A VERSATILE ROGUE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9833, 26 June 1914, Page 5

A VERSATILE ROGUE.

"DR." BORANOFF AGAIN BEFORE THE COURT. DUNEDIN JEWS VICTIMISED. (Pu raise Asf^'-unos.) ; i K.KIV, June 25. At the Poli»v 1 -■ • iday, F/o Arthur Roranoff. alias ric. ..i I o t .«t>. alias AIU.Tr. BerneMeiti, wa.- on wi.ii being an idle and disor<i«riv jieuon bating insufficient lawful ni'-aii- of support. He pleaded not guilty. For the prosecution, it was -Sated th.fc accused arrived in Dunedin about six weekago. alleging that he was of the Jewish persuaeion. ajxl aas a doctor. He applied to the Jewish Philanthropic Society and the Rabbi for assistance. which was given. He asked tlie Society to sind him to Queensland, and the Society paid his pasasfs and gave him a sovereign for his pocket, and de posited £4 with the purser of the ateaner to give him in Sydney. He left the boat at Lyttslton and returned to Dunedin. Ai Lyttelton he showed the punier a wire pui porting to come from the Rabbi, directum tiie purser to hand over £4 and hie tirk< t, which the purser did. Accused, before lea'. - inir Dunedin. told a boarding-house keef ■i that, he did not intend coing beyond Lyttti ton.

The Magistrate said he would like to ht" the evidence of the medical superintends, of the hospital of which aoruned was ? centJv a patient., awl Jw» remanded the ca.* till Saturdav.

FIRST UNMASKED IN PALMERSTO>*

AN ENGLISH CRIME CAREER.

' Dr. Leo Arthur Coplan Boranoff w:« first unmasked by the Palmerston police i. February. 1910. Some time previously be had caused a little stir in the Empire City and later on in the country district*, by te 1 - ling harrowing tale* of the horrors of Russia. Ever since his arrival in the Dominion he ww the hubiect of suspicion in certain quarters, notablv in «mal! Russian communities which are scattered over the Dominion. In fact, ilt was through the inter vention of a party of Palmerston Russian - that lie was thrown overboard by the Wet linirton Socialists on the eve of a big lectuivin the Empire Citv After that, he travelled in various part* of the north Island, anmr time* in his role as an "exile." and others a* doctor, and again as optician. It will b< remembered that he victimised some unsuspecting Maoris at Moutoa about August. 1909. receiving six weeks" imprisonment, and it was while he was fdlinp stiectecles for an imaginary Wellington firm that ho committed an offence which brought him before tlio Supreme Court in Paimcnston in 1910.

A sensational turn fctxtk place in tho Court when lieinff oonvic+ed. liis Honor asktho rmual question • "Is there anythinc known about aoruwd

Since hi* previous convictions in New Zealand. enquiries had been made bv the New Zealand j»olio« in England and the Continent, and the Scotland Yard authorities supplied information which was read in Court in an«wer to his Honor * querv. Roranoff fir*t came under the notice of ♦ho Uonit-> police in 1898. when. a« Albert. Bernstein. 1h» wa* sentenced to 01 da\V iro nrisonmont for theft at Kilmarnor!-. In 190.0 ho received eight mooths for theft at Edinburgh. and later in the name tear received twelve month* in the same city for a similar oflV •nop. Then, in 1902. be wa* convicted of fraud in Scotland's capital, this time sr«'ttiti«r three- month/ and hi? last. Appearance in the flock was in 1906. at A her d»»en. wh«>n he was cent to yaol for another vo«r for theft

For a while the police lost sight, of Alber* Rernstein, hut a young man named "Di Coplan."' who was administering oonsolati< to the sick of a Social i-i settlement in Whiteway. Stroud, England, was identifn-d as the missing man. He remained in the community for a season. and when he left a jeweller who lied sold hint a ten guinea diamond ring made careful enquiries as t> his whereabouts, without result.

Boranoff's last appearance in Eugland was with the famous "Hunder Marchers." who at the m<*t acute period of distre . durmg an interval <• 'tieinploynient a. Home, descended on i , . from the provinces. The '"doc- 1 , isible manner got him a trusted the ranks of the unemployed. H > y .surer. Before the Hung« - Mu< ; < ied their destination. Alt*? Jias "Dr. Coplan.' was mi-Mr .\i«i Ijoo Boranoff ! was being lionised jti Wellington, while readers of Home paper* were regaling tliemselves with the *tor\ of the "Hunger Marchers'" search for "j)r. Coplan.' It will be remembered that when Boranoff wa«* before the Court at Fo\ton th'* medical card which he presented to the Maoris was produced. and it bore the name '"Dr. Coplan." Boranoff denied to the Court that he waa Albert Rernstein, but the production of that gentleman's photograph and also his finger prints effectually silenced him. He received three years' imprisonment.