BIGAMY AND FRAUD.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11481, 14 January 1903, Page 4

BIGAMY AND FRAUD.

9 '"""■ AX EXTRAORDINARY STORY.

A SOUTH AFRICAN "HERO." THE "OFFICER OF OTAGO HUSSARS." (FEOM 00l OWN" COBRESFONDEXT.) LONDON, December 6. Two or three weeks ago a gentkinanhlooking young man, with a very pleasant manner, called at this office, and presented a card, on which was printed, "Captain C. W. F. Wallis, D.5.0.,T.5., R.N.Z.A.. Wellington, N.Z." In the course of conversation he said he had came from Gore, in Otago, and that he kid been with one of the New Zealand Contingents in South Africa, whence he had recently returned. Two days later he called again, and said he had been to Weymouth, and now wanted to go to Honitun. What wad the fare? This was looked up for him, and he then remarked that it was very -unlucky, iie had jn.st "dropped" a sovereign;. did.we think lie could borrow a pound-at the New Zealand Agency-General to enable him to make this business journey"/ Nobody in this office took that remarkably broad hint; and so Le went away saying he would try." I itrongly suspect, howvvtr, that he managed to obtain tiie needful loan at a certain other newspaper office in this neighbourhood.. Somehow, by this time a- sort of faint breath- of suspicion seemed to infuse itself through the atmosphere surrounding the young 'man, and cautious enquiries were made at the Ageney-Utneral, where two ladies were discovered to be already engaged in the same operation, apparently without entire success. Also another Press representative had been making anxious enquiries on his own behalf, which recalled to mind that lo&t sovereign, and suggested speculations as to. a possible kindly-meant concession. But nothing definite"could bu a.=*certained there, and the only course seemed to be to keep an open eye. It was kept! On Monday," in the current week, Cecil Wilfrid Frank Wallis, a gentlemanly-look-ing man, described as an otKcer of the New Zealand Artillery, at present residing at Brent-wood, Essex, was charged at the South-Western Police Court with bigamy. It was stated that" the!accused had .served throughout the South African campaign, imd ihat when lie returned -to this country in May last, he married at Christ Church, Clnphiim, a young lady residing in A'.bion roud, CLiphum.' Ho was subsequently ac-cu.-icd of having a 'wife—a .Mrs Sulcliffe— living, .and.notwithstanding his protests and declarations of innocence, was arrested on Saturday, when he reached London to visit the War Office on official business. A VERY "CLOSE RESEMBLANCE." Mr E. Lloyd, who defended, said it was a en? 9 of* mistaken identity. There was, he asserted, a Mr Sutclifte. who was at present in Australia, but the two men, who were cousins, resembled each other so closely, that looking at their photographs it was aimost impossible to tell one from the other. In support- of this statement a poitrait of Mr Sutcliife, in the unifrom of an officer of the Royal Navy, was banded to the Magistrate, who.agreed that the likeness was extraordinary. Mr Plowden, the Magistrate,, said, however, that the case was one for enquiry, and he remanded the accused on bail.' I hove' examined the two photographs, and do not hesitate to say that the identity is absolute and unmistakeable. Events moved rapidly. Two days later, i.e., on Wednesday, the same agreeablegentleman was again in the South Western dock, this time on a fresh charge. To save time I quote the published report of the proceedings :—"Cecil Wilfrid Frank Wallis. who represented himself to be an officer in -ue New Zealand Artillery, and as having served throughout the South African campaign, giving an address at the Railway Hotel, Brenitwood, Essex, was placed in the dock at the South Western Court, before Mr Plowden, charged with having obtained money by fraud from Mrs Clutterbuck, of 30 Albion road, Claphara. The accused, who was arrested in the city by Detective Goggin, figured in the dock on Monday last, charged on that occasion witli intermarrying with the daughter of Mrs Olutterbuck, his first wife, Mrs Sutcliffe, being then alive. The allegation is that the prisoner ie Mr Sutcliffe, and that his story about the latter being his cousin is a concoction. He represented himself to Mre Clutterbuck as Captain Wallis, and stated that he had obtained the D.S.O. medal for distinguished conduct in the field. Alter marriage he borrowed from that lady £60 under a promise to repay it witli interest as soon as the War Office paid him his arrears of pay.

