A DON JUAN AND HIS VICTIMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 April 1922, Page 12

A DON JUAN AND HIS VICTIMS.

MATRIMONIAL ADVENTURE’S OF CUNNING SWINDLER. One of the smartest crooks in England, who in his time has been twice convicted of bigamy and on other occasions of obtaining large sums of money by false pretences, received a well-merited punishment at Bow Street Police Court, when the magistrate passed a sentence of twelve months’ hard labor upon James Carter (37), on two charges of attempting to obtain money by fraud. James Carter, or William Alexander "Welsh, or any other of the innumerable aliases under which he has been preying on the community, is something of a Don Juan in the criminal world. A well-dressed man of handsome bearing, over six feet in height, Carter was of so gentlemanly an appearance th-t few of his victims suspected him. At the time of his arrest he was posing as a solicitor. He had been advertising in highly-respectable publications for men and women willing to undertake a district agency for a wellknown brand of seeds. Replies were many. “Of course, you know,” he said, gravely, to a canny farmer, who had applied for an agency, “it will be necessary for you to furnish me with security and reference as to your character. My firm is particular whom it appoints. There must be some tangible evidence of your financial standing” Sad to say, the farmer parted with a hundred of his best. He wrote out a cheque then and there, which “Mr. Carter” accepted with seeming reluctance, and went off, promising that the matter would have his most earnest attention.

In the meantime Mr. Carter had other fish to fry. As evidence of his versatility, he was also advertising in a London daily, saying that he invited applications for the position of manageress of the railway buffet at Cambridge Station. A victim duly arrived, in the shape of a. young lady from Horsham, in Sussex. Mr. Carter, after long deliberation. thought she might do for the job. But the applicant must be prepared to lodge security of some description. Did the lady possess £5O? The lady did, and, being anxious to acquire such a promising berth, went back home and duly despatched the artful Mr. Carter a remittance of £5O. But suspicion had been aroused and the sequel was a call by two C.I.D. officers at his office. When investigation came to be made by those people whose business it is, quite a fearsome record to the credit — or discredit—of Mr. Carter was released. Those all-betraying finger-prints told a sorry tale of many previous lapses into crime. Mr. Carter, or, to be precise, William Alexander Welsh, had been “inside,” as they say in professional circles, many, many times, in connection with matters ranging from fraud to bigamy on a large scale. One way and another, this specious scoundrel laid hands on some thousands of pounds during the past few years by various forms of fraud. He specialised largely in appealing to women. Cleverly would he convey the impression that he had taken quite a liking to the woman. There would be an invitation to a fashionable West End restaurant, where over a bottie of wine and an enjoyable little dinner tentative proposals of matrimony would be forthcoming.