THE SMYTH FRAUDS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 8124, 22 March 1887, Page 5

THE SMYTH FRAUDS.

A J/LEVEB SCOIJNDEEL. [Bt Telegraph.) [FEOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] INVEECAEGELL, March 21. The frauds committed in Melbourne by Charles A. Smyth, for which he has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, have attracted more than usual attention on account of the magnitude of the sums involved, and also owing to the position which the prisoner occupied in connection with the Wesleyan Church. The accused was convicted of having cheated one Thomas Eetallick out of .£I2OO, and there was evidence-that he had robbed him of an additional £2500. The following sketch of his career is of special interest to New Zealand readers:—• In 1882, a gentleman now in business in Melbourne was a resident of Christchurch, New Zealand, and. by industry and frugality he had accumulated £I7OO, and was anxious to start in business. There was a business in the market, but it was beyond his means to undertake it alone, and by a mutual friend he was introduced to Charles A. Smyth (then employed in a large drapery establishment) as a most desirable partner. It was known that Smyth was a man of- means, for he had always stated so. His money was invested in mortgages in Dunedin, and was vaguely estimated at between £4OOO and £SOOO. Smyth had been looking out for a business which would suit, but being a cautious man, and not desirous to risk his capital in any precarious scheme, he had not mtherto found anything, though he had made unsucessful offers for several rather large concerns. His character was beyond question, for he was a leading member of the Wesleyan body and a most gifted local preacher, and his conduct was in conformity with his exalted professions. After some delay, caused by a difficulty found in realising on some of Smyth’s Dunedin property, the business was purchased for £3OOO, and a partnership entered into. It was agreed that Smyth should manage the books and financial matters, and his partner the general working of the business. All went well for several months, and the business prospered. Several small matters in Smyth’s conduct roused the suspicion of his partner, who soon arrived at the conclusion that his religion was very superficial indeed, but the Wesleyans flocked to the shop, and he did not feel it was his duty to ruin himself by proclaiming that his partner was a sham and a fraud. He determined, however, to sever connection as soon as possible, and was urged on by finding that £3OO had been taken out of the partnership funds, and invested by Smyth in purchasing a house. There was always a difficulty in getting a sight of the. bank-book. The balance was always ready for inspection oh a slip of paper in Smyth’s hand-writing, but not the book. At the end of nine months the crash came. There was a mysterious fire in the premises, which destroyed a considerable proportion of the stock. The damage was estimated by the Insurance Companies at £3OOO. An enquiry was held, and some very suspicious circumstances disclosed. Smyth always kept the keys of the premises, taking advantage of a legal flaw, one of the Insurance Companies refused to pay, and the circumstances were too shady to be dragged into Court. A meeting of creditors was called, at which Smyth did not attend. It was adjourned to secure his presence, and the second time he came. At this meeting he made a confession, which was. afterwards: reduced to writing and signed by What he confessed was, in brief, that never had any property, and that his statements to that effect were simply fictions. that he had been, by one of them, introduced to a firm in Dunedin, who were quite willing to start him in business on the strength of it, though they cautiously asked for some verification. Smyth represented that he could not as an honourable man place his mortgages in their hands, as it would disclose the financial position of some other persons engaged in trade, and his honour and conscience forbade. The firm fell into the snare, and advanced him £I2OO on his own bill, and this was the money which he put into the business. .When the bill became due, he called on the son-in-law of a Wesleyan minister and requested the loan of £6OO for a few days, ashy some unaccountable oversight or accident a remittance from Dunedin had not arrived. The loan was granted without question. Smyth wrote to the firm stating that he could pay £SOO off the bill, and asking for a renewal of the remainder. They agreed to this, providing Smyth’s partner would back the bills. Smyth promised this on his partner’s behalf, and when the bill came for renewal, signed it in the name of the firm without the cognisance of his partner. This confession, which had been extorted from Smyth by threats of prosecution, was made with so much dignity and with such an injured air as to make the auditors feel that, they were criminals and the accusers. He laid the blame of his transgression entirely on the " devil.” It was the devil who had tempted him to tell the first lie, and had gradually enfolded him in a network of falsehoods, until he was compelled to keep on lying, though it was a practice quite foreign to his nature and his principles, and the end of the affair was that his unfortunate partner, who had gone into the concern with a capital of £I7OO, the result of his life's work, came out with £IOO, a disheartened man. The firm who advanced Smyth the money secured the house, which he had bought with the partnership funds, for Smyth had settled this on his son, who was under age, and therefore could not retain it. The confiding friend lost his £SOO, and a number of others connected with the Church were also victimised. In one instance an old man had to go to work again, because Smyth had wheedled him out of all his little savings. From New Zealand he went to Sydney, where he lived for a time, and was seen and recognised by his former partner, and from thence he journeyed to Melbourne. Here he obtained employment as a shopkeeper in a large drapery establishment. He still made a loud profession of piety, and as he had previously succeeded in inducing a firm of business men to trust him with a large sum of money without security, he probably did not find it a difficult task to induce the Wesleyan minister in charge of a suburban circuit to receive him as a local preacher without credentials. At any rate, he did succeed in doing this, and was soon again prominent in the denomination. To this man came Mr Thomas Eetallick with his £SOOO, his ignorance, and his preference for religion. It is probable that Symth will be brought up on a habeas corpus to answer a charge of bigamy. When in Christchurch he had a wife and four children, the eldest being at that time 19 years of age. His wife has been seen with him since he came to Melbourne, and is believed to be now in Sydney. The police are making enquiries as to her whereabouts with the view to institute proceedings for bigamy. Should she be still alive, or if she was alive on Oct. 6, 1881, for on that date Smyth was married under the name of Williams to a Miss Flora Dainty. Mies Dainty was a music teacher, about twenty years of age. She met Smyth at a singing class which they both attended. He passed under the name of Charles Augustus Williams, and gave her to understand he was single. He visited at her mother’s house, and a marriage took place on the date stated. She never knew what his occupation was, and he always passed as a man of means, and bad apparently plenty of money. It was at the time of his marriage that Smyth told Eetallick he was going to New Zea-, ! land. He did not go, for patent reasons.