"Mr Plowden ordered a remand to allow both charges to be heard together, and consented to accept two sureties of £50 each, for his appearance. Mr E. Lloyd, who represented the accused, eaid he was under an engagement to attend the War Office that day to explain the allegations of bigamy, -r Plowden observed that he would be released as soon as he found bait. The accused was then removed to the cells." A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. The remand was to this morning. Meanwhile I undertook a little voyage of discovery "on my own," and yesterday had an interring conversation with a relative of the young lady whom the accused person is alleged to have bigamously married, the gist of wliich is oe follows : —• It appears that the accused represented himself to Mis Clutterbuck and her two daughters as v partner in the linn of "Wallis Brothers, , Sheep Exporters, of Gore, Otago, New Zealand." Hβ stated that he- sailed from .\ew Zealand as one of the second batch of troops, which left Xew Zealand for the Soiuu African war. My informant was not mire whether he said lie was a member of the Second Contingent, but was certain he .spoke, of sailing in the second troopship that proceeded from New Zealand to .South Africa; and he add»d that lie was "called out at 36 hours' notice." His brother, George, he , said, went at the same time. 'After they had *been serving for six months at the front, his brother George was killed in action, and soon titer that the mother died, leaving three-fourth* of her personal property to the accused, who on the death of George became a partner in Measrs Wallis's linn. Hβ was, he sakl, the youngest of three brothers, his elders being named Norman a,nd George. He Dec-line acquainted with the ourtterbuck family through their meeting at th« of friends, and Mi&e Clutfrbuck tv.- ,- canie engaged to "Captain W«ll;s." 11..-

pressed fiir a .speedy marriage on the plea that he wiis anxious for his wife to be provided for in caw of his death, as he war! ordered to leave in a week or two on hi* return to South Africa. He hurried on tJie wedding with all possible haste, and there seemed no l-cason to distrust him the ceremony wan performed at Christ Church, Clupham. He appears to have been made an lion, member of the Constitutional Club, and to have claimed relationship with Captain —acdonald, who, he alleged, had married hie (accused's) sister, and in short he appeared to know .so many " good " people. to move in such excellent society, and U> be. according to his own account, so eminently "eligible" that no doubt whatever was entertained of his good faith. "SEEDS OP SUSPICION." Next, I am informed, he went to the London shipping office of the Aberdeen line and applied for berths for his wife and himself to Capetown. He was aeked for a, deposit, but presented his «u*d, and suggested that "A Captain ;in the Army!" could surely be trusted. This view does not seem to have commended itself to tJio officials, 'who politely intimated *that they should prefer to see " the colour of his money." He readily assented, and promised" to send a cheque as soon as he got home.

Accordingly lie wired to tlie shipping office, " Cheque posted," and shortly afterwards called again to secure the -berths. Still there was demur, as the cheque had not vet arrived. "Well, at least," ho said, " you can give me the labels for the luggage, so that I may send that on in readiness.' . This concession was made and ■' Captain Wallie" departed. He next proceeded to despatch to the docks hie bride's luggage, which contained all her txvuweau wad jczsoaal belongings. leaTiiyj

ber with only the clothe. ,, sl>e liad on at the time. The -unfortunate young lady's "Things" (;is Wilkie Collins calls them, with a capital " T") are now detained at the docks until the charges on them and the passage deposit-money shall be paid, which, as the accused is" alleged to have drained the Clutterbuck family of every penny of cash they possess, is not an easy matter. .By that time, however, the seed of suspicion which had been sown by a manifest discrepancy in one of his casual statements, had taken root, and was growing fast. An enquiry was addressed to hw "brother-in-law," Captain Macdonald, wlio replied very courteously that he knew nothing of Captain Wallis, and certainly was nut his brother-in-law. He did not possess either the wife or the five children wtili whom Captain Wailis had credited him. for. as a matter of fact, he was a bachelor! Then the accused had said that his brother Norman was coming to Knj;hind in July, documents from New Zealand which conferred on him (the

accused) promotion to the rank of Major. July <ame and went, and August likewise, but no Norman. The accused reported his brother's arrival, and was constantly promising that " Norman " would call on the Clutrerbucks. But he never came. Enquiries at ail tlte agencies of the steamers by which he could have travelled, and at all the "■ best hotel* "' at which lie, was alleged to be .staying, failed to elicit the Siighiost symptom even of the existence oi such a person as " Norman Wallis." By this time, the plant of suspicion was fully grown. PECULIAR DISCOVERIES. soon with striking results. The accused had ;t cousin, he said, named Sutcliffe, who was extraordinarily like himself in personal appearance. Sutcliffe had married a girl wlw), he regretfully alleged, had turned out .badly, and had in fact been unfaithful to him". This Sutcliffe was, he

said, a Captain in the Royal Navy, and the photograph shows - him wearing naval uniform. Enquiries touclving Mrs Suteljffe elicited that there was no truth in the charges made against her character, ana that she was good and respectable. It was found tliat exactly the same sort of .story mutatis mutandis had been told by "Sutcliffe" as by "Wallis," and that the two men were as identical in their methods as in their personal appearance.

It is also alleged that the accused has been assiduous in his attendance at Smithfield as the professed representative of the Gore firm of meat exporters.

