A SMILING PRETENDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20366, 21 September 1929, Page 8

A SMILING PRETENDER.

ATTRACTIVE WOMAN THIEF*

OPERATIONS IN SYDNEY.

Known as "The Smilcr" because oflier disarming smile, an attractive young woman has led the police of many Sydney suburbs a long chase.

This young woman was in her early twenties, gracious and well-spoken, expensively dressed, and—according to many of her victims—"most interesting." She stole hundreds of pounds' worth of clothing, jewellery, and personal effects from the numerous boarding houses where she resided for brief periods. * : Thefts were committed at Bondi, Coogee, Concord, North Sydney, Chatswood, Newtown, Marrickville, and other suburbs, and the police, although always close behind the young woman, could not catch up with her rapid movements from suburb to suburb. Once or twice they only missed her by less than hour, but she disappeared, only to reappear, with annoying regularity, at some distant locality. The woman's methods were most ingenious. She would call at a religious institution, usually a convent, and, after explaining that she was a school teacher on vacation from the countiy, would ask to be* directed to a refined and comfortable boarding house. Sometimes she varied her method of approach by stating that she was a telephone attendant' from a country centre on holidays. Her smile was so attractive that she was giveo every assistance, and upon being recommended to a boarding house she would make a false • but convincing show a£ gratitude. "How can I thank yon," sht>' would say, and—-still smiling—would do* part.

At the boarding house, being so 'well recommended by the religious institutions, the new arrival was shown mora than usual attentiou and courtesy, and once or twice, when she was wandering aimlessly around certain passages, it waji believed that this was only due to her confusion at being translated from a small country homei to a more populous board* ing establishment. Being too shy to ask anyone for directions, this woman would wander around the corridors trying to find her own room. Her refined timidity served another purpose; it led other boarders to endeavour to entertain her, and she was able to find out When certain rooms would be unoccupied during the day. The woman was a favourite. wheroveff she went. She smiled herself into every-» one's confidence. But disillusionment always came when she disappeared with some of the valued possessions of the other boarders or of the proprietress. In some cases her victims refused to suspect that there was any connection between her sudden departure and the loss of their property. They were convinced that "The Smiler" had become homesick and had gone back to the country. The theft, they agreed,- was a coincidence, but ft coincidence and nothing more. The police subsequently arrested at beautifully-dressed woman on suspicion. ■