THE TRAGIC STORY OF A RETURNED N.Z. COLONIST. FLEECED BY SHARKS IN THE CITY. DESTITUTION AND SUICIDE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 397, 28 August 1889, Page 6

THE TRAGIC STORY OF A RETURNED N.Z. COLONIST. FLEECED BY SHARKS IN THE CITY. DESTITUTION AND SUICIDE.

The story- of the guileless "New Zealand colonist Lewie, who brought Home his little savings only to be callously robbecTof them in the city, and driven to destitution and suicide, is one of the saddes t t and most exemplary I have read lately.' The case attracted'but little attentioh till after the coroner's inquiry into,the unfortunate man's death -last Friday.' '^When, however, the unusual and, highly significant character of the verdict of the jury set the press all agog, Mi' Marks, of the "Financial News,-' opened the ball' by narrating the circumstances of the tragedy , " Mr William Henry -Lewis," he explains, . " was a simple-minded man of about 40, who had niadea 'little, money- 1 in. /jSTevv Zealand. Wjhett- •- business, .became stagnant ,tl*e colony he can>e-honie r witb hrs wife and h*s -little savings, -and- Jookec^ /round' fojr some occupation. ■"Towards *tihe( dose of January he saw this adverfiiseuoen.t in the "Daily " Tclegiaph ": — Clerk and -assistant -secrelai.v required. Must invest £J 00 t6' £2\iO. Salary, £2 10b per week, -progressive. — Address C.C., &c. He replied, and wa< asked to call on Frederick and Co. at 164, Queen Victoriastreet. There -he met JVlr Elson James Humphreys, and v there the lirsc act in the tragedy was played. 1 -""It- is- needless, to rehearse eachst'epinth deception practised by Humphreys on poor -\Lewis^ The victim was'appointed-aesistant-secretary to the Great Brf-tain. Co-operative and Industrial Printing and Publishing , Company at a salary of A'2,>los J a'*.week, and* was asked to' deposit .- £l5O, 'as eecurity;Joi\ large sums of "mofiey which he wa"s, tgld" would be under hia charge. All the' documents in connection with these transactions were signdd ' by Els«^n James Humphreys, atld by 'him alonK Falsehood after falsehood was told by Humphreys, sometimes about the company, sometimes about its pretended officials, occasionally about' property alleged to belong to Humphreys, and now and then about his family affairs. \ Mr Lewis received two or three weeks' salary, and then the hupplies stopped. One Saturday Humphreys bofrdwed £20 from Mr "Lewis, and of that loan only £2 was , returned. Poor Lewis "thus lost £158, which, repre-' sented his whole available funds, and got no salary. From April until his death he divided his time between trying to obtain ( employment in the city,— no easy task for a man of 40— and attempting to obtain back ,some of the money of which he had been defrauded.' Both eflorts were vain. If he called at the office ot the pretended printing company he was met with a request to dall OYj Mr Humphreys at his house in Fulham, snd there Jn^tuXn he was.referred back to^che office. To jkeep a rpp^p^er; his head, and' to keep his^vVife and nhnself . from starvation, Lewis parted with his-furniture, till latterly he had to' sleep Qli the floor. Me hadino friends'iri this couM'ry ;' but the kindness of some neighbours helped to keep the \y,olf a little <lis£ance JV fr'om the door. But, at last, swindled out of his meagre means, pushed ivboufc frp.m' pillar to post by the aut^oij^pf hjs. .misfortunes, starving and in despair, poor Lewis shot himself through the head., ( l ' i % ' " " - • ' The'coronePs jury which in vestigatedthe circumstances ,uhder which Lewis took his life has placed the responsibility in the righb;. spot. The verdict was that the deceasedtook his life during a -fit of- temporal-^ Jin-' sanity, and that he was driven to this act by the conduct of JEl&on James Humphreys. And the jury would add a rider *that the. Public Prosecutor be called' on *to " take action in the case. This, verdict is possibly a little- irregular, buo never was -there one more just. The tone of the !6xoulpatory letters which Humphreys wrote to this journal and his conduct at the inquest yesterday were sufficient to fahow the stamp of the man. He is one of those sordid adventurers .who form one of bhe greatest pests of -the city of London, and, cad as it is, Mr •'Lewis's death may notbe unavailing to others. : We have, times without number, exposed the doings pf men of ' the same type^ as Humphreys, who ruin the podrest ,of inves-, tors * and wreck their- households. . We have begged the Public Prosecutor to come to the aid of these unhappy victims. While in one' integral part of the, United Kingdom the Crown finds its highest duty to protect its subjects from fraud, in England' the' poor man seeks redress in vain. Unless he can^ prosecute at his 6w'n expense the swindlers- go free. Possibly Lewis's death' may stir the PublicFrosecato'r ahd the Government to put an end to such intolerable scandals." •

, August 21. London papers received by the direct mail contain accounts. of the suicide of Lewis, an ex-New Zealander, who had ;been defrauded of his raone> by a man named Humphreys. The " Times " says : — LewLs was for some years employed as a clerk An a goods office at Dunechn in 1883, and Was transferred to the -."VVaiinea plains, railway when the Government tookoverthe line. He was appointed station-master at Riversdale,. and, on leaving the service entered the employment,^ M.r Leary, ,He was afterwards in the commercial department of the " Times " till ho left for Home last November. , Mr.JVlills, ex : .CoHec,t6r of- Customs, writes out soliciting subscriptions to enable the widow to'bring an action against those,who defrauded her husbapd. at ' * !

In a debate in the-House of .Gammons on June 3, on the, Luggacnrren* etfictiQns, the Government narrowly escaped defeat^ the voting: in their favour being 46 ' members. In the discussion which took place, Mr W. OBrien made a powerful speech ; in answer to which Mr Balfour admitted that the sufferings of the tenants on the, Luggacurren Estate were very great ; but he thought they were to be attributed to the times. Mr Balfour caused loud cheers from the Irish members when he stated -that if they had an Irish Parliament to-morrow they would not refuse support/ to the authorities of law and order,. On this 'estate, the difference between the rent charged by the landlord and that; fixed by the Government ' may be judged bythe followinjg : — Michael Corcoran : Landlord's rent," £49 i6s j Government valuation, £37 ss. In this case the house had been built by the tenant's father-in-law, and the land r had been reclaimed. The next eviction was at Kieran Brennans place r the figures being £31 5s 6d landlord's rent, and £19 15s Government valuation. Pat.* Kelly's* was the next place attacked, 'and an enormous difference existed between the rent and valuation ; while the one was £23 14s the othei^was £12 10s. There were eight tenants evicted, and in each case there was a great difference between the landlord's rent and that fixed by Government valuation. To carry out the evictions of these tenants a force of 100 soldiers and 150 policemen was told off for duty.