It is noteworthy that the inscription on the card which the accused man left- at this oiliui gave "Wellington" a.s his address, and represented him as a "V.5.," i.e., veterinary surgeon, in the "R.N.Z.A." —whatever that may be. I cannot find any eucii regiment as the "R.N.Z.A." I understand tliat the War Office knows nothing of him its a holdsr of the "D.5.0.," and does not acknowledge the authorship or senderehip of various letters and telegrams which "Captain Wallis" professed to have received from Pall Mall, and which in point of fact he showed freely. Another interesting point in relation to these two Dromios —

"Wallis" and "Sutcliffe- , '—is that their handwriting is as identical as their personal appearance, and each boasts the Christian name of "Cecil"—more curious coincidences! One touching little circumstance which

j "Captain Wullis" mentioned to his brideelect ati a reason for expediting their wedding, was that since his brother George died his widow had gone out of her mind, and wae quite mad, thus his brother's helpless little children were all left for him to look after, and he knew that hie intended wife would be a kind mother Ho the poor little darlings. He spoke with such tears in his voice that the kind-hearted bride weepingly promised to do her best. Unfortunately the hapless babes have been hidden with such ingenuity that as yet the utmost keenness on the part of the police has failed to discover them. It is thought that they must be sharing the «ame abode as those "five children" of the accused's '•brother-in-law." THE ACCUSED CONFESSES. The accused was brought up this morning at the Lavender Hill Police Court. A detective deposed that he had arrested the accused in the City on a warrant charging him with having obtained £30 by fake pretences. He denied the charge. Mrs Colboume (Mrs Sutdiffe's aister) wae next called. f»he gazed intently at accused. Her sister was still alive she eaid. The ac-

cuscd was her sister's husband; she had no doubt about it. While she was asserting positively that accused was her brother-in-law, the accused called a police inspector and whispered to him. Witness said the prisoner came and etayed with witness for a week after his marriage. "Then you know him well?" said the Magistrate. "Oh, yes/ replied witness. "I know him well. He is my sisters husband, Captain Sutcliffe. He wae in the Navy, he told us. My sister and I went to Oxford*. where he was known, as Burke Wilson, and he was about to marry a Mies Dyson. My sieter wanted to see him, but he would not see her. Afterwards his wife forgave him, and he lived with her at Birmingham. I am not mistaken. Hβ has a mark over one of his eyes, the left. And on the right eye there is another little mark, just on the lid." Miss Clutterbuck, the wronged "second wife gave evidence as to the second marriage, Tie accused said he was "Captain Cecil Watlis," of the New Zealand Artillery. iShe understood he was a bachelor. She had only heard that he bad been previously married about u> week ago. Aecusetl wished to ask ''nothing whatever" of this witness. Police Inspector Hamilton iaid while the case was proceeding prisoner beckoned to him and whispered in liis car: "Stop the case; 1 will plead guilty immediately." The i ease of obtaining money was then gone into. 'Mrs Clutter-buck, on old lady, the mother of Annie Clutterbuck, the second "wife," gave % evidence. Prisoner eaid ■he was Captain' Cecil Wallia, N.Z. Artill*ry, V.S., D.S.O. On the 29th May he had from her £30, and (said Jus iiadi a cable coming from iNew Zealand from Wallis Bros., at Gore, X.Z. He said they -were sheep exporters. He said lie was a partner in the firm, and his brother was sending £100 to 'him.' She was to go to the New Zealand Bank after the 30tih June for the mosey. He gave her a. document for the money. fcJhe lent him J862 altogether. Khe knew nothing about him except what lie told her.

The Magistrate: "Do you plead guilty to this charge?" Accused: "Yes, sir, I do." ' ■Mr J. €. Tfowait*s, from the, War Office, said there was novpfficeroftbenameof C'apt. Cecil Bruce Wallis in their record's. There was. no record of anybody of that name serving at the front. There was no such name among those who were D.'S.O. There was a Captain W. P. Wallis at the front. This captain was in South Africa in May, 1902, He would have been released from serrioe probably ebout July or August., Hβ would not know if there was a Lieutenant Wallis in 1894 belonging to tho Otago Hussars. It woul<l not be in. the Army list. Aocts&d said he simply asked the question in order to prove that his statement as to being Police Inspector Hamilton said when accused was charged, he (witness) asked the date of the "Gazette" in which his award of D.S.O. appeared. Hβ said it had not appeared, aaid that he was "pre-

mature." Witness then a»ked him wheit he appeared in the Army List, and wh«» "Cecil" appealed. Accused replied Out the Army List was wrong, end that "Cecjp* should be there. The Inspector then gave evidence ft, another whispered confession in the Court , as to, the second charge. * ,< Accused, who eaid lie would call \rfc. nesses at the ■trial, was committed to Uμ , Central Criminal Court.