CURIOSITIES OF CRIME.

NZ Truth, Issue 93, 30 March 1907, Page 8

CURIOSITIES OF CRIME.

" A CRIMINAL CRCESUS."

A Thief with a Fortune Dying m Durance at 83 Years of Age.

When the last Australian mail left London, lying on a bed m a lonely cell at Parkhurst prison infirmary w«as the feeble figure of a ■ man who for over half a century had followed a criminal career and who had spent over thirty years m gaol. The medical officers m- attendance have informed him that it is unlikely that he will ever again rise from his prison bed, owing to the development of an incurable disease. •>• • • This ancient convict is 83 years of age, and is "doing" a sentence of five yeses, of which some fourteen months ara yet to serve. He understands tha£ he will not complete his sentence. To the warders of the gaol he recently said, while tears ran down his wrinkled cheeks : "If I were a boy again and thought thieving was to be my profession, I would have cut my head' off. What a life' I have spent ! I knew when I received this sentence it would be my last and I should never finish it." ■ ' ■ • * ■ • It is a matter of surmise and surprise what becomes of all the CRIMINALS WHEN THEY GROW OLD ! Have they reformed and are leading virtuous lives ? The deaths recorded m prisons are very few, and recently convicted men and women are barred the old-age , pension. Perhaps . the habitual criminal- never grows old. Anyhow, the same question has been asked as to the dead donkeys, and remains unanswered. It is said that no one has ever seen a dead-donkey. There are many live specimens, however. The aged convict- dying m Parkhurst prison is known by various' names and aliases. James Turner is said to be his proper name ; the aliases "Colonel Bowton," "Jimmy Cofiee." "Charles Pearcc," ' "Fred Hallett," and he also posed as footman to "Sir Arthur Gumming," one of his pals m his many acts of • » • THEFT AND SWINDLING. Sir Alfred Stephen, when Chief Justice of New South Wales, once said, when passing sentence of death on Dunn, the bushranger, that m -the long list of great criminals m Australia he never knew one to have any real estate or personal property of any value, and an "eminent" and life-long criminal m Victoria, John Weechurch, declared that he never knew a professional thief to die worth' a shilling. There are few men, however, who made suoh a fortune^ by thieving as did this ancient James Turner, alias, etc., etc. He once boasted to a detective- that there was not a man breathing who. had made the thousands of pounds from stolen jewellery that ho had, and this 'boast is supported to a great extent by 'his history. He has become talkative m his dying hours-, but so far has not disclosed where his "plant" is, -and the authorities say that, he must have a valuable one 'somewhere. • • • -■■'-■ 'JAMES TURNER was born of respectable and wellr conditioned parents m a Devonshire village m the year 1824. When sixteen years of age he reached London and found employment as a wharf clerk. He appears to have kept steadily at this for five years, when, m 1845, he took up a- "newspaper pitch" outside the noted old "Elephant and Castle" Inn. A newspaper "pitch" m London is the right to sell newspapers at a certain spot, which right by an unwritten law is never intruded. upon. . • * • ' While selling newspapers on his Elephant and Castle pitch? he made the "acquaintance and mixed with the notorious gangs— or pushes— that then existed m South London. His intercourse with these' wide-awake fellows soon culminated m the selling of the pitch, and leaving London. Where he went was only known to some of hia confederates. • • # His education had commenced, however. WHILE WITH THE "PUSHES," and soon after his disappearance from London he was arrested for an extensive jewel robbery m the provinces and, having served his sentence, was discharged from Plymouth gaol. • « ' • He hung about Plymduth for some time, when fortune threw m his way a woman who afterwards became his confederate m most of his thefts and swindles. This woman was tall and handsome, and had . money of her own;' She had lived almost reputa/ble life until she met Turner, who proved to be the turning point m her career. After a short courtship the pair were married m a Plymouth church. • • • In 1858 Mr and Mrs -Turner reached London, the lady believing her husband to be a most respectable, and industrious man. Unknown to her, however, Mr Turner soon became associated with two young thieves named VANDERSTEIN AND FULTON, with whom Ire made frequent visits to the Continent, and where they successfully carried out some big thieving enterprises. These were Turner'^ first successful efforts, and unpunished. • « • In 18G-0 London was ringing with the account of the skilfully-planned robbery at Streeter's, the eminent jewellers, which involved property valued at many thousands of pounds. For this Turner, under the name of I Charles Pearoe, was arrested by. Mr Williams, chief constable at Scotland Yard, and, being tried at the Old Bailey and convicted, was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. Only a very small portion of the stolen jewellery was recovered. After the completion of his sentence Turner, alias Pearce, lived m great style, occupying a large house near Regent's Park, ' much to the chagrin of the police^ who knew well how the mansion was kept up, but were unable to rescue any of the capital. • • > By this time Turner ira-d got' his ;

