ZENO IN MELBOURNE.

NZ Truth, Issue 89, 2 March 1907, Page 8

ZENO IN MELBOURNE.

His Capers with Mrs. Raphael.

Thought reading was the game Zeno fthe charlatan carried on. m Melbourne interspersed with that of seducing ,women. . He was an oil*-, long-haired dreature. born (according to his marriage certificate, dated June 28, 1906) m Tuena, N.S.W.. hir. father's name "being Luc Norman. It is alleged .'that the father, Lite Norman, was of Chilirse extraction. His mother's maiden name was Eli/aJieth R.-vndall. His hair wns originally black.' and ; ' .

LONtt AND LANK, hut Oils blemish to his ideas of ar,t«istic beauty was got ov«r by. the pay-

ment of numerous Halt-crowns % hairdressers', who frizzed it, crimped • it," and - scented it. It stuck out irom^Jiis bullet head like an agitated mop: -In "pie day time a silk hat was perched on" the top' pi his cranium, and at night he _buzze<l about i With a motor cap reposing amidst his greasy locks. ; iV . .„-••' „•:. Carl ZenoT-or .William" Norman,- to give him his, proper name— first -attracted the contemptuous notice of the police and public of Melbourne by his silly capers;,in dancing m and out of shop No. 238. Swan&ton-street m, 1905. . , That . he^ was a,. charlatan was recognised at once, but his deeds were so "etty that they {were .treat-, ed with contempt. His v.Mtors were hot numerous , and were -^mostly of the silly order of girls and women, on whom he imposed by His barefaced/ cb^eek,: which, .with, many people, , PASSES FOR GENIUS. He 'prospered on women; but it ' was pnlv m the order of things that his Melbourne downfall should be due •to a woman, for, after' the ''discovery made by Louis Raphael, commission agent, that his wife had contaminated herself by association with Norman, that unworthy creature flew from Raphael's wrath,with the rapidity of the flight of a stone down a well. ' Raphael's dishdnoted wife was legally cast adrift by ' heir husband m. June last year, when the decree absolute was made m the Divorce Court by Mr Justice' Hood. Neither the respondent nor Norman, was join- 1 ed m the suit as co-respondent, entered an appearance, so that the \divorce was granted on the -strength of. the. petitioner's evidence alone. Tins : evidence was certainly strong ■enough -' - . , 'TO DAMN A SAINT, . and • this the Mrs Louis Raphael that then, was had. no pretensions , to be. The evidence of Louis Raphael was that, Rosetta Sarah : Esther Solomon was married to him on May 31, 1899, by the Rfev. Dr. Abrahams, minister of the Bourke-street Jewish Synagogue, '/at Fitzroy-streetr ; . Sfy. Kilda, . . the respondent at that time beine about 25 years of age. - She was a native of Sydney, and, prior toiler marriage, followed the occu- - patibn>of a? coHat^tuiker'a^ $fre Acme: shirt factory, Fitzroy. From the time of, -the marriage up fo October 24,- 1905, on which date her- social sins weare discovered, she was maintained "by her husband; to whom she had a female child, which was horn on February, 26, 1900. After the marriage Raphael and his wife y lived m Park Terrace, Fitzroy-street, St. Kilda, until December, 1899, when they, removed to Waltham-atreet* Richmond, where they remained till the following Deceanber. "Francis; Villa," Faraday-rstreet, Carlton, next sheltered them, and it was m this house, m- December, 1903, that Rpsetta declined to allow her husband to ■ COHABIT WITH HER. ; The result of this deprivation of a husband's privilege was a deed of se 1 parationi executed on January 7, 1904, under which Louis agreed to pay Rosetta. the sum -of 25s a week so long as she behaved "herself. In September Rosettaf returned to" hubby, and they lived together m Hoddle-street until March, 1905, when they removed to 236 Faradaystreet. In August of the same year -they- visited Sydney, and/ stayed at Glenmore-road, Pa'ddington, for a month, 'When Rosetta returned to. Melbourne, and lived with a Mr and Mrs McDowall, of Victoria-street, Richmond. In October the pair, who, by this time, had realised that they were very ill-matched, went to live m Rosetta's. mother's house, No. 122. J6hnston i street, Fitzroy, and, on the 24th of that month, she left her husband, child and mother, for a man whom she afterwards said - , SHE HAD LOVED both m,l Sydney and Melbourne, and with whom, on October 26, she admitted to her husband, she had been improperly intimate for six weeks previously. \ The fat was now m the fire,., and Raphael at once set to work to collect evidence ".. to obtain • a divorce. This was ' not difficult . He found ; that She had viaited Zeno's shop m Swan-ston-street on October 15 to have her fortune told. Rosetta was evidently very fond of her new lover •; for her , husband's petition sets out distinctly that on -the 27th, 28th, 29th', 30t/h and 31st October, she committed adultery with the respondent. ' Wljen Louis Raphael found that his wife was visiting this mountebank, he visited the Mellows shop to see how the land lay. Zeno posed as- a thought reader, and if he had the slightest claim to that " mystic art, would have immediately read Raphael's mind, and known the object of his visit. That 'the fellow was a fraud was at once apparent, for he played right into Raphael's hands, and. while going through the farce of reading his "thoughts," cave Raphael an opportunity to collect evidence that subsequently went a long "way to prove his wife's infidelity. Ancry though Raphael was at the time, he . could not, he says, keep from laughing at : the gullibility of the people who were taken down by such a TRANSPARENT FRAUD. ' ''Now, you write some words on this piece of paper," the charlatan would

