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Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 241, 31 December 1927, Page 22

at the Richmond registry office, and on the 7th of that month he called at the office and gave notice of the marriage, declaring himself to be a bachelor. On the pretence of needing it to get a wedding ring of the same size he obtained possession of the engagement ring from the girl, and also borrowed the sum of £22 from her, on the plea that he had forgotten to get a new cheque-book from his bank. On the night before the day fixed for the wedding he went to her in a state of great excitement, and showed her a letter which purported to be from his father, telling him that an aunt, who was very ill, was leaving him a large sum of money on condition that h© was still single when she died.

He represented that this aunt was worth a great deal of money, certainly more than half a million, and that she was a very erratic woman. If she discovered that he was married before she died she would cut him right out of her will; whereas, if he was still single, and she could not last many weeks, he would probably get the lot as he was a great favourite with her. “I hate to suggest it,” said Francis, “but if you will agree to postpone the wedding until she is dead, I will make you a personal present of two thousand, which is to be absolutely your own, to spend as you like.” Wife and Sweetheart

The girl suggested that, in the event of her receiving the money, she would lik© to buy a house with it for her parents, and to that plan Francis agreed, saying; “That is just the thing you would do, you dear girl, and I will see that you have something more for yourself.”’ The wedding was accordingly postponed, and the very next day Francis failed to keep an appointment which he had made to meet the girl for the purpose of returning to her her engagement ring and her £22.

She did not see him again until he appeared in tho dock at Barnet Sessions, when she sat in th© body of the court with his real wife listening to the story of his varied life and many loves.

From the time of parting with the girl, Francis shook the dust of Richmond from his feet, and did not even visit his wife and family. His wife had been alarmed at his absence and reported him as missing to the local police, at the same tim© as the sweetheart's brother reported the strange disappearance of the defaulting lover.

Francis appeared at St. Albans, where he posed as a gentleman of means, who interested in the forming of a greyhound racing company, and for a few weeks he lived in style, while he was supposed to be in negotiation for land which was suitable for a course.

Leaving a trail of worthless cheques behind him, he moved on to Barnet, and in much the same way scattered cheques which had not the slightest hope of being met. In all he confessed to having received about £SOO within the month of August through the medium of bad cheques. So far from him having any great expectations from either his father or his aunt, ho has made certain that neither of these persons has a penny piece to leave him when the time comes for them to pass over. Neither 'of them is wealthy, and what little they might have had, Francis has drained them of long since with his plausible yarns of being in tight corners. Time and again his father* has been called upon to pay just debts and smooth over other, less clean matters in order to keep his son from well-deserved prison. To the West End police Francis is well known, and he has twice gone to prison in connection with night clubs of a shady character which were run by a woman, and in the management of which h© assisted. When h© took over the control of the club known as the “Seventeen” in Covent Garden, he was watched by the police, but though the club became notorious, from the class of people who patronised it, and the persistent rumours of the ease with which intoxicants might be obtained at any hour, it was some time before lie could be

caught in the act, so clever was his system of checking his habitues. ~ Francis was well on the way to making a fortune for his club, when an astute detective managed to gain entry as the partner of a regular woman habitue. The detective cheerfully paid £3 a bottle for inferior whisky, which had cost Francis much less than 10s, for he was able to discover the secrets of the club, organise a well-timed raid, and get a well-merited conviction of six months’ imprisonment and £SO