A CLEVER IMPOSTOR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1642, 24 March 1884, Page 2

A CLEVER IMPOSTOR.

One of those clever impostors who occasionally turn up in colonial towns came to grief in Christchurch to-day. He appeared in the guise of a medical man, and, as vouchers for his pretentions, he brought with him to Christchurch testimonials from several of the Dunedin physicians that for nine days during the absence of the Resident Surgeon of the Dunedin Hospital, he temporarily discharged in a satisfactory manner .the duties appertaining to that office, t Here he called himself " Dr Tuke," and in support of his title he used to exhibit cards impressed with that name, and which were printed in London, Ho honored the Empire Hotel with patronage, and treated his friends liberally, and seems to,have escaped suspicion until he ran up a bill of £ls. In the meantime he lived in a manner becoming his assumed position, .and was in the habit of visiting

the seaside,. ordering carriages and so on, for all of which he forgot to pay. As in the case of the Dunedin Hospital a locum te«« was required for a Canterbury institution, and "Dr Tuke" was an applicant for the position, and, it is said, was very nearly obtaining it. Suspicion, however, in regard to •him arose in Dunedin, and some of the Ohristchurch medical men received communications which lias the effect of blighting' the "doctor's" professional prospects in Canterbury. : : He was pressed for payment of his hotel bill, and offered a bogus order for £l6, with which he wished to pay his debt and to receive the balance of £1 in return. He was told that money was wanted from-him, but ultimately the order was taken and 10s extra given. The order was presented, and nothing was known' of the "doctor/' nor'could the agents be found either here or in Dunedin, through: whose hands his "remittances" were to come. "So his rather brilliant career was brought to an untimsly close by his being arrested under the Vagrant Ace as a rogue and vagabond. It is now known that he had not long been in Dunedin, and that in the ship in which he came to the colony he was known as "Dr Francis." When arrested there was found in his possession three pleading letters, which showed that imposing on hotelkeepers was not the only wrongs he had done since his arrival in the colony. It is supposed that lie is not a physician himself, but is the son of a well known medical man in London, and that it was his father's cards he used for the purpose of supporting his assumed titles and character. When arrested by Detective Neill the "doctor" very naturally professed great indignation at the outrage to which he was being subjected. .