GREAT HOAXER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 11 April 1928, Page 2

GREAT HOAXER

VANITY CAUSES DOWNFALL

2»2:UCS Or SHAKESPEARE AND

GUAY

Cui.rssai vanity and inordinate pa - sion for notoriety— as '.veil as a touch of native--were responsible for the exploits which resulte.i in Hunter Charles Hosiers being sent for 12 months to the Bucks County Prison. He hail forged relics of the poeis Crav. Shakespeare and Milton, which lie pretended he had found in ;t secret di.iAVcr In addition, he found .some paintings signed by the master, Hopp t„-r, and so impressed a man at Strat-fotil-on-Avon that, he obtained a sum of . ! J’''-.000 from him. Btil the meanest ni the iratlds COllcerned Air Pratt, of P.sher. Surrey, Rogers had informed Mr Pratt that he was

.. descendant of the poet Rogers, and thnl lie lmd inherited ;i number of valuable paintings ami documents which were hidden in Cornwall. PURE WHO PIED Mr Era it advanced hint money to reach Cornwall, and on his return Rogers brought with him a number of piot.iies which he claimed to have come from the brush of an old master. Mr Craft- gave him £1.234 for them—and immediately afterwards Roger-' disappi a red. The man who bad been deluded •‘•into buying then) had them valued, and discovered that lie had been deceived. Shortly afterwards lie died from heart failure, and when Iris widow sold the pictures they only realised C 3. The story of Rogers's life was detailed by the detective-inspector who was in charge of tin l case. The perpetrator of this amazing series of hoaxes had received a fair education. When lie was 16 years of age lie was apprenticed to farming. He took the full course of instruction, ami then emigrated to New Zealand. Ho soon returned, however, and showed his pluck in working his passage home, as lie had done outwards. SPENT Cl,ooo LEGACY

On the death of his father, he found himself with a legacy of £I,OOO. With (his he removed to Ashford, in Middlesex, and there, with a view to what lie regarded as the spectacular, he posed as n private detective. Hut- very soon his legacy was all spent, and then he had to seek parish relief. According to the records read out by the detective, it was at this time that he committed his first crime. He bought some jewellery and insured it for ~£1.>216. Then lie made a claim against the insurance company, asserting that he had lost the jewellery while travelling from Leicester to London. Hr was hound over.

The re-source awl ingenuity of tliis tliampioii hoaxer were astounding. Hehad among his treasures ail ancient earth-stained lain]). which ho announced the poet. Gray used while wandering around the churchyard atStoke Pogcs by night. He explained the source of his 'Minds'’ in ways that were startling. In a secret drawer, so he declared, he discovered a poem by Milton. In another drawer there was a plan which directed his attention to a field at Compton Wynvates. the Marquess of Northampton's Warwickshire estates. “[ went there and dug," said Rogers, "and unearthed a number of Shakespeare relics. One of these was y. Bible printed in 1577 with Shakespeare's signature, as well as a survey of lands in his writing.’ Pictures from the brushes of Opie, iloppner, Morland and Constable were bequeathed to him by an aunt in Cornwall. asserted Rogers. Each canvas bore some signature, arid all were forgeries—clumsy ones at that. At one time Rogers took a house in. Whitstable. where he proudly displayed his "relics ’ with a view to attracting customers. He actually offered the. Shakespeare forgeries to the librarian oi the museum at Stratford-on-Avon, but the latter, of course, immediately pronounced them worthless. Then Rogers. with characteristic audacity, actuallv went to America, and offered his finds to collectors there. He met with no success, however, arid returned to England with the whole of his collection. THOMAS CHATTERTON

Allusion -was made in court to previous literary forgeries which, however, were much more serious and which deluded more people. One of the names mentioned was that of Thomas Chatterton. “the marvellous hoy —the sleepless soul who perished in his pride. Chatterton. while still a youth, conceived the idea of forging poems and manuscripts which he declared he discovered in. an old chest in the parish church at Bristol, where his father was sexton. He even invented the name “Thomas Rowley,” and turned out reams of poetrv which he attributed to him. One of the most astounding of his efforts was an account of “Ye monkes passing over Blackfriars Bridge.” With a piece of yellow ochre, some parchment and pen and ink, this 15-yoars-old boy puzzled all the learned antiquaries of England. And it was only after the Prime Minister had ordered an inquiry that his work was pronounced a forgery. Chatterton came to London: hut no one would help him, and he died from poison in a Drury Lane garret. Reference was also made, to William Henry Ireland, an older man whose forgeries showed even greater ingenuity and skill. He went to Stratford-on-Avon and came away with sheaves of documents which bore what purported to he the signature of William Shakespeare.