AUTHOR CONVICTED

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 October 1931, Page 5

AUTHOR CONVICTED

A BOGUS BIOGRAPHY. LONDON, September 21. Remarkable evidence concerning a woman who declared that she was Lady Angela Stanley, a former lady-in-waiting to Queen Alexandra, was given at tho Old Bailey when Evelyn Graham, author of “Lord Darling and Some Famous Trials,” as well as biographies of other prominent persons, was charged with having obtained £225 from a literary agent by false pretences. For the prosecution, evidence was given that no such person was ever lady-in-waiting to Queen Alexandra and it was also alleged that the letter submitted to the publishers and signed “Stamfordham” was a forgery. Evelyn Graham, giving evidence in defence, said he met a woman in Berlin who was obviously a lady and who said sho was “hard-up,” and submitted a manuscript which he agreed to extend. Later a man representing h.'mself as her son handed him a letter supposedly from Lord Stamfordham (private secretary to the King), endorsing the finished manuscript.- He saw no reason to doubt the bona fidos of the woman and arranged to publish the manuscript on a 50-50 basis. The jury, without leaving the box, found Graham guilty. He was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment with hard labour. Graham admitted that his real name was Netley Lucas.