SWINDLER’S FAIRY TALES

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 November 1930, Page 10

SWINDLER’S FAIRY TALES

AMAZING STORY pF CAREER. Michael Dennis Corrigan, aged 45, the accomplished and cunning adventurer who, on September 16, was found guilty at the Old Bailey, London, of fraudulently converting money entrusted to him for the purchase of oil shares, was sentenced on the following .day by Judge Gregory to five years' penal servitude. The case for ths prosecution was that Corrigan represented himself as employed by the Standard Oil Company at a salary of £56,000 a year, and that he obtained nearly £lB,OOO ■from Mrs Mary Louise Harrold —a widow, of Lambourn,' Berkshire—Mr Thomas Oswald Noad, and Mr Derek Cannon for investment in oil shares. He was found not guilty on one count, relating to £4OOO, concerning Mr Cannon.

Detective-Sergeant Winter, of Scotland Yard, told a remarkable story of Corrigan’s activities. He said there was one previous conviction recorded against him in Brussels, on December 6, 1926, when he was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment for passing under an assumed name and ordered to leave Belgian territory within ten days after serving the sentence. Sergeant Winter continued:—“Cor rigan is a married man, having married a Miss Prowse at the registry office, Romford, Essex, on April 29, 1916, giving his name as Kittering Edward Cassidy, and describing himself as a munition engineer. There is one child by the marriage, a girl, and Corrigan deserted his wife and child some time in 1921 and went to live with a woman ho was travelling with in Belgium. “Tho first knowledge the police have regarding him —with any degree of certainty—is that he joined the steamer Kanow in August, 1915, as a second-grade steward, stating he was born in Jersey. He served as steward also in the steamer Marie Leonhardt, taking his discharge at the Tyne on October 13, 1915. “Corrigan then married. At the time he was employed by Messrs Armstrong Whitworth as a munition worker. He obtained employment at Woolwich Arsenal on October 18, 1916, and was discharged from there on’August 29, 1918, his services being no longer required. He then went to the Ministry of Munitions, remaining there until December, 1919, and while there he frequently described himself as Major Cassidy. It would then appear that he became a partner in a London firm and that a complaint was received in August, 1921, from the Monmouth police that Cassidy, as he was then known, had obtained a large sum of money from a person residing in that town. “Inquiries were made as to Corrigan’s statements about concessions in Mexico and his statement that he was a general in the Mexican Army. The Mexican authorities stated that they had no knowledge of him nor of any concessions granted to him and that they regarded him as n imposter and a swindler.

OVER £lOO,OOO OBTAINED. “During the past five years at least he has exploited his supposed concessions in Mexico and his connections with various oil companies to such a degree that he has obtained to my knowledge more than £lOO,OOO by his fraudulent representations from various persons and has been responsible for the rain financially of some of his victims. There is no .doubt he is a most plausible swindler and adventurer- of the worst type. ■“So far as this inquiry is concerned I have traced .more .than £15,000 worth of bank-notes hapded to Corrigan by the prosecutors, and there is no doubt the money was spent on his own welfare at hotels and for clothes. “About December 13, 1927, Corrigan changed his name of Cassidy by deed poll to Corrigan, and this coincided with the death of an American of that name of some repute. I think he has told the story so many times about concessions in oil in Yucatan, and things like that, that he has come to believe it himself. During the time I was conveying hifti from France to England he told me some of the wildest stories that even Hans Andersen can scarcely have ever fancied.”

Mr J. P. Eddy, addressing the judge on Corrigan’s behalf in mitigation of sentence, said that in 1923 Corrigan went back to the Bankruptcy Court apd paid 20/- in the pound. Corrigan, in his evidence, said that between 1905 and 1913 he and four other men discovered an oil-bearing area in Yucatan which he valued at £6,000,000. He .said he approached Mr Rogers, of the Standard Oil Company, and it was agreed that if reports were satisfactory -a company should be .formed pf iwhich he was ‘to .bo managing director' ' The Judge, summing up, told the jury that with regard to the £4OOO which Corrigan was alleged to have obtained from Mr Cannon it was impossible to convict, there being insufficient evidence on which the jury could act.

