STORY OF A £27,000 HEIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 228, 23 September 1920, Page 4

STORY OF A £27,000 HEIR.

FRAUDULENT NEW ZEALANDEB MUST If AERY TO GET THE MONEY. THREE SISTERS STRANDEIX. (From Orar Special Correspondent.) LONDON, August Sβ. A party of three women and two men from Lancashire, who found themselves stranded in Bristol without funds, have told the police of an alleged imposture. ■ The nomeji are sisters, one of whom, a Bolton mill girl, says that four months ago she met a plausible stranger, wh«j, claimed to he a New Zealand doctor, visiting England to collect a fortune of £27,000 left him by his uncle. A condition of the bequest, he said, was that ha must marry an English girl. The man, who gave the name of Edward Harcourt, and produced "officiallooking" documents, finally persuaded the mill girl to marry kirn, and later, , she says, induced her sisters' husbands, one an engineer and the other a tramway car driver, to sell their homes, buy expensive outfits, including silk dresses for the women, and start for New Zealand. Harcourt was given £400 to get first-class fares in the steamer Wiltshire, which Harcourt said was due to sail, from Avonmouth Docks, Bristol. Going to Bristol, where the party stayed in an hotel in Victoria Street, I Harcourt stated he had got the poet of I ship's doctor and would go on board a ■ day in advance. At Bristol station, on the way to Avonmouth, Harcourt, the story goes, borrowed from one of Ms brothers-in-law a gold watch chain in place of his own silver one, and to give him a "more promising appearance." Harcourt's shabby shoes were exchanged on the platform for his brother-in-law's new pair. When the party, which included ft ear months' old baby, reached Avonmouth next morning Harcourt could not be found. The Wiltshire had sailed a week before, and the party found themselves left with a few shillings, homeless, and, out of work. Friends wexe communis cated with and the party returned tq Bolton. The police have issued toe foDoidng official description of Harcourt:— "Edward Harcourt, 34, height sft IQ or 11 in, thin build, dark-haired, cleans shaven, of good address. Believed to be a native of New Zealand. When last seen was wearing a blue check suit, straw hat, and brown brogue shoes. He-has a eet of false teeth." The man wanted is stated to be a fairly good pianist and singer. Asked vhy he thought he was a doctor, one of the men said he always carried a case of instruments, and on one occasion when the baby was seized with a convulsion he treated it so ekilfully that the father had no doubt he saved the child'e life.