NOT THE CZAR'S DAUGHTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 7, 9 January 1926, Page 34

NOT THE CZAR'S DAUGHTER.

» - BUT GtlLI-ED TRADESMEN BY FANCIFUL TALES. £3,000,000 ESTATE MYTH. Of course, she was not the daughter of the Tzar; her story of the Queen of Rumania's opposition to her claim to vast estates worth £3,000,000 was untrue; and her projected "yachting trip to Budapest" was only a supplement to her long string of legends. But she "got away with it," and made a good living at the expense of her many victims. Now she and her husband are to serve 15 months' hard labour. Lived By Frauds. Man and wife stood in the dock at the Hampshire Quarter Sessions at Winchester, revealed as John Kay Hardin and Olga Jeanette Hardin, of Ipley I Cottage, Marchwood, near Southampton, j They were charged with obtaining large ; sums of money —£2500 was mentioned — by fraud. "I can hardly conceive anyone being ! taken in by such stories," said the chair- j man of the Bench. '"The tales would not deceive a child of 10." I But the prisoners had actually gulled grown-ups, tradespeople, and others. From one victim they got £1098. With only 1/(1 to her credit in the bank, this bogus "Lady Blenheim Austen" sent a cheque for £4385 to Mr. Henry Wm. Sansom, _ Marchwood grocer, and asked for the loan of £200. "Advised by Lord Darling." In another letter Bhe told Mr. Sansom he was like a lifelong friend, and offered him a note for £1000 just to show how j straight and honest she was. She also | spoke of her case in the Law Courts, and said that Lord Darling was advising her. From a Jewish woman in London the Hardins obtained £40, telling her that the woman was to be presented at Court and the £40 was wanted for stamp-duty. She said the late Tzar, her father, would be pleased if he were alive by her lending her the £40. The couple met at Sheffield in 1916 and were married, going to reside at Southampton. Mrs. Hardin was married in the name of "Careweski, widow of Count Careweski," and gave her maiden name as Olga Romanoff. Before they met the woman had been in prison. Mrs. Hardin, whose real maiden name is Lillian Jeanette Vamplew, was born in 1891 at Laxton (Notts), and married a man named Ellis in 1910. He found that she was already married to a director of an insurance company. A bigamy charge followed, and she was three months in gaol. Hardin is a native of Glasgow. Since the marriage in 1910* the couple have lived together, three children being born. Both served 12 months' hard j labour for fraud at Southampton in 1921. j