remark, and the victim would write, for instance — "When will I marry?" This paper Zeno would fold up, press to his forehead, do some passes over the victim's hands, and pretend to return it to him or her, as the case might be. "Press that ,to your forehead, and look up," would be the next instructions, and when the poor fool was doing so, Zeno, who had rung the changes on his victim and passed to him a piece of paper on which there was no writing, would calmly open the original paper, read what the . victim had written, and then— obtaining the piece of blank paper from the victim, which he would palm— press the original to his forehead again, ' and repeat the words he had a moment or so before read. " Wonderful !" the pigeons would remark, and : go away and tell their friends of the wonderful seer. When this half-bred mountebank persuaded that misguided jyornan, Mrs Rauhaelj to creak her marriage vows, she had £200, which her husband had given her at different times. After writing the letter to Raphael m October, Mrs Raphael and her lover skipped to Launceaton, where they stayed at Laurel House, 27 Cameron-street, where the .woman blossomed out as the ' ' "LADIES' SQCIETY QUEEN 1 ' of physical culture and , arts. She also' claimed to .be "Madame Cairl Zerip,"., whereas she was at the - time -S* 'dishonored wife living m adultery with" Norman. As . Madame Zeno she claimed to 'be the^ "Late Teacher of the Parisian Salon and .America's Society v Institute of Physical : Culture-, U.S. Aj. , " wliereas v as a matter of- fact, she was an ex-stiirt. factory employee. . : The proceedings m Divorce,; on February 19, 1906, were thus reported by Melbourne ""Tffuthi" m its issue of February 24. 1906 :—

LEWIS RAPHAEL LOSES ROSETTA.

