WOMAN'S IMPOSTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 254, 26 October 1932, Page 3

WOMAN'S IMPOSTURE.

RUSE TO OBTAIN MONEY.

DECEIVED FOUR MEN.

SIX MONTHS' IMPRISONMENT.

Posing as the wife of a well-to-do farmer, Mary Augusta Hodson, aged 50, defrauded a doctor, an optician, a dentist, and the principal of an engineering firm. Hodson appeared before Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., in the Police Court this morning on four charges of obtaining a total of £7 3/ in money by false pretences. She was also charged with being an incorrigible rogue with insufficient means of support. She admitted all charges. Detective Sergeant Kelly said Hodson first went to a city optician to have her eyes tested. She ordered a pair of spectacles worth £2 12/0 and said she would call and pay for them the following day. She then mentioned that she was "Mrs. M. A. Beale," of Awanui North, and that she had lost a crossed cheque for £45. She asked the optician to lend her a few pounds until she drew some more money. She was given £1 5/. Next accused went a Devonport doctor and asked to be examined. The doctor said he could not examine lier at the moment, whereupon she said she had specially come from Auckland for the purpose. She posed as "Mrs. Alack," of Ngatea, and said her hiieband was wealthy and milked 140 cows. Again she told the tale of the lost crossed cheqU» for £45 and asked for the loan of a few pounds. The doctor gave her 4/, but afterwards found her story Was untrue. He reported the matter to the police and Hodson was found spending the money given her by the doctor in the bar of an hotel, in company with a man. Another exploit of Hodson's Was to visit a dentist to order a set of false teeth. She related a similar "llai'dluck" story, and the dentist lent her £1 14/. Going to the office of the principal of an engineering firm, she ordered an expensive milking machine. The tale of the lost cheque "worked" again, and accused was lent £4. She even returned to the firm and asked the principal for a further pound or two in order to get her eyes tested. This time her request was refused. "Tliis woman lias no husband, but she has a fairly long list of previous convictions," added Mr. Kelly. "Her last sentence was one of six months for a similar ofl'ence. It is quite apparent that she will have to have a spell, or she will become a nuisance in the town." Hodson, who had nothing to say, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment.