WILY WILLIE WILLIAMS

NZ Truