AMAZING LIFE OF GRIME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18711, 17 May 1924, Page 20 (Supplement)

AMAZING LIFE OF GRIME.

iAN EX-OFFICER'SBOVyKPAIL SERIES. :OF;,CHEQUE . FRAUDS. • iMANY 'PEOPLE SWINDLED. FIVE YEARS IN PRISON.

Some significant sidelights on the working of the underwbrld were revealed at the Old Bailey . lately;, when -fen ex-army officer named Donald " Walker, aged 44,. pleaded guilty before .the Recorder, Sir Ernest Wild, K.G., to a long series of cheque frauds. 's 4 ;: According to. the self-confessed ■ criminal's own statement, he had bought a cheque book and a specimen signature of an Army officer , from two well-known "crooks," whom he met at the West End. Armed "with' these,-Walker- started out on a wholesale* campaign >of fraud arid forgery. His story is a sad Example of the downfall-of a.man of promise, who,,might have dono well." As' it is,-he is now unoergoing penal servitude;f- 1 : - • ' The forging of cheques was begun by Walker in September, 19123. He'continued at it for five months, when he must have known that there were dozens of warrants out for him. . In many of these cases he committed forgery; others, again, were merely Worthless cheque's signed in the names of. nonexistent ; people. Why a man of good education and address should have found it. necessary Jo live by crime is just one of those little mysteries which baffle the understanding of ordinary

. people. ' ', '*<• Walker }vas born, in Edinburgh in 1880, his parents being' a very well-known family. As a boy he journeyed to Lon- . don and found employment as a clerk. But he did not remain at this very"long. An uncle in South Africa, a mining engineer in a large way of business, offered . to look after him, and so young Walker, then aged 18, went out to Johannesburg. He had been there no more than a couple of years when • the • South . African War broke out. ' He promptly enlisted in the Cape Mounted Rifles, and afterwards re- ; ceived a commission in the Gold Coast Regiment. " - .. 5 -

Distinction in South; ,Africa. „ The young Scotsman made a . first ; class soldier, and was several times mentioned in dispatches. On one occasion,. with nothing but a platoon of men, he held a lonely railway station against a big Boer commando, who besieged him before re- • lief arrived. When the-war was over the authorities thought so much of Walker, that they retained his services '.with the . rank of captain ; and kept him on the strength until 1910. Walker then grew tired of Army life, and expressed a desire to take up his old profession of 'mining engineer before he crew too old. Leaving the service with a handsome gratuity, he proceeded to Australia, where he- tried his hand as a metallurgist. But -he found Australia more than 'plentifully equipped - with first-class mining experts. After wandering about Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and ■ Tasmania, he "gave up the , ghost'' and * returned to England to join th& Army at the . time of the outbreak of . war in August, 1914. There was then, of .course, nothing whatever against his character, and,"in- view of his. past good service" in the Gold Coast Regiment, the War Office immediately gazetted him to a commission in the Dorset Regiment. - • ;r. Beginning of the Downfall. • But Walker seema to have acquired very bad- habits: in. Australia." All' the time he was in England, mostly engaged in training new troops,- he was-in trouble con- . cerning'?\is'of erdra'rfn liairK^cotint. 4 The matter tame to ;a' crisis about' -the end of J 2915, .Walker,, ..had beon«in iLondon .on leave, "spending a good deal more than he could afford. He gave worthless cheques ito a number of West , End hotels ' and restaurants, and- also 'to several Army outi fitters,., the •result being - that criminal i proceedings - were - taken ' against -him. .•<-/ At Marlborough »Street • • the magistrate sentenced Walker to four months' imprisonment for a long series of offences, and ! following y this v Walker was t cashiered. | Though he had - made a first-class fool of himself, he seems:. have 'been fully des termined to atone for the disgrace he had . brought /upon the .King's uniform. - At all events, so soon as he was released from prison, Walker: enlisted into 1 the London / ' Scottish and was sent over ;to France. But after a few months' service in the trenches his good resolutions faded. > ' ■ - . Life of .Crime Recommenced. '

