who wore very odd
combinations of clothes and seemed to
love to attract attention.
One of Notts’ least fantastic whims
was the the organization of a jazz
band, for which he designed black and
white uniforms. The jazz note, how
ever, provided a key to his character.
He was a spendthrift—when he had it.
In fact, it was a matter of bad checks
that led Detective Sergeant Francis
James Willis, 30, of the Cambridge po
lice, to seek out Potts on hi* return to
his alma mater. The youth had been
summoned to the study of Alexander
Frederick Richard Wollaston, 65, se
nior tutor at Ging’s College and hon
orary secretary of the Royal Geo
graphical Society.
At bay, Potts whipped out his re
volver, shot the middle-aged don
through the heart, fired on Willis with
fatal results, then evaded responsibility
for his scarlet deeds by blowing out his
own brains.
Staggering to the doorway, the
bleeding policeman feebly shouted for
help, but it was too late. He had been
(C> Graphic Photo L'nlwa.
INNOCENT BLOOD
Alexander Frederick Rickard
Wollaston, 55, Senior Tutor at King'*
College and Honorary Secretary
of the Royal Geographical Society,
Shot Through the Heart by the
Maddened Univeriity Student.
wounded while gallantly trying to pro
tect the don from Potts's fury. The
tutor, who was world-renowned as a
scientist, explorer and traveler, was
instantly killed. Willis lingered for
IN LINE OF DUTY
Detective Serjeant Francie Jamal
WillU, 36, of the Cambridge, England
Police, Fatally Wounded by Pott*.
twelve hours after he had been shot
and mis ante-mortem statement was ol
the* greatest value in clearing ly the
mystery of Potts’s conduct.
Before he passed away in Adden
broke Hospital, the detective dictated
the following statement:
“We were sitting in the tutors
rooms, the three of us, and I was ask
ing questions, when suddenly Potts
pulled out a pistol, I jumped forward
and Just at that moment he fired,three
times and tried to throw myself in
front of the tutor and to catch hold
of him, but he got me twice and then
before I could do anything he turned
the pistol on himself. We were sitting
in the little room, the tutor behind
the table, Potts in front of it, and my
self to the left. There were only a
few feet between us.” No one outside
seems to have he^rd the shots.
The dreadful affair has created a
greater stir at quiet Cambridge than
any previous undergraduate escapade,
and will probably write the end to cult
like activities among students.
Meanwhile, the self-styled “Prince
Lorraine” sleeps in an untimely grave,
victim of his own craving for sensation.
He was undoubtedly mad at the tirtte
of the murders, and no one curses his
memory. Yet, “There is no refuge
from confession but suicide—and sui
cide is confession of weakness.”
He Rewrote the Whole Bible—in Poetry |
MEET the most unusual of poets,
with an unsurpassed achieve
ment to his credit. He is Wil
liam Houston, 76, a Cincinnati, O.,
workman, who, after a prodigious
amount of labor and the passage of
four years, has finally completed his
transcription of the Bible—in poetry!
Houston, who devotes his spare mo
ments to literature solely for pleasure,
not profit, lias done over Holy Writ
from Genesis to Revelations in accur
ately rhythmed “rhyme royal." His
is a form of lyric expression in ar
rangements of seven stanzas which
Poet Houston has been using for fifty
three years.
He based his new version of the
Scriptures on the historic “Breeches"
Bible, dating back to 1537, selecting
it because he thinks its language sub
limely lofty. He has furthermore
kept intact the quaint English it ern
ploys, in vogue in the Eighth Century.
Houston's manuscript is G,000 pages
long, and is closely hand written. The
most amazing part of his attainment
is the fact that since the age of twelve,
the author has had no schooling. At
that time he ran away from home to
become wanderer, fanner and carpen
ter in succession.
He has written stories of prize
fighting, Indian life and hoboes—and,
as if this were not enough to estab
lish his distinctiveness, has been twice
married and reared a family of six
teen children!
'V. " """Vg?
William Houiton, Laborar-Poet, o» Cincinnati, Holding 3,000 Pagaa *1 Mt*
Rhymed Transcription of the Bible*
Copyrtgbt.
ISSO. latenutiottii i'Mturt 8*rftta, lac.. Gr#»t BrtUln Hightt IUa«r»*d.