According to the .prosecution, Corrigan was a swindler who deliberately misrepresented himself to Mrs Harrold and Mr Noad, obtained the confidence, and then induced them to part with money by suggesting that if they entrusted it to him he could invest it in shares in oil companies to their great advantage.

- “BAD AND CRUEL FRAUDS.” Dealing with Corrigan’s story of the Yucatan oilfields, the Judge asked:— “Is there anything that you can say exists which .gives .him any .title to any .Qilfleld inYucatan? Is there anything upon which he,could, as a business man, honestly believe that he ''■van:(in-possession .of any rights in xjs .it correct, that which that he and his associates had some .rights in these oilfields, and that J|fr Rogers had agreed to purchase them for a large sum? If in fact they were in possession of anything of . that kind, do you think they would have some documents relating to them, or tjome form of contract so far as Mr Rogers was concerned?” In passing sentence the judge said to Corrigan:—“The jury have found you guilty of a series of bad and cruel frauds involving sums amounting in the aggregate to tens of thousands of pounds. You had pp mercy on your victims. " *'

“One, a woman left by her husband in comfortable circumstances, you have reduced to a state of penury; ths other, a man who was in comparative affluent circumstances, you have caused io become a bankrupt and lose his' lousiness, and he has been compelled to start his business Tife over again as a clerk in an insurance office.

All this that you might live a luxurious life in some leading hotels in London and France.’’

Corrigan took the sentence calmly. He turned, gave a swift glance round the Court, and walked briskly to the cells.

Corrigan’s early upbringing is known only to himself; even a police prosecution failed to ‘disclose his place of birth. When, in 1926, he was charged at the London sessions with, having two passports, one in the name of Cassidy and the other in the name of Corrigan, a different place of birth —Fermoy, County Cork, and Ontario, Canada —was given in each document. a . Although Corrigan was discharged, both passports were retained by the Home Office, and when travelling he was supplied with an identity certificate. This he referred to as his “dog’s license.’ No one apparently has any knowledge of his activities before 1911, when he was known in Mexico City as “Boss’’ Cassidy. Wherever ho spent his early days he accumulated considerable knowledge. He speaks French, German, Spanish, and Italian, and has a smattering of Oriental languages. It was not until 1920 that Corrigan began a career that has had many vicissitudes. Sometimes he spent money “with the lavishness of a wealthy spendthrift; at other times he has been penniless. He travelled extensively on the Continent, after nearly a five years’ stay in London, and it was not long before he became a polished raconteur with a gift for disarming suspicion as to the accuracy of his statements. Before he came back to England Corrigan, spent, some time in Port Said and Alexandria. In London he attracted much attention by his lavish .expenditure. Ho had a private secretary, a valet, luxurious motorcars, and an expensive Mayfair flat. He was secretive about his newlyacquired prosperity, and he was under tho observance of Scotland Yard. The knowledge of engineering gained ■in the Ministry of Munitions was of great value to Corrigan. He started an engineer’s business in I*aris, and it prospered until it was neglected for horse-racing. In 1922 he ‘ was back in London, shabby and down at heel. He soon got over his bad spell and utilised his knowledge of engineering by offering contracts for the irrigation of wheat-bearing land in inaccessible countries. He never had an office of his own. Time after time he disappeared from one address and reappeared at another. In his days of stress he was befriended by many people who believed in him, but they were all badly repaid. Tn 1923 Corrigan’s affairs were very prosperous, and his knowledge of what was happening in Mexico was amazingly accurate. He made money for ihimself, but those who listened to the story of how millions were to be made by gun-running were not so lucky. Next Corrigan appeared as a racehorse owner in Belgium. He betted heavily at the races, occupied a luxurious suite at an hotel, and at night 'displayed his skill at baccarat. His horses won many races in Belgium until he was arrested. In 1927 he had a smart suite of jrooms at a West End hotel and was ■money. He started a racing stable in possession of plenty of near Winchester, with some horses Ji© brought from Belgium and new purchases. ' For two seasons Corrigan raced under National Hunt rules. Once at Kempton Park one of his horses when winning was pulled up at the wrong place, and the jockey’s error cost Corrigan and his friends nearly £ 5000.