Carl Zeno Captures Her^— Porno- j graphic Palmist's Pet— Details , m Divorce— Decree Granted. ■ The long-haired palmist: and phrenologist, who appeared m Melbourne' until., lately" under' the professional { name of Carl Zeno appeared in'a new character o n Monday. .He was the co-respondent m a suit . by, Lewis Raphael for divorce from his wife, Rosette Raphael. The "round of the suit' was the wife's misconduct with the palmist, . whose correct name it transpired was William Norman. The petitioner was represented by Mr L. S. . Woolf. instructed .by 'Mr .W. R. Blair. There was no appearance of the respondent or the co-resptondent. The petitioner, who gave his age as. 38, arid- described himself. as A TURF COMMISSION AGENT, ' living at 122 Johnston-street, Fitzrov, Melbourne, stated, m the course of his evidence, that he was married to the respondent by the Rev. Dr. Abrahams, rabbi of ■ the Bourke-street j Jewish Synagogue. There, was one child, who was m his custody. They lived together m St. Kilda and Carlton after the marriage. About December ■, 1903 , respondent expressed . ah aversion to again < becoming a mother, and m the following January a deefl'qf separation was executed, under vrtiich he paiaV her 25s a week. They , however, - ..' CONTINUED ■TO LI VE TOGETHER under the same roof at -intervals', un-cial-jQctober;; igfiSv^^^-^iat' month; respondent visited cb-respondehi at his- shop, 238 Swanston-str.eet, to have her fortune told. Later m the same month he began to suspect his wife's relations with , the palmist, he went to co-respondent and informed him that he. objected to. Mrs Raphael's Visits to him. Zeno, or Norman, answered that he would tell Mrs Raphael of her husband's objection when next she visited, the. shop. He had traced. her to the shop, and HATCHED THE PLACE with a companion until a late hour atnight, and had seen her leave the place. • When he remonstrated with her, she declared she. was taking lessons m painting. She was indignant, and announced that she would not live with him any longer. Subsequently he received the,, following letteJr from her, :— "Oct. 26, . 1905. 278 Victoriastreet, N. Richmond.— My Dear Hus.band,—l am writing you these few lines to •TELL' YOU OP MY SIN. I cannot deceive you any longer. I meant to tell you before, but had not the pluck to do so. I have lived with another man as his wife for months past, but I decline to reveal his name, and I love him dearly. I will not say who he is. It is no use ■you trying to bring me back. Twill never live with you m life again. I i would sooner kill myself: I cannot ' live without him, so you see it is nb. I use trying to save me, as I have forgotten you. I b.*ve done-, a WRONG WHICH CANNOT ' BE . RIGHTED. , So you know the truth now. You can 'take what action 'you like.' I do not care what you do- I cannot live without him again ; remember that. ..Try ' and . forgive me, if you can, for the Sake of my children,' whom I love very much. I hope you will find a woman who is more worthy of you i than I am, and forget - that- I ever liye r dy— Your 'unfaithful wife, Rosetta Raphael. P.S.— Do not worry over me ; I am not worth it." On November 4t petitioner ' served respondent and co-respondent with divorce papers at co'respdndent's SHOP IN SWANSTON-STREET. They came -out of a private room, where they hail been breakfasting together, to receive the papers. Petitioner asked co-respondent if his name was William Norman, trading as Carl Zeno. -Co-respondent answered m the affirra'ativc, .Petitioner said, "I am Lewis Raphael, the husband of this lady. I have instituted divorce procebdines, and you and she are charged with HAVING COMMITTED ADULTERY:" Co-respondent nodded his head, but did not reply. Petitioner read the copy of citation to the paiir, and. when he reached the passage warning them if they desired to defend the nuit, to enter an appearance within 20 days, both said they did not intend to bother. On November 25 he saw them both on board the Loongana, and watched them sail for Tasmania. . His Honor granted the decree nisi, .with costs against the co-respondent.

What a country paper describes as a peculiar case was heard at the Feilding Magistrate's Court recently when a 'married man was charged with assaulting his wife's servant girl. The alleged assault was contained m the fact that the defendant was m the habit of kissing the girl. For these acts of injustice the defendant was upbiraided by plaintiffs sweetheart and Court proceedings followed. The defendant denied the allegations and the case was dismissed with costs against the informant. There's nothing peculiar m such "assaults" : they are- very common, and it served her right for not knowing what was good for her and what a good thing she had on.