“BECK’S DOUBLE.”’

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1715, 11 January 1905, Page 2

“BECK’S DOUBLE.”’

ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRIGA.

A FANCY FOR FALSE NAMES

DR. WYATT, M.D.”

Tlie ‘"'Cap© Times” of a recent date . lias an interesting article concerning Beck’s “double”—the man for whose crimes Adolf Beck served, a long term of imprisonment in England. In many of its phases the story is hardly of secondary interest to the principal and romantic narrative of the cruel confussion of the innocent Beck with the guilty Thomas. - _ : “Beck’s Double” had an emphatic fancy for names other, tTian his own, and he chose the dignified, impressive • title of Dr. Wyatt, M.D: As far as inquiries have the information is that he came to South Africa in the-early part of 1902. The neces--sarily hurried nature of the investigations, made by'a representative of the “Gape Times” leaves some-of his move- . ments obscure, and we first become acquainted with Dr. Wyatt residing in the district of Muizenberg and Kalk Bay. Of his doings .there no intelligence, is immediately available, and until he came to live in Woodstock in or about April of 1902, there is no evidence of any malpractice on his part. He thereafter resided in Earl-street, Woodstock, in th role of “Dr Wyatt, late of 'South. Australia.” Here "he apparently commenced the system of fraud which gained him notoriety in other parts of the world. His first victim was a gentleman residing in Woodstock, whom he impressed with an exaggerated sense of the importance of his position and the wealth of his prospects. . A WOODSTOCK CASE. He \yas, his story ran, a member of the Legislative Council in one of the States of Australia, a qualified medieal man, and possessed of means, unfortunately imrealisable at. the time. He negotiated with his intended victim for the sale of two hundred shares in the Cripple Creek Gold Mining Company. The Cripple Creek Gold Mining Company .is an actuality, but the shares, it subsequently transpired, were a myth, for events which happen later show conclusively that Wyatt was not in possession of such shares, and further, that he was not in a position ; to - treat for their sale. Anyhow, he extracted £SO from his dupe, purporting to be the purchase price of these shares., and the bargain was that Wyatt was to-send, for the shares to Australia, and make delivery of them in the July following, the balance of the purchase price to be then paid. Nearing the date when he would be called upon to perform his contract, and give delivery, Dr _ Wyatt disappeared. His victim put the matter in the hands of an agent, and inquiries were made by the police.; but although the authorities had knowledge of his whereabouts, they were precluded from acting by reason of technical -difficulties, one of which was that the time had not arrived when -Wyatt could be called upon to redeem his promise, and therefore the moment was unripe for a .criminal prosecution. As a matter of fact, some time before they received information of the occurrence, the police had had a complaint with regard to another instance of theft by false pretences in the same neighbourhood; but there again there were legal obstacles to a prosecution for the time being. One pretension of Wyatt, at about this period, was that he was a man of noble birth. AT THE SOCIAL. FARM.

For a couple of months, sight is lostof Wyatt, and from this point, too' the police seem to have ceased acquaintance with him. What happened in the meantime is a closed book for the nonce, and it is September when “the Double”- —Dr Wyatt, M.D. still—turns up at the Salvation Army Farm at Rondebosch. It may be timely here to say a little by way of personal description of the man. In every way his .appearance and address gave colour to his profession that he was a qualified medical man. Indeed, it seems more than likely that at one time he did legitimately practice medicine, and that in this assertion he for once gave of what were the remnants in him of an otherwise unfamiliar attribute—the truth. Still, it would be reckless to accredit so accomplished a romancer with even this faint suggestion of veracity, for a doubt is created In this connection by reason of the circumstance that he never exhibited any documentary proof of hi.s qualification to practise as a medical man. But to return to the description of Dr. Wyatt. It is not- at this point necessary to enter into a minute analysis. He paraded an imposing tall bat, invariably was scrupulously dressed, and as already indicated, there was that in his very aspect which almost compelled faith in the supposition that he was what lie gave himself out to be—a medical man ; more, a clever medical man ; and a man too whose social position was

at one time elevated much above the somewhat humble sphere in which he now found himself moving. On this apparent compatibility of his appearance and characteristics, with his professions of Ins former eminence in the social scale, it was his wont to trade, and already in the first few months of his sojourn in Cape Town, two persons at least had succumbed to his wiles.

