A FRAUDULENT NURSE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 80, 28 December 1907, Page 2

A FRAUDULENT NURSE.

WOMAN FINANCIER. Sirs. Clirissie Price, tho good-looking liurso against v. 1 horn many charges of victimising tradesmen wc-ro brought at tho Nottingham Assizes, was iound guilty and sentenced to two years'.imprisonment. Tho woman maintained almost to tho last tho appearance of comparative composure which has characterised ! her' " bearing throughout tho trial, and wont into tho box as a witness on her own. behalf, Sho gave evidence at considerable length in support of tiio defeuco that her aim was to obtain an -honest living, and that sho intended to pay for tho goods supplied to her by tradesmen. ' Her story secured the sympathy of the jury, and, m finding her.guilty, they added a recommendation to mercy. Tho .verdict" was lolloweil,. however,;by a'loiig" recital by a detective of her..previous reword, which had r not been given in evidence, and after hoaring this tho iudgo, in' passing. sentenco. characterised .her as "an accomplished swindler," adding that ho was sure tlio jury, would not have, put forward ..their .-rocom- , mendation to'mercy had'they been acquainted with; tho woman's record. ;Mrs. Price'is tho daughter of a well-to-do Methodist minister,' bnce an alderman "on tho Carnarvon County Council..: Sho received a' first-class 'education, arid ban. speak'' four languages. : . ' AN; ORPHAN. - ; Sho was left an orphan while in her teens, and although- hpr-father-left her a substantial sum of money, it becamo'iiecbssary for her!to. earn her . living. Sho chose- tho occupation. of nursing, and, after .obtaining her diploma, servod in hospitals at .Leicester, Lough-; borough, and Nottingham. ''. ~' "' Her first acquaintance \with-tho. police was', in 1899, when she was:, arrested in 'Edin-, burgh on a charge of 'obtaining goods by : falso protences, .and fined £25 or twenty' days' imprisonment. Sho went to prison, and. on iior release' was again arrested for siniilar , offences ill London. This time sho was sentenced to' seventeen m6nths' hard' labour. .' Soon after she was released she was en-' gaged as a nurse by Lady Wimborne, obtaining tho situation by falser referenoes.' Further dishonesty, however,'led to her dismissal, although' no prosecution' was- initiated. ■ ' " Next she bccamo the 'ntlrse' to Mri B'onamy Price, the son of a clergyman'." 'Nurse and patient fell in love, and' agreed to"' elope" to Brighton, ivherethey were married -at the Presbyterian church on .March 18,-1902. - Mr. Price at tho time was •an - apprentice to a Sheffield' engineering Armband "wheh his friends learnt of his marriago they're-' fused to have'anything'to do with'hirii. V For over five years they managed to live comfortably. Twice they became'hopelessly involved financially, hilt were rescued,by the husband's parents.. Twice they wentbut returned. ' ' ■' v : i -BORROWED £1500. ;V On returning tho second tiiSe' in' 1906," they went, to liveafc' Tunbridge -Wells, where the woman negotiated on her husliSrid's be-" half for the purchase of'a motor-car business. She'.represented that she had £2000' in the bank which,she could not get at just then, and on this representation succeeded in borrowing £1500.. . i ; Later on sho .hired ;a motor-car and o£ tained an advance of £250; from'n moneylender on' it. She obtained two istims, ' duo of £150 and another of .£450, -from different persons on a rovorsion due to her husband on his mother's death. ■ The police declared that all the financial operations were conducted by,.the. woman. Her husband, they said," appoared-to. be .a nobody.' _ Early in the summer ' the .' pair went .to Nottingham, the J .vendor'of the. niotor-car business at Tunbridge' 'Wells',' having again taken possession' after discharging .liills to tho amonnt- .'^t,. Nottingham the woman victimfeSl' tradesmen'."whdlt;'Sale. raiije. ing. of] mpi}ey~'biv.''tlie,"fgootls' she obtained- from .t ; h"em...by.. ! 'pa , iv?i'ing'." . Eventually .slip left Nottingham, for Birkenhead, and there she was discovered living in good stylb,..and .was:arrested."