A BLACKMAILING BOTHER.

NZ Truth, Issue 151, 9 May 1908, Page 8

A BLACKMAILING BOTHER.

DONOHUE'S DEMANDS FOR THE DOLLARS.

Threatens a Young Woman With Exposure

In "Truth."

AND IS COMMITTED FOR TRUE.

There was a large crowd of spectators at. Bendigo City Court recently. The "attraction" was a charge of attempted blackmail preferred against VT° un ß man named Thomas Donohue, who had endeavored to extort money from a charming girl-bride by mendaciously threatening to publish a full and circumstantial account of her marriage m "Truth." He also tried to intimidate the young lady /m other ways, and stated, m conclusion, that, m addition to injury to her reputation, noncompliance with his evil demands might result m the permanent destruction of her peerless beauty. The wicked, depraved creature, who thus sought to frighten a virtuous girl is a shortstatured, thick-set fellow, with a smooth, full "face, and a MASS OF DARK, CURLY HAIR. He is only 25 years of a-", and New South Wales has the dishonor of being his birthplace. Some time ago he seems to have maintained himself by honest work. For a while he was employed at the mines on regular wages, and subsequently he drove a lorry for the Shell Transport Company. Of late years, however, genuine graft and he had become very' bad friends, and there has been a- long estrangement between them. He ultimately evolved into a "sport" . and theatrical bummer. At one time he was engaged m senior cricket, but drifted m short stages into a member of THE HANGING-ON FRATERNITY, who constitute the unsavory fringe of "sporting circles." Then he took up with theatricals, and engaged m various capacities by visiting shows. His part was, as a rule, taking tickets at the doors and doing "general useful" work Of a- light nature. About li months ago / HE MARRIED A GIRL j who was eniployed as a domestic servant iri the household of Mrs Watson, a r.ister of the bride he so diabolically attempted to blackmail. Since his marriage he has been doing nothing m particular. Like many a ne'er .do well dead-beat, he has been acting as a mission apent. and recently took up the insurance canvassing line which is often _ the last resort for chrQhic Idlers USfho.' have made up their minds to be "out o£ work for life." lie failed to make; > a - proper home for his young wife, aod has > bceh residing with her m a hired room; m McCrae-strcet. Fortuhately for jj her,, she' is without children- ahd may .thus be-i enabled to return to domestic : servjeearid respectability. In the meantime.* t_he appears to have an ardent desire to ssick to • the derelict spouse whom v sheipqk for Tiettcr or for Worse, and von Thursday was at "his side m the Bendigo Cotirt while he was awaiting his arraignment before the Magistrates. She is a fair-complexioned ,girl, of slender figure, and has a nice-looking face. SHE WAS HEAVILY VEILED, and occasionally ' whispered ' to her hus» band, who replied by almost imperceptible gesticulation. There was a very heavy Court list, and the case wis not called on till late m the afternoon. During the long wait, the pair sat together immediately behind the accused's counsel CMr E. W. Kirbv.. When ultimately the hour for the trial arrived, and Donohue was placed m position opposite the* dock, his wife took her