We left Dr. Wyatt visiting the Salvation Army institution at Rondebosch. Here he saw Major King, the officer in charge of the farm, at his house, and asked for a glass of water. Major King was impressed with the evident respectability of his visitor, attired in his normal dandyish costume, hut now minus his best head gear, which was replaced by a modest “bowler.” The major was surprised to hear Wyatt describe himself as being utterly destitute, and as seeking the refuge of the Army’s charity. Dr. Wyatt became. from that time, a familiar, and, according to all reports, a liighly respectable figure in the Home, and . he spent there what seems to he, from the limited information now available, an uneventful six months. Uneventful, that- is, save that he distinguished himself by his successful medical treatment of some patients at the farm. In this respect, it is interesting to take brief observation of one case in particular—the instance of a woman, who was suffering from an internal complaint.. Several professional men had essayed their .skill without bringing relief to the patient. hut from the time she came under Wyatt’s care, -sire maintained an improvement, and became, and is now, quite cured of her illness. In other cases, Wyatt showed an effective knowledge of medicine, and there are indications that 'at this time he was surruptitiously practising in the locality as a medical man. By means of remuneration from this source, Wyatt was enabled to indulge a very refined taste in cigars, and to maintain his outwardly immaculate character. ANOTHER VICTIM. " Dr. Wyatt issues from the shelter provided him by the Salvation Army in March, and is introduced to a gentleman at Claremont, who may be called Mr Z. The introduction is made by an officer of the Salvation Army,' who relates what he knew of Wyatt, a prepossessing. tale for the reason that the Salvation Army know nothing ill of him,, but on the contrary have knowledge of his abilities which redounds to his credit. As Dr, Wyatt, the adventurer enters the home of Mr Z., on the. Paradise Eist-ate, in the second week in March. and remains there until late in April. During the period of his residence here, nothing of ill-sig-nificance was observed in his conduct. He was always well conducted; always a doctor, one might put it. and in all the phases of-his character he impressed his acquaintances as being a man of deep learning, keen observation, and extensive travel. He was a total abstainer, and his only weakness—if it may so be called—was a pronounced liking for cigars. He- represented to All- Z. that he had lost a considerable sum of money in. speculation, and in gambling at one of the principal hotels in the city, and Mr Z. regarded him as one whom it would be a charity to endeavour to uplift into what he deemed to be Dr. Wyatt’s former position among the elite. He performed several useful services to Mr Z., and, as stated, conducted himself in an unimpeacliable manner. The manner of his leaving bears substantially on the leading point of the story. It happened in this way : Dr. Wyatt, who had displayed an intimate knowledge of Australia, and had represented that at one time he was an inhabitant of Underneath, told Mr Z. and some of his friends that long ago he had acquired a property in the interior of Australia—he described the locality sufficiently well to convince his auditors of the genuineness of at least part of his story—thirty thousand acres in extent for the sale of. which he was then negotiating. He professed to have had an offer of half a crown per acre for the land,- and wished to obtain funds wherewith to proceed to Aus- ( tralia to conclude the negotiations. The tale was somewhat clumsily constructed, and for the first time Mr Z. suspected the bona fides of his guest. Dr. Wyatt wished to borrow some money from him, but Mr Z. declined to advance him any. However, a friend who had heard of the circumstances, advanced him £25, more through a desire to help Wyatt to regain his feet than because be was at all deceived by the story. Indeed, lie may be said, at the time, to have shared Mr Z.’s suspicions. No sooner, had ho received the money than Wyatt immediatel packed his few belongings and left by the mail train on the 29th of April, to go to East London, there ostensibly to proceed to Australia to set Mo the mat tor of his • supposed estate. During the time he was with Mr Z., ho was in tin.' habit of recounting many of his adventures. Whether they be fictitious or (rue is, of course, beyond knowledge, but he related, among other things, that he had served as a. surgeon in the Oldish army, and had gone through the A ust re-Prussian War. tie had been, according to his account, in all parts of the world, and one point which he always emphasised

in his anecdotes was the excellence, to his mind, of the American people and of American customs. He recounted, too, that he had a private hospital ol his own in Adelaide, whore he had lived in great style. Needless to say. Mr Z. and his friends never heard more of Dr. Wyatt. A CURIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE,

