A CLEVER ADVENTURESS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 14 February 1910, Page 7

A CLEVER ADVENTURESS

MISS VIOLET OIIARLESYVORTII ARRESTED. CHARGE OF FALSE PRETENCES. LONDON, February 8. Violet Charlesworth and Jut inothor were arrested: at Derby on a charge of obtaining niorev by false pretences. Such was the 'brief announempiit made bv cable the other day. This "is not U'e first occasion on winch .Miss Charlesworth lias come under public notice. She is about 25 years of age, and at tlw bediming of last year slie was the or much inquiry in consequence of a "cliff mystery." On the night of January'2nd, IDG9, sire suddenly and dramatically disappeared; for a tiw it was doubtful whether she was dead or alive. It was asserted that on the night in question, in bright moonlight, she was driving her motor ear along the road on the face of <a cliff . at Penniaenihawr, and that the car collided with a wall skirting the roadway, with the'result that she was thrown through the glass screen in front of her, over the wall, down the cliff side, and on the seashore beneath. Her chauffeur (a man named Albert Watts) and her sister (Miss Lilian Charlesworth) were in the car. Search was immediately made on the shore and on the rocks. The wafer could not have Decn a foot deep, hut the body of Miss Charlesworth couM not be found. Th re were no marks on the rocks, and no traces of blood. Only a tarn o' shunter ana an empty note book wore discovered. When Police-inspector Rocs arrived on the , scene he found Miss Lilian Charie-;-1 worth and the chauffeur wore very much agitated, so lie did not pre« them with questions, intending to irterv'ew them next day. They left for home at 4 o'clock the next moving in a motor car so i'ho ctferview did not take place. During the next few days efforts were made to inierview the chauffeur and Miss Lilian Charlesworth'. but without avail, tiu statement being made on every occasion .that they woto too ill to say anything. Suspicions were soon aroused regarding the '''accident.'' The ear. which was supposed to imvo demolished a massive granite wall, was, to all intents and purposes, undamaged, and a motoring expert snid that it was simply impossible for fhe car 'in which the Charlcsworfis we ;, o riding to have knocked down the wal', SAY NOTHING. The chauffeur, on being subseqnen - ly interviewed' by the police, sia'rd that Miss Violet Charlesworth was driving at the tune of the "accident.'' Surprise was expressed at the time that one of the occupants ol the car could be thrown out and killed while the other two were not injured in any way. Further interest and curiosity in the affair were manifested a few (lavs later as a result of the publicity given to the doings of Miss Cluirl'.-:-worth. A remarkable story was told by a London, stockbroker of Miss Violet Charlesworth \s dealings with his firm. In the result there was an amount of £IO.OOO for which lh<v were unable to obtain payment from her. In an interview at this firm's office, when this situation was d'scussed, she declared thai'she stood on the "brink of a precipice." In her dealings with the stockbroker she appears to have shown a very masculine grasp of business m.liters, and to have been extremely resourceful in devising suggestions fr.'iu time to time for the purpose of placing an immediate cash balance to her own credit. Tn person she seems 'o have been rather like one of t'hns? little women played on the stage by Miss Hilda Trevelyan—gentle, shy, tactful, and verv firm, with uothir..; about her that suggested the adventuress. !Io one could read her letters to her stockbrokers without being struck by the remarkable business aciuum displayed. There was a detailed knowledge of technicalities as regards both bills of exchange and Stock Exchange transactions. There -.wis. too. the courage of the repealed •'bear" transactions. Scarcely a man beyond the circle of professional speculators ever ventures upjn "bear'' selling.

GOODS SEIZED. Amongst the visitors at the residence of C'harlesworths was a baililT. who had seized the motor car to satisfy a claim for £2OO by a London firm. He had another writ for £290 against Miss Charlesworth; but lie was informed that nothing in the house belonged to her. Miss Charlesworth was known to a wide circle of motor manufactures and agents in Coventry and London. She had a passion for motor cars. On .">ne occasion she paid £550 to a fi"m in Coventry for the hire of a car at the rate of £IOO a month. She also paid £250 deposit for a car valued at £llOO. Failing to pay the balance, sire tried unsuccessfully to obtain the £BSO from several motor agencies, including the Automobile Contract Company. Many jewellery firms, both City and West End, are also well acquain-ed with Miss -Charlesworth. To some she paid large amounts; from otheis she endeavoured to obtain credit, "From time to time during the last three ears," said the .manager of a trade protection association, "wo have had inquiries about- her from firms from whom she wished to obtain jewellery of considerable vain-.'. We were not able to recommend her to our clients for very large amount". ! ' As the days went by the conviction that the whole affair was planned by Miss Charlesworth fo enble 'her f i evade her many creditors gained strength, and the police did not take long to secure pretty reliable evidence that she bad caught a train at Bangor and proceeded to Holyhead.,

then crossing lo Ireland. Evenlua.ly she was run to earth at Oban, in Salami, and after denying that she was Miss Charlesworth. and insisting that her name was M'Leod, she admitted her identify. A Lt/fFER. From January, IM7, to .Inly. iO'lS, a Shelheld broker had dealings wivli Miss Chaiiesworth in connection wit a proiiiiunibonds. On December o<>, 11)1)7, she wrote:— •Must at present I cannol find the contract notes. We have recently removed from Voryd Lodge. AbcrgHe. to the above address. St. Asaph, and the keys of my own large safe have been mislaid in some of the trunks, and {ill my papers are in them. I am very anxious lo receive cash balance for bonds, as I am in urgent need of some on daivuarv Ist at latest "I am staying at Bailey's Ho'ei and Oarage. Lichlield-streei. Stafford, having arrived to-night from N. Asaph, via Chester by motor. She asked that the money b:> sent by telegraphic money order to Stafford, but by bank notes if to St. Asaph. She insi-ied always on seized letters being sent to her bonne. A solicitor acting for one of the creditors of Miss Oharlesworlli. stated viiat she was insured fur at f'as,' £5500, in two .sums of £3OllO an! £2500. She first represents her own insurance upon her life, a policy taken nut in the Northern .Assurance Company, and the second is (he siiiin fn' which her life was insured bv stockbrokers fo whom she is indebted.