WIPE COMPLETELY UNDER HIS CONTROL, and used her as a tool, with two others of the gang, for further robberies. * * 4 The next heard of Turner and his accomplices was at Paris, m 1882, where they were concerned m a robbery to the value of a quarter oi a million f rance, and over (about £11, 000 worth m British money). Turner and his wife escaped with the loot, the two confederates being convicted:. • « • In the next year (18^3), Turner and his. wife clever ly succeeded m stealing £500 worth of gems from Messrs Thompson and Co., of Ladbrooke Grove, Notting Hill. It was worked this way : The pair entered the shop to look at some? jewellery. While so engaged the wife thought that there w«a£ an article m. the window which would suit her better, and she per--shaded the assistant to bring her the article. While . ? she was' distracting the' attendant's a/ttention Turner'appropriated the valuables from the counter and. got clear away with them. . #.• • # the pair were afterwards arrested dressed as tramps. In the portmanteau at the public-house where they were staying the police 'found the clothes which they had worn when . THEY STOLE THE.'JEWELS at Thompson's. These clothes were put- upon dummies at the trial at the Old Bailey for the purpose of identification. This ' brings the Turner history down to the year 1888, m which year ft was proved that Turner, his wife,; and \ confederates were responsible for a robbery from a boat train at Cannon-street .'station. . * '.. • * The gang, however, were not content . with jf'v/el robberies. They committed a series of frauds by using forged letters of credit, and many banks and money-changers were defrauded. ■■«■-. • ' - • In 188 G the gang changed their scene of operation to Nice, where something like £40'C'O worth of Jewels were stolen. In the M-aditerrancan t town the gang adopted various titles. At Nice one of the gang passed as "Sir Arthur Curnmings, X.C.8.", Turner posing as his footman, while Mrs Turner adopted the title of "Lady Scott." In tMs robbery they played an old trick which had often done duty m London. The jeweller was invited to bring his wares to the villa rented by the "K:C.B.", and, having got him, they locked him m a room and decamped. They- reached England m safety with the plunder; • * » In 1594 ILL-LUCK OVERTOOK 'JAMES - TURNER, as we find recorded against him a sentence of . five years' penal servitude and' three years'- police supervision,, awarded him at the North London Sessions. o • • ' On his release he changed the scene of his operations to Frankfort, where, m 1899, lie received a sentence of three years' penal servitude and five years' police supervision, and under the Prevention of Crimes Act later on got twelve months' hard labor. On one occasion when arrested Turner had upon him a cheque, genuine, signed by one of £he largest diamond merchants of Hatton Gardens. *' * • James Turner's ingenuity was not yet exhausted. He made "Bank of Engraving Notes" a specialty. These were analogous to the "Bank of Elegance Notes" which London tailors used to distribute as hand-bills and advertisements. They flourished amazingly until stopped by the authorities m consequence . of the numerous frauds committed by . "CONFIDENCE MEN" and spielers with them. Turner's method of using these "notes" was this : He would command the confidence of his prospective prey by producing a celluloid case, which, to all appearances, cantained hundreds of genuine Bank of England notes. As a matter of fact, there would be a few genuine ones m 'the case, the remainder being bogus. ■ ■ „ ' • ■ • ■ • He played on one occasion a very smart, though sidple, Wick upon a jeweller. He • got him .to take to his hotel a lot of valuable pearls. They were laid out before him on the table, m order that he might make his selection. He chose most of them, and offered a £heq'ue m payment. The jeweller, wlYile profuse m apologies, declined to take the cheque: his' terms being spot cash. "Very well," said Turner, "take them back tp the shop, and I will get the cheque c^hed 1 and! ■'.cohie' with it to your warehouse. But I know what, jewellers are ; I will put them m this bag and seal them, so I shall know they are the ones I have chosen." To this the jeweller agreed. Turner tied the bag, lighted a wax taper, put on the hot sealinig-wax, and sealed it with his signet ring. But a piece of string wanted cutting, and Turner opened the door and called upon someone to bring a knife. This was done, but the person only came as far as the door, where the string was cut. The jeweller received the bag, and left, with many apologies, to wait at his shop for the cash. • . j » As the day wore on, ana Mr Turner did not appear, the tradesman regretfully came to the conclusion that he had lost a promising customer. He therefore opened ,+he bag—to find that it contained only ' A >FEW PIECES OF COAL, carefully and neatly wrapped m tissue paper. What 'had really happened at the hotel was this : Turner had prepared a bag similar to the one m which ; he had sealed the pearls. When he called for the knife his wife brought the bag to him outside the door, and under the jeweller's very eyes the exchange was effected.

Turner's success m jewel robberies was helped by the fact that he was an expert m the valuation of jewellery.

Another peculiarity possessed by Mr James Turner, and one m which he differed from most of his CONTEMPORARIES IN CRIME, was that he was never known to do business with receivers of stolen property. Any thief will tell you, should you be on speaking terms with one, that the "fence" cives aboiit the /quarter value 'of the stolen property, knowing that the thief has no option but to accept. Turner adopted another method, and got full value for his illicit wares. He personally broke up the valuables beyond .recognition, and always commanded «the best markets." At his London residence deals have taken place at one time for many thousand's of pounds.

In the month of February,. 1904, James Turner, m the name of Colonel Bowton, was staying with his wife at the Grand Hotel, Brighton, and made several heavy purchases of jewellery. At one jeweller's shop he said that his daughter was about to get married, to a gentleman of title and fortune, and he wished to make ncr .

ft* HANDSOME WEDDING PRESENT.

He asked that some handsome jewellery should be sent to his rooms at the Grand Hotel so that his wife, who was an "invalid," might sec them before he decided on the present. An assistant was sent with three diamond nec Maces, valued at £1500, and was sMwn into a private sitting-room &£ the "Colonel." On pretence of. showing the jewellery to his wife, who was alleged to be ill m bed, Turner shut the assistant m and cleared out.

Some '. ♦three months after he was arrested while " taking the waters" at Droitwich, was brought back to Brighton, and at the July Sessions was convicted, and received his

LAST SENTENCE OF' FIVE

YEARS. , Solemnly declaring his innocence, he asked the jury : "Do you believe an old man like me could do such a smart thing ?"

In^this instance, as m many others, the stolen jewels were never recovered, and the question exercising the minds of the officials of Parkhurst is what amount of money the old and well-tried criminal has hoarded up, and what he, will do with it by will or otherwise. He makes no mention of his wife, and the probability is that she, if she be alive and faithful to her trust, has the whole of the proceeds of these several robberies m safe keeping. Certain it is that James Turner will not enjoy any of it. His wife, however, may be more fortunate, and, having lost the assistance of her husband and co-part-ner m crime, may settle down m some fashionable watering-place and enjoy m her old age the fruits of her ill-gotten gains..