seat m a rearmost position below the tiered seats.. The man stood stock still during the hours the evidence was . being given against him. He had his head hung/ with his eyes fixed on the floor. He, never moved from that attitude except on beiag asked to plead, when he looked round inquiringly at his counsel. His desire was . evidently to impress the Bench and public with an appearance of deep contrition. The young lady whom Donohue sought tn make a victim to his wicked avarice ■is,v \ •, . -;;MRS HORACE VERNON I.ANSELL. -She did not appear at all. The Bench bar, and the police considered that jshe could be saved the ordeal of posing '75 a cynosure of all enriosity hungering eyes m the witness-box without imperilling the demands of Justice. She is reputed to : be a beautiful girl, of the petite order, and has. since her debut into goldfield sassiety, been universally proclaimed a belle. She is the youngest of a family of four nice eifls, all of •whom arc happily married and comfortably circumstanced. One is united to a ; scion of the Money Watson family, another to Hunter, the well-known brewer, and a third to a gentleman - named Skues, who is an accountant m a local _firm. They are daughters of the late J. Hosking, of Golden Square. There is no breath of scandal concerning any of them, and the foundation upon wfyich the despicable Donohye built his charges does not touch the victim*s reputation. deems "it necessary to make that statement m view of the seemingly stupid action of the young lady's advisers and the authorities m withholding from publication the contents of the blackmailer's silly letter to. her. . As a matter of fact. Horace Lansell, who _is a young fellow not much over 21 years of age, and who is likewise the second eldest son 'of the great BEfJDIGO OITAPTZ KING ifthe late 'George Lansell), of whom a memorial statue is shortly to be erected, has, for some time past, been deeply and genuinely m love, with the beautiful •Elsie Hosking, who is now his bride. She fully reciprocated the whole-hearted affection which was honorably lavished s -upon her,, hut the proverb which says [true love never runs smoothly was verified. The disturbing element of religious ■differences was Introduced, and . the Kjuartz King family did not view the approaching union favorably. However, iwhen swain and maid are irrevocably m Inve, Cupid, who laughs at locksmiths, becomes their staunch friend, and at the beginning of last month the young couple iwere married at St. Kilian's. They returned .to Bendigo at the end of the month, and only just settled down to home life. When the ltappv bride received iDonohue's mean, miserable letter. The creature signed himself "Charles Clarice." a norn de plume probably picked up (during his theatrical bumming career, and o-ave his address as 33 Pall Mall, (which is a fish shop conducted by a Dago named Aregory Lucas, who, however, re- * pudiates any knowledge of the BLACKMAILER'S MACHINATIONS, The first epistle to IjMrs Lansell consisted of two pages of foolscap, closely written- It commenced thus ' — My Dear Mrs Lansell,— No doubt you .will' be wondering that pretty head of yours to discover who this letter is fwmK I am m "Teat financial difticul■flßaß&SdA have remained awake all night shall do. Suddenly