One curious circumstance in connection with Mr Z.’s acquaintance with Wyatt was that a twelvemonth or more afterwards, when the Beck cam being universally discussed, and when Wyatt, under the name of William Thomas, was being tried in London, Mr Z. was in Ehgland and had participated often in discussions relating to this very case without for a moment sus-pecting-that he had particular intimacy with the real criminal. It was not, in fact, until he returned to this country some three weeks ago- that Mr Z. saw newspaper accounts and photographs which left him beyond all doubt satisfied of the identity of Dr. W. A. Wyatt, M.D., with William Thomas. He always professed to Mr Z. that he was a British subject, but the fact that lie spoke-German fluently and was somewhat 1 defective in his use of English, conveyed to Mr Z. the idea, now confirmed hv police reports, that he was a foreign subject, probably a native of Germany or Austria-Hungary. He was of Jewish extraction, and was wont enthusiastically to eulogise the works of Zangwill and the good attributes of the Jewish people generally. Another circumstance that deserves singling out in connection with Mr Z.’s observations of the man and his peculiarities was the fact that in his room he displayed the photographs of a number of ladies. When questioned with regard to these, he answered that they were the photographs of friends of his in London. It is not unreasonable to assume that in this little gallery some of Wyatt’s victims figured. Wyatt usually displayed a reluctance to go into the matter of his antecedents, but, interrogated on the subject of his family, he reported that he had a son who was a barrister in England, and that he had two daughters, who were married, and who resided in India. AVOIDED CAPE TOWN.

One point which Mr Z. noticed, but to which he did not then attach any special significance, was that Wyatt studiously avoided going into Cape Town. As a matter of fact he did not visit the metropolis more than twice during the period of his domicile in Claremont. This, in the light of subsequent revelations, may reasonably be regarded as an indication that he avoided exhibiting himself too conspicuously because of the apprehension that he would meet some of his victims. A “Cape Times” representative was fortunate enough to obtain from Mr Z. a very vivid portraiture of Wyatt, which shows the adventurer in a picturesque and romantic light. According to accounts given by Mr Z., Wyatt was of the specifs known as dandies. Dress was a fetish with him, and, in this, as well as in other characteristics, he was a remarkable character. Mr Z. relates bow the man’s regularity of habit amounted almost to mania. He took his bath .with uninterrupted regularity at six o’clock in the morning, and spent quite an hour in his toilet. Among his possessions were silverhacked hairbrushes, and extravagantly ornamented toilet appurtenances which distinguished hixn as being pronouncedly of the dandy type. He had his supply of powder for the face, and what struck Mr Z. in particular was his attention to his nails, for which he used a special polish. He was always a conspicuous figure in his perfect dress, and his tall .hat, and so far extended his desire to he deemed a highly respectable person that once, Mr Z. recalls, he required to be attended to the railway station by a servant, whose function, it was to carry his luggage—consisting only of the smallest of small handbags. THE RETURN TO ENGLAND. One further and important point stands out in the South African career of this, ad venturer, and it is of almost primary significance. That is the fact of his leaving Sleuth. Africa for England at approximately the time when Beck was being liberated. This must be regarded as more than a chance coincidence. The probabilities are that Wyatt. alias, Smith, alias Thomas, alias innumerable names, bad carefully memorised the date of Beck’s release, and had deliberately determined to reach Elngland and to resume his evil practices at a time which synchronised with Adolf Beck’s release. He doubtless looked to a repetition of the previous confusion of Beck with himself to cover his own iniquity .and so far indeed did his plan succeed that Beck was actually accused and convicted of his (Wyatt’s) new series of frauds.