“DOCTOR” BORANOFF AGAIN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2021, 28 August 1919, Page 3

“DOCTOR” BORANOFF AGAIN.

■ “A DISAFFECTED AND DANGEROUS ALIEN.” Auckland, Aug. 26. Consequent upon complaints as to the dissemination of Bolshevik principles and literature in Auckland, the local police, acting upon a warrant, from the Commandant of. the Xew Zealand Forces, have arrested Leonard Copland Boranoff, alias Bernstein, on the ground that he is a “disaffected and dangerous alien.” The prisoner has been incarcerated in Mount Eden jail to be detained at the pleasure of the authorities. As the arrest is a military one, the man will not. be charged, hut will be kept in internment. The arrest was carried out in an office in Queen Street occupied by the alien, who was conducting business as a masseur. A quantity of literature and correspondence, said to relate to Bolshevism, was seized by the police, and .this is being investigated. Recently Boranoff was charged with failing to notify a change of address as an alien, and on that occasion he was fined £2. It is now alleged against the man that he has advocated Bolshevism in street meetings; that he has spread broadcast Bolshevist literature; and lias striven to create disaffection amongst workers, and particularly amongst Jugo-Slavs.

“A CHEQUERED CAREER.”

The alien referred to in .the above message is known to the police as Leo Arthur Coplan Boranoff. His career in New Zealand can - be described appropriately as rather chequered, as it has been spent mostly iu k and out of gaol. Boranoff arrived in Wellington in 1909, having worked his passage from England as a fireman. Very shortly afterwards he was arrested for false pretences. . He was convicted and sentenced to three weeks’ imprisonment. To the court Boranoff told a romantic tale of his alleged experiences in Russia. He claimed that he belonged to a coterie of gentlemen styled as “The Hunger Marchers.” Ho said lie was a medical student, and had obtained his degrees on the Continent. Inquiries were made at Home by the police, and they revealed the fact that Boranoff had served a total of about threw years in gaol for various crimes in Scotland. These offences were spread over a period of from 1896 to-1906. The ©ffences were mainly of theft and fraud, which he perpetrated under the name of Albert Bernstein.

Since making his debut before the court in Wellington, Boranoff has got into trouble many times, and has served other terms of imprisonment. Part of his stock-in-trade was to pose as a medical student, and in support of this he produced photographs of himself wearing the elaborate regalia of the Russian Medical Corps. His claim that he was a Russian exile was elaborated by him in various addresses Ije gave in different parts of the country. His story was to the effect that he was exiled on account of the part he took in a demonstration before the Winter Palace at Moscow, He painted pictures of the horrors of Russian prisons and the punishments there, claiming that he had gone through much suffering and privation in this respect. Recently Boranoff has been acting as porter at various Auckland hotels, and later established, himself as a masseur. Some lime prior to this he had come out of gaol where he had served six months for false pretences. Boranoff is described as effimimite in appearance. He wears glasses, and generally has an astrakau cap.

IILS FOXTON CAREER

“Doctor” Boranoff is not unknown in Foxton, He was billed to appear in the old Town Hall here on June 22nd, 1909, under the management of a well-known theatrical hrm, as “Boranoff, the Russian Exile —an escaped political prisoner from Siberia, fresh from a triumphal tour of England.” His lecture was to include “dramatic and thrilling incidents q£ his awful imprisonment in Dreaded Siberia, from, whence he had thrice escaped.” It was said to be a veritable intellectual treat, explaining bis escape from torture to freedom. However, the lecture did not eventuate, as on the morning of June 22nd it was announced that the lecture had been postponed until a later date, as “Dr.” Boranoff had received a cablegram from Russia the day previous announcing the death of his mother, who had last seen him from a distance working in chains in Siberia. The reason for the lecture not being given, however, was that the firm backing him had found that he was not what he represented himself to be, and had consequently cancelled his engagement. Foxton heard no more of this' notorious character until September of the same year, when he appeared at Moutoa, where, passing himsel| off as a medical practitioner, he “treated” several Maoris for ills/ imaginary and otherwise, not forgetting to charge his patients well for his “professional services.” \Hc was ehargeef at the local Magistrate's Court, before Mr A. D. Thomson, S.M., ok October 6th, 1909, on two charges of false pretences in connection with same, to which he pleaded not guilty, and conducted his own defence. From the evidence for the prosecution oa that occasion Boranoff described himself as a doctor, and said he would prescribe for the whole family, as he perfectly understood

their diseases, the medicine for their treatment he would supply himself. He told the Maoris that he vvas a great chief, and by right should be Emperor of Russia. He had left Russia and visited England for the express purpose of seeing the King, who had asked him to put up as a member of the British Parliament. Boranoff was convicted on both charges, and sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment on each charge. Soon after his release from gaol, after serving the above he was ai-rested at Awaliuri on a charge of criminal assault, and was again sentenced to a terra .of imprisonment.