A CAREER OF CRIME

Hokitika Guardian, 3 May 1924, Page 4

A CAREER OF CRIME

CANADIAN KX-OI'TTtEL! M HO WAS ' .SENTENCED AT WKU.INOTON.

SYDNEY. A j til 11

William Davenport Brown, graduate in engineering of the .Mi Gill l.'nivorsity. Mont.(cal. Canada. 1- te o! New Volk. Auckland, and Widington. N- w Zeu'.ii"! ami td.-o it .1 kuling'mrat'. and now of the Long Jiu.v J’oniteutiuvv. advanced a stt*j> further at the CVuttal Police ('out I in a rema: kalde career of crime, which he began in Febrile y 1922 (says the ‘‘Daily (luardian"). He was .sentenced to six months' hard labour for having obtained money hv false iiretenees from Harry Roberts, 51. Craigeml street, Darliiighn: :-t. with whom Brown had lived. According to evideme given. Brown told Rnl.eils that he intended to tender for the electric lighting of the additions to Mainline House, and ioqtlited £lO to lodge with the tender. The deposit was not requited and Detective CV.nums tool; the matter in hand. I.EI’T IN A Hl'lißY. In the witnes>-hex. Brown smilingly admitted to Sergeant Dennis that he had left Montreal in a hurry. In New York', in February. 1922. lie admitted, he had heel: lonvicteil lor Inrgery. Tu Auckland ho escaped conviction on a la.reenv charge !>y making restitulion. hut was .sentom-ed a month later in Wellington to three months’ gaol for theft. In June last year lie was sentenced In twelve months' imprisonment at Long Bay for false |:retences. and was released in February this year. •‘lt is a great July, Brown," said Mr fiaies. S.M.. “that a man of your education and ability cannot run straight." DETAINED ON WEDDING DAY. He was married about a fortnight ago, and five minutes after the ceremony took place was detained by Detectives Gallagher and Thompson on another matter. Alter iiiqui'ies. however. they allowed him to resume Bis interrupted honeymoon. The police say that Brown was an oxlieutenant of the "Royal Artillery, and was divorced by his wife in Canada in 1921. IN NEW ZEALAND. During his brief stay iu .Auckland, he mixed with “the host people", and even told some of his friends that he Mas to accompany the Governor-General. Lord .Tellicoe. on his trip to Australia. While, in Sydney ho claimed that he w n s a distant relative of the late Sir Walter Davidson and posed as the lion. Captain Brown. While waiting for sentence last year lie formed an elocution class among his follow-prisoners at Bong Bay. lie prepared eloquent addresses for e-ch. calculated G> tlu ‘ I,oavt “ r the sternest judge. His own. however, fell fiat, because the judge had heard the others first.