EGG TRICK EXPOSED

Shannon News, 14 May 1926, Page 1

EGG TRICK EXPOSED

AN EX-OFFICER'S CRIMES. "Shell-shock as the cause of a salesman committing 26 frauds was too much for/ the Recorder, in a recent case heard at the Old .Bailey. "There comes a time," he observed i n addressing a prisoner, "when this argument may be stretched to the breaking point, i am all for helping- cases '.where a man's mind has been affiidted by the terrible experiences of the war. 1 do not bplieve, however, yours is a genuine case of shell-shock, but that you are a cunning impostor. After having several chances you entered on a perfect orgy of crime." The man to whom these words were addressed was Douglas Osborne Wilkinson, aged 30, and he pleaded guilty to four ingenious "egg" frauds. In addition he admitted 22 other cases in London and south of England. He had been in business with his brother in Kent as a" poultry dealer, and this, no doubt, gave him Ills idea. After leaving his brother he called on grocers and pretended that he was still a poultry dealer. He pitchdd a tale about being unable to. supply a regular customer owing to some misunderstanding',! and asked if he could purchase two or three hundred eggs, so as hot to disappoint the client.

Giving the name of his customer, who would be well known to the grocer, accused invariably asked for the eggs to be sent. Then lie would intercept the messenger, take the eggs to the customei-—with whom he had previously arranged to sell, them at a cheap price—receive cash in payment, and depart to another district leaving the grocer who had supplied the eggs to whistle for his money. Sometimes the messenger was shrewd enough to follow . Then Wilkinson wrote out an I O U, put it an envelope ,and gave the boy sispence to take it back to, his employer. Tricks in Thirteen Towns. Wilkinson played this trick successfully in some 13 Altogether he netted £lO4. Occasionally, he varied the scheme by giving a "dud" cheque in payment for the eggs before re-selling for cash. On January 22 he went to the house of Miss Butler, Dulwich, a lady who befriends ex-soldiers, saying he was Captain Sellers, of .the Royal Fusiliers. He was given tea, and decamped with the lady's chequ-3 book. A few days later he got 600 eggs with one of the cheques.

Educated at a higher grade .school,' and a member ( of the International schoolboys' football team, Wilkinson obtained a good situation-as a clerk. In August, 1914, he joined the Royal Garrison Artillery, and the following December was given a commission in the 15th Royal Fusiliers (City of London) Regiment. He went to Cornbridge University for training,, and in 1915 sailed overseas. In 1916 he was invalided home, suffering from shellshock, and admitted to hospital. While on sick leave he becme infatuated with an actress, and dancer, whom he subsequently married. The marriage was against the wishes of his parents ,and did , not turn out happily. ' A Career of Crime. In 1916 Wilkinson was bound over a.t Dover for stealing a motor bicycle and cashiered from the army. He applied for re-enlistment as a cadet in the Guards, but when his character was investigated, he was not accepted He then got into the Army Pay Corps. In l'9lß he was bound over at Marylebone for larceny as a servant, and again, in 1921 for stealing from a lodger. In 1923 he had four months' imprisonment at Chestunt for fraud .while in 1934 he had sentences of four months at North Shields for fraud,. and three months at Warrington for stealing a . watch from a fellow r lodger. The prisoner was now sentenced to three years' penal servitude, the Recorder observing that if there was any truth .in/the suggestion that he was different from other men, he would receive proper medical assistance in prison. Two experienced doctors, however, had stated that they saw no -signs* of abnormality about him.