A BOGUS EARL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 29 November 1924, Page 7

A BOGUS EARL.

MADE LOVE TO SOCIETY WOMAN

BAG OF DRUGS

READING, October 24. Shots fired in a backyard at night lea to the arrest and conviction of an American adventurer, who was fined ®nd recommended for deportation at Reading, when Norlnan M'Leod Buchan St. Clair, aged 58, pleaded guilty to giving false particulars under the Aliens Art, carrying firearms without a certificate, and an offence against the Dangerous Drugs Act. Th© Deading police were first put on h*s track when a resident complained that St, Glair had fired four revolver shots. Investigating this complaint, Detective-inspector Walters found St. Glaif dtossed in tlie uniform of a navai o(fleet* cohiplete with gold braid and onfnerous medals dud ribbons, a TJie r^. d £ t^tive was not satisfied with _ Glair’s explanation,, and made further inquiries of him. St. Clair told a romantic story of having been attached to the Cuban Embassy, and said that at present he was an American naval officer m England on secret service work, and attached to the British Air Force.

Inquiries at the American Consulate round this information to be false, and St. Glair was arrested. The police had the greatest difficulty in establishing his identity, and three times he was reriianded and bail refused. Ultimateiy their searching inquiries were successful, and when St. Olaii* knew the was 2- ! P he admitted everything Sir. A. T. Burrows, Chief Constable ot Beading, told a remarkable story ot the man’s career. St. Clair hail a baci record, aiid there were numerous eouvietimis against him dating back to 1900 He had been living in America until recentiy , but reached England on i the Berengaraa in March he P os ** l the loth Elarl of Caithness and, although married, made love to' a voung woman in a superior station of life. "He proposed marriage to her, and was refused Arriving in England, he took apartments near Hyde Park, and was often seen about town in the comnany of well-drqssed women qJS imed to he' well known at Scotland Yard, and this proved to be not in: the manner in which ha had suggested. The Beading detectives attach the greatest importance to ; his arrest In a bag belonging to him thev fox,ml a complete drug outfit and also discovered a, black cats© in which were phials containing poison. The solicitor who appeared on his behalf said that Jib hsA 06GU nud £\vnnlvinc and that the drugs belonged to his w mi had been a nurse in .America. Jhe so-h,citor a.sked the magistrates to reconsider, the sentence relating to importation, saving that St. Clair would leave England immediately if this were The application was refuse*!, 'ad was then applied for pending the Dome. Secretary’s decision on lhe deportation recommendation, but this was also i-efimed, cud the man was taken to Oxford gaol.