MAN WITH A KINK.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 October 1919, Page 3

MAN WITH A KINK.

PREYED ON HOTEL GUESTS. NOT FORGETTING THE LADIES. A well-dressed and well-groomed man,' James Francis Morrison (26), came before Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M., at Auckland last week, and admitted a series of thefts of raincoats belonging to the male guests at hotels, and of underclothing of superfine quality from the wardrobes of lady guests. He admitted in all neariy a dozen thefts, which included four raincoats, and four lots of ladies' underwear, in addition to a gold brooch, a silver teapot, and some face towels in Auckland in July last, the teapot, towels, and one lot of underwear from an hotel in Rotorua in August, and the gold brooch and a particularly fine assortment of crepe de chine and silk underwear from hotels in Auckland in September. It was the last lot which proved his undoing, for the disappearance of an outfit of crepe-de-chine underwear, rained at £l3 10s from a lady guest recently arrived from England with her soldier husband, and Plain Clother Constable McHugh, was called in to make inquiries. His suspicions fell on Morrison, who was interviewed, and when the constable made the discovery that the man was wearing one of the intimate crepe-de-chine garments, he felt he was on the right track. An arrest was made, and inquiries into Morrison's antecedents disclosed that he had been employed at several hotels in Auckland and Rotorua, and he was eventually connected with the theft of a considerabl number of articles which had been missed.

When accused came before the court. Chief-Detective McMahon stated that the man had only been about twelve months in New Zealand, having come from England, and inquiries confirmed that he had been in the'habit of wearing some female clothing he stole, indicating a mental kink, while his veracity was most unreliable. He had also implicated a man-ied woman and her son in his thefts by inducing them to accept some of the stolen articles. Accused was sentenced to reformative detention tor a period not exceeding three vear9.