. Walker- was invalided back to England . about the middle of 1916 and ' then took the opportunity to desert and recommence a life of crime. For some months he . •Frequented the West End of London attired in an ' officer's uniform ho had no ; right " to. ; Also, he decorated himself ■with " the D.S.O. and the. ; M.C., and with •' the aid of; a cheque book, presumably stolen "from an: officer, ; lived •. by,.; fraud. "His usual method was to put Up 'at an j hotel as an officer. «Ik leave, ? pay his bill ;, • with, a worthless cheque, and v rely .' .for _ . pocket- money, on people .who ,would give V him change when he tendered r a cheque in payment, of" something be had bought. r. Walker had so ; many' names ' that ; the authorities found.,it,very. difficult ,to keep on his' ' track- ' After remaining on the run' for over , four months, and experiencing : several J narrow escapes# from capture, • walker 'decided to give up the game for the time being. Making use of" South African friends . who knew nothing about . his' misdeeds, - he ' managed to enlist m the African ' forces stationedflh England and*: was lucky enough to 1 be sent -to • Egypt/: where all : trace " r of him was temporarily _ lost to the London police. : During the time he was in . Cairo with x ■ the African ; Forces Walker was employed as a .clerk on the headquarters staff, where he came' to know a great many generals.'and other' officers. of high' rank. ■Now that -he was Wearing an officer's uniform again, ho immediately started the old system 5 of imposing upon - people. ' • Walker's . methods",wera. so - ingenious v that• -he ' managed-16 • swindle 'something ;/ like'^rdiffertn.tv-fijtos^befsreV he was 'finally caught and sentenced, to six months* and three ; months' r imprisonment consecutively -at Westminster on June - 26, 1919. .Most of ; his. frauds on this occasion had - beeh : upon the "Targe London stores, in which me . used > the names of (officers whom .he knew to be - customers. Immediately on leaving prison Walker 'bought an officer's uniform second-hand. 1 obtained possession: ofUa; Cheque-bok, and started another series of ; fraud's' around ». the * West-End. v Again .he had a variety , of. names, : and there were -something like 25 warrants out against-him before Bow " Street finally. Tan. "Mm. to earth in : .a: Strand hotel. This time he .received six months,. " t ' ' '—yrauds at Seaside Hotels.

On being released from prison, Walker went farther afield and worked the big seaside hotels 'on the South Coast for a series of frauds which brought, him in quite' a* substantial ; sum. Returning -to London * 3 he vyas] arrested, and,'' at the ' Old Bailey loh February 28, 1922, received a sentence of 20 months' imprisonment. He came out of gaol after serv-j ing this .• sentence -in July ■ last, and for a time seems 'to : have made some sort of an attempt to earn an honest living photographing'>- people on ' the sands at seaside resorts the South Coast. However. such humble -work did not appeal to the dashing, ex-captain. V . When the season ended in September Walker : went London, .' where, accord- 1 ting to - his *o\yn r story, 'he met . a couple ! of clever crooks " who seemed to do j a regular trade'.in utolen cheque-books and 4 . specimen . signatures. After "that jhe com- , j nutted frauds not only in the Metropolis, life I But at Cowes, Upper Parkstone, . Dorset, Southampton, AJderffiot",*'; fading i andIffpll Oxford. After • defrauding an 'hotel in §|#sy< that town lie I defined 1 it advisably -to jouriSltijjeyito : London' where ' for three ' months BsHuw' l;»y hidden.. only venturing Out when it was necessary for him.- negotiate bis forged cheqtjea. . ..

Probably no one will ever know how many cheques this . audacious ' adventurer succeeded in passing off oil unsuspecting people. It • must be admitted that he looked, the ; part of an Army Officer. A tall, ; handsome fellow, -with all the . assurance in the world, he would walk in and tell a specious story of being home on leave, and it being necessary for him! to replenish his kit. - j

Fifty Oases of Swindling.

When Detective-Sergeant 'Seymour arrested him at the end of February Walker confessed to something like 50 charges of swindling and forgery. Some of his offences strongly partook of the despicable. Thus he swindled several women of small amounts, most of them boarding-house keepers, who were more than a little charmed by his affable disposition. ' To give the man his due it must be stated that he made a clean breast of everything and did not attempt to prevaricate. At the Old Bailey lie pleaded guilty to everything and only urged in extenuation .that his object m forging the cheques was to obtain the money and not the goods. Also he gave the police a.l the assistance he could in tracing property which' he had fraudulently obtained. The Recorder, in sentencing Walker to five years* penal servitude, remarked that he was sorry to see that such a man had again lapsed into crime after making some slignt endeavour to lead an honest life.