The Valueless Cheque Utterer.

Manawatu Herald, 18 June 1903, Page 3

The Valueless Cheque Utterer.

A Victorian visitor, who is. known to the police of both the Commonwealth and this Colony, has been operating in Foxton and Palmerston recently,. He has been masquerading under the name of J. M. Cantor, and by ingratiating himself with tradesmen and hotelkeepers has managed to live in clover—till the guardians of the law got on his trail. His real name so Detective Castles (of Wellington) informed the: Court on Monday—is Isidore M. Cohen. He commenced bis nefarious practices at Foxton. From a local groper, T. Westwood. ho obtained goods to the value of £9, and £5 in cash. Borrowing & blank cheque Cohen drew it for £lO on the Bankof New Zealand,, and persuaded the trusting tradesman to’ give him £5 alter allowing half , the. cheque to go against bis account. Cohen claimed that he had an account in the Dunedin branch of the Bank. « Evidence In proof of these statements was adduced. .. Cohen pleaded guilty, and was . remanded to the Wellington Supreme Court for sentence. This exact procedure was followed in each of the other oases. '

E. J. Osborne, another Foxton storekeeper was the next victim. An account of: £lO, value of goods, was run up, Cohen stating that he expected money from his father in Ballarat. He had been in the South African war, and was in New Zealand recruiting his health. He drew a cheque, on another borrowed form, for the amount of his indebtedness, but again succeeded in working the same ruse—getting half the amount back, in change after allowing the other .half to be deducted off his account. The other frauds were worked on Palmerston hotelkeepers. He passed off a cheque for £3 on the licensee of the Occidental Hotel, and two cheques, each for a like amount, on the licensee of the Princess Hotel, Terrace End. For these latter offences Cohen was charged with forgery., As in the other cases, he pleaded guilty and was remanded for sentence.—Times.