AMAZING RECORD OF GER= ALD KENNAWAY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 219, 20 October 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

AMAZING RECORD OF GER= ALD KENNAWAY.

UNDERGRADUATE WHO BECAME "KING OF THE FORGERS." BETTER THAN "JIM THE PENMAN." Bank managers and cashier* throughcut England are greatly relieved to know that the " King of the Forgers' has just got a ten years' "stretch." This redoubtable criminal is Gera'd Kenu iway, a man who, judging from his appearance and manners, would bo taken »y anyone to l>e a wealthy in an about tcwa.

He is the son of a famous West Country family, which has given many ot its members to the service of the State and went tc a great public school an 1 fiom there to Cambridge. Hi; scholastic record was excellent, almost brilliant, and tl ere are many v. ell-known n.en to-day, bansrters, stockbrokers, rnd officers, who, in their university days, were proulT to tall Gerald Kenn iway fnund. Just how ho started on his career • f cnme no one quite knows. When he left Cambridge he had no particular object in lile, and beeamfe a frequenter ot the West End with monev to burn. Ho was soon the victim of sharper men than himself, but in course ot time he Tf.ssed from the status of "pigeon" to "hawk," and became friendly with tli« class of criminal whom the police know as the "heads." To all appearance?, t.'iese men are refined gentlemen, with a great deal of leisure and i.o occupation. Actually they are expert forgers, card tricksters, confidence men. They discovered that Kennaway had ,i pretty talent with the pen; he couid copy anything put before him on sigtit. He cVd not have to maTvii elaborate tracings and many tKals. Within iiv? imnutes he could produce a signaturs vhicli would pass the most lynx-eye J cashiers. From that point his descent along the road of crime was fairly rapid. A number of forged cheques were successfully negotiated with man> banks, but irn 1900 the police first got ri ' I'is track and ho was arrested for forging and uttering a cheque for £IBOO or Robartes' Bank. Ho received eighteen months'hard labour on j charge • f ''conspiracy"; his /accomplices were, revor caught, but detectives found Rennaway in possession of a safe deposit cabinet, in which were stored a/1 manner of disguises and clear a videnee that he was the associate of many wellknown rogues. Two years later Kennaway was again ui trouble through his facility with tho pen._ This time it was a cheque for 1 8<5 drawn on Messrs. Prescott, Dimsllhle's Bank. His brother, another university undergraduate, was his accomplice on til's occasion, and both were sentenced to seven years' penal serviti de. By now Kennaway was recognised not only by his associates but by the police to be the cleverest forger they had ever had to deal with. THE POULTRY FARMER. When Kennaway cama out of gaol his f'iends made a serious effort to reclaim hm, .although he had previously refused to go at their expense to "Australia. He was taught poultry farnrng and fitted up with an establishment of Ics own at Crockham Hill, Kent. So that he should have everyc hance it vas arranged that he should report himself, while on license, by letter. T;> appearances he had abandoned his old way of lining and was the enthusiastic agriculturist pure and simple, with lie thought beyond fowls an.i no other cesiro than to find the bast market for liU eggs.

But once aagin. in London and in big prov'no'al cities, banks were complaining that cheques which customers remediated, although they themselves had i-.reat difficulty in detecting the forgery, were making their appearance and vere causing the banks considerable loss. As a matter of form Kennaw tv was ''looked up," but lie played the poultry farmer to the life, and tho police were compelled to believe that u new star had risen in the civniind firmament. They did not altogether abandon the thought that the innt,cent-look-ing agriculturist was behind these reall\ marvellous forgeries, and at last a cheque drawn on Messrs. Coutts' Bank foi £917 gave them a clue. Kennaway was arrested and placed on his trial, but a jury I'efused to convict. In the meantime his poultry la -m was thoroughly searched, and there many incriminating documents were found showing that Kennaway had been in close touch with tMj "heads" for many months On his acquittal Kenraway disappeared for a while, but two years later —1910 he was arrested again for cheque frauds. He had obtained a cheque for £8 from a North London publican and had changed it to £80; tiiat cost him five years' penal servitude.

It was probably only because he was j ressed for money that he was caught; for li s previous experience had taught I'm that the only way to keep oil 3 of th clutches of the law was not to ap rear in any transaction. He trusted no ene. His reputation was such that criminals came from all parts of tho < c-untry to him. His procedure was always the same. He would say in effect : You want a cheque for so much, do you? Well, put the cheque and th.j specimen signature there and como back in a couple of hours t'me." The cheque would be put down and the acecmpl'ce would return in the specified t'me to find the cheque drawn and s gned for the amount asked for, lying ;n the place he had left it. But there v as no evidence that Konnaway hat touched it. For tis service the forger would receive an agreed percentage of the proceeds. but 'f this was paid to him in ii( tes he would employ another man tu ; i-ange the notes into gold, paying a h'gh price for the service and deeming the money well expended sc long as ti.ere was nothing by which his connection with the forgery could he tlaced. He came out of gaol on license l'-om Ins 1910 conviction in July, 1914. Almost immediately forgeries liegan again on a big scale in London and in the provinces. The detectives were convinced that Kennaway was responsible lor them, but because of his precaution.-, lie could never be pinned down. He was even detained on suspicion, but lad to lie released: he was far too valuable to the criminal community for anyone to give him away, and it is estimated that during the last twelve months l-e has h. en instrumental in dcfraud'ng banks of upwards ol £HXX). His undoing w,as brought about it last by the "splitting" of accomplices. When sentencing two men to Ion:* tirins of imprisonment for cheque frail ! ••! the Old Ha'ley a few months ago Mr. Justice Darling said the poire realised that they were not the principals and lad a very good idea who was; if they <ared to assist the ends of justice it might be better for them. They did, :.n I as -i icsult Kennaway has been se;i-feii'-ed to ten yeais' penal servitude for l' r ging Hi roe signatures to a wi!l. Konnaivay, according to the evidence, had made an exception to h's genera! rule and bad allowed someone to see him c •mailt tho forgery. One of the convict witn 's'-os said : "It was a joke to l oe Kennaway wriie a gentleman's an t r . lad v'; 'ignature at Hie s\me time.' ■sennawey has now IL'O months' complete leisure in wlv'eh to ruminate upon the fine j.o'nt-i of that joke.