tides to "Truth!" which were always published, although the editor did not know his name. He even went so far as to write' out the headlines! of his "article," and asked how she would like to have her name published like that 'm block letters throughout the CommonWealth. He, however, nromised to suppress his facts if the young lady forwarded him, without delay, THE SUM OF £100. If she complied all would be well, he said. She would be ha- iy with her husband, ane he would "forget." She would also bring joy and happiness to him. "Failing the payment of the money." the letter proceeded, "I will resort to more violent methods. I will make your life miserable, and I will take revenge on your beauty, or something else." There were other threats, and a warning not to, endeavor , to entrap him as the attempt would fail. "Remember," he concluded. "I am m deadly earnest, and must have the money " Mrs Lansell, who, m addition to having nothing to fear, is a sensible .'girl, at once handed over the puerile blackmailing document to her husband, who took prompt and effective action to discover the ruffianly author. Solicitor O'Halloran was communicated with, and, acting m conjunction with Detectives Commons, Cahill, and Currie, set a trap into which Donohue rushed headlong, and was captured • without a strugale. He,- went down wallop, and owned up like the veriest craven. His bold threats to the gitl bride MELTED INTO PITIABLE WHININGS, which were intensified by his wretched pseudo-contrition posturing m the court. Mr Dan O'Halloran, who prosecuted, said the prisoner was charged under the 113 th section of the Crimes Act with the under-mentioned offence : — That on the 2nd April, at Bendigo, he did send a letter to Mrs Elsie Lansell with a menace, and without reasonable cause, demanding money, to wit, £100. , Counsel said, any person guilty of such an offence/ -which was a felony, was liable td"_;_ ls years'. imprisonment. The facts were that Horace Lansell had married Miss Elsie Hosking on March 6 Inst. On their return from a honeymoon they went to live with a relative, and on 3rd instant Mrs Lancell : received a letter containing threats and : demanding money. Thei; letter was , dated the previous day, and' pointed to an attempt at the commission of .' A MOST HORRIBLE CRIME. He did not intend to read the contents of the letter m, detail m open court, but would hand it up to the Bench. It commenced by stating the writer supposed Mrs Lansell would wonder who it was from, and . made threats of publishing things he said he was aware- of m the "Truth" newspaper The writer then proceeded to make a horrible menace. He said he would destroy the lady's beauty or "do something, else" if £100 was not forthcoming. "As true as there is a God above me," he continued, "If you fail I will pursue my course to xhe bitter end." The letter was handed by Mrs Lansell to her husband, who thereupon consulted him (Mr O'Halloran). He caused a reply to be sent to the address given, asking for time to meet the demand. That was done and accused called and got the letter* He answered it, demanding money by the following Thursday, and another reply was forwarded saying portion of it would be forthcoming by the last post on that day. A letter 'was duly sent by the mail named, without money. Accused called for it, and on opening it, expressed ( his disgust at its unprofitable contents. He was subsequently arrested, with the letters m his possession. Mr E. W. Kirby said the very worst phase of accused's conduct had been presented to the court. His attempt to extort money was really THE ACT -OF A FOOL— it was silly and puerile — and could have no serious effect on Mrs Lansell. Why need she fear such absurd threats? The man could expose nothing to her hurt, hecause there was nothing to expose. She knew that, and, like any proper-minded woman, she 'simply handed the stupid letter to her husband. No doubt the latter felt very indignant at his wife being subjected to such an insult, and he acted quite rightly m tracing the culprit. The accused had left himself open .to easy detection, and he was caught at once. He could not say anything detrimental to Mrs Lansell. There was nothing that could be said except m her favor. . As to the threat to publish a lot of rubbish m the "Truth" newspaper, that was absurd •on the face of it. Their Worships knew perfectly well that no newspaper would publish any matter without ascertaining if allegations contained therein were m accordance with fact. He (Mr Kirby) would ask the Bench TO REDUCE THE CHARGE to one of attempted imposition, and to dispose of it summarily. It was one of those cases m. which matters were soonest mended by being ended. Mr E. Notley Moore, P.M.: We can do nothing. It is for the prosecution to reduce the charge with our consent if they wish ; but, personally, I think it would be better for the prisoner to go before a judge and jury. A judge has large discretionary powers, and might be inclined to deal more leniently with the accused than local justices Would. Mr O'Halloran said the prosecution had no vindictive feeling. v All that was desired was that justice should be done. Mr Kirby said he would accept the Magistrate's suggestion, and allow the charge to stand. \. Horace Vernon Lansell,- who had been sitting at counsel's table, was then called to give evidences He said he had seen the letter m question. Mr Kirby said, m the interests of his client, he must insist on the person i who received-the letter m the first instance being called. They would not accept secondary evidence. Mr O'Halloran said that _ difficulty could be overcome. Mr Lansell had received the letter from the post, and had HANDED IT UNOPENED TO HIS WIFE, who. subsequently made him acquainted with its contents by asking him to read it. The witness continued his evidence to that eßect, and said he had consulted Mr O'Halloran, who had arranged for replies being' sent to ;the accused's letters, addressed to "Charles Clarice," at the fish shop, 33 Pall Mall. Mr O'Halloran said the replies had been drafted by him. They were signed, "E. Lansell," but' were not m that lady's handwriting. Mr Kirby (to witness Lansell) : Did Mrs Lansell read the first letter containing the demand for hush money m your :\_..sejice ?— No, I handed her the letter 4 : ffi&jfot&-4! just as I had received it from "^^^b^who fetched the post. I then * went down toWn. On "3P*s|<she £ aye me the l Q ttex - . y -Iffifeg&J.hfi letter to be '".'T^3f&sw r A.uch a let-