"I'M BRYCE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 149, 25 June 1936, Page 8

"I'M BRYCE."

IMPOSTOR GAOLED.

HOTEL PORTER'S LOSS.

_OAM TO "TROTTING DRIVER."

TO PUT ON WINNING HORSE

The story of how a man employed on ,i public works camp, spending a few .lays' holiday in Auckland, successfully oasscd himself off to a hotel porter as •J. Brvee, jun., the well-known Christchurch trotting trainer and driver, who had a successful outing at the Auckland trots on Saturday and Tuesday, obtained £i> from the porter and was arrested on a fraud charge following a fight with his victim, was told in the Police Court this morning when Eric Reed Von Stunner, aged 29, appeared before Mr. W. R. McKean. S.M. Von Sturmei, for whom Mr. F. W. Schramm appeared, pleaded guilty to a charge of obtaining £5 from Alovsius George Murphy, on June 22, by falsely representing that he was J. Bryce, jim., the trotting driver from Cliri'stchurch. Invited to Dinner. Senior Detective Hall said the complainant was a night porter at the City Hotel. At 1.30 a.m. on Saturday last Von Stunner walked into the hotel and announced that he was '"Bryce, from Christchurch," and that ho had brought the trotting horses De Soto and Mocast to race at the trots at Epsom that day. Von Sturmer said he was driving the horses in their races. "Accused invited the complainant to have dinner with him at another Auckland hotel the following day, and complainant accepted," said Mr. Hall. "The complainant, on the Sunday, took accused for a motor drive, and also took him to his boardingliouse, where he introduced accused to his friends as 'Mr. Bryce,' the trotting driver. Accused never denied that he was Bryce, and even when a photograph of the real Mr. Bryce was shown to him, with the remark that it did not look like him, Von Sturmer said, 'Oh, that one was taken when I had my teeth out.'" "Put a 'Spinnaker' On." "On Monday," continued Mr. Hall, accused told complainant to put a 'spinnaker' on Star Pronto, which was running on Tuesday. Murphy knew that a 'spinnaker' meant £5. He gave accused this sum to invest on the horse, which eventually won. Accused said he would put the money on by commission, explaining to complainant that he would get more by this method. Murphy next saw accused on the Tuesday, when Von Sturmer told him that lie had £22 to collect. Von Sturmer arranged to meet Murphy the following morning at 11 o'clock to pay him this money. Before he left Murphy, accused borrowed £1, saying that he might be "having a hard evening" that night. The appointment on the following day was not kept by accused, and Murphy made a few inquiries from the Trotting Association, and actually met the rsil Mr. Bryce, and found that he had been the victim of a fraud. Yesterday, accused came back and was told by Murphy that he nould either pay up or be placed in the hands of the police. Von Sturmer told Murphy he 'could, go to the police if he wished to. Complainant then caught hold of accused and a fight ensued, but this was stopped by others. Detective Gillum then arrived on the scene and arrested Von Sturmer." Senior Detective Hall said Von Sturmer had several previous convictions, hut had not been in trouble for syc years. Drink Advanced as Excuse. On Von Sturmer's behalf Mr. Schramm submitted that accused, a married man, had been working hard on a Public Works camp in the country, but since he had come to the city he had been on a drinking bout. He was willing to repay the money obtained from complainant if given an opportunity. Drink was undoubtedly the' cause of Ilia trouble.

"That could hardly be so, as his false representations werev continued over three days," said the magistrate.

"He liad been drinking all the time," replied counsel.

The magistrate said that although it appeared that Von Sturmer had made some sort of an effort to go straight for six years, he doubted whether he was worth another chance. After adjourning the case to confer with the probation officer, Mr. McKean, at a later stage, said it did not seem to be of any use giving Von Sturmer another opportunity. The report he had received was not satisfactory. "I'm afraid a term of imprisonment is the only thing in this case —I think I should be making it a longer term," he said, in sentencing Von Sturmer to one month's imprisonment.