hut he took his bride to Adelaide. On their return they visited. Ballarat, and stayed some time there. Miss Dainty’s mother visiting them. On their return to Melbourne the couple lived in the neighbourhood of the Exhibition. Smyth was frequently absent from home for several days at a time, and explained his absence by the necessity of attending to financial matters in Sydney. At this time the case of Retallick versus Smyth was before the Courts, but Miss Dainty Tiever for a moment suspected the identity of her husband with Smyth. At length Smyth was committed for trial, and could not obtain bail, and his continued absence from home and the similarity of his name with that of Smyth, both being called Charles Augustus, aroused the suspicions of Miss Dainty’s relations. They communicated with the detectives, who immediately recognised the portrait they showed as that of Smyth. His supposed wife was taken to the Criminal Court, and there, for the first time she learned who the man she had married really was. Miss Dainty had by her exertions as a teacher of music accumulated .£3OO, and this has passed into the possession of Smyth. She is now in a delicate condition, and is almost heartbroken at the cruel manner in which she has been deceived. Her family are highly respectable people. They, too, feel most acutely the disgrace which has been put upon them. Seeing that Smyth married her under a false name, there is reason to fear that the crime of bigamy has been committed by him. The Judge, in passing sentence, said the defendant’s conduct had been most reprehensible. He had worked himself into Retallick’s confidence by posing as a pious,, Christian man, and had taken him to meetings at which he drew tears from the audience by his preaching on holy living. It was believed that J 82500 was still under the prisoner’s control, and if he repented by making restoration it might he a question for the Executive to consider whether a portion of the sentence should not be remitted.