MAN’S MASQUERADE

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 March 1934, Page 3

MAN’S MASQUERADE

STORY IN ADELAIDE COURT. In the Adelaide Police Court on February 27, it was related that Graham Rudolph Eric Chaplin, an accused, had been in hiding for seven months, for 11 weeks of which he had hidden in a house at Parkside, dressed as a woman. Chaplin appeared with two other men. All pleaded guilty and were committed for sentence. Chaplin "was charged with having stolen a cheque for £3/19/-, drawn by the InspectorGeneral of Hospitals, and with having' -stolen £l6BO/4/1 and a leather bag, the property of the Crown. , Percival Jack Davis, farmer, of Mount Compass, was charged with having received about £9OO, the property of the Crown, knowing it to have been stolen. The charge against Alfred Mchrtens, of Young Street, Parkside, was that he had unlawfully received, harboured, and assisted Chaplin, knowing that he had stolen money. Mr A. L. Pickering (who prosecuted) said that until June 23, Chaplin had been an employee of the Department of the Inspector-General of Hospitals. At the end of June preparations were being made for the audit, and Chaplin knew that his books would lead to exposure, so he prepared for an exit. On the day of the robbery, two cheques for about £1703 were drawn and cashed. Later, £l6BO in money was missing and Chaplin had disappeared. A confession by Chaplin was read in court, and exhibits in Court included a wig alleged to have been worn by Chaplin, and a cash box containing about £l9O in silver, which the police found buried under a dog kennel at a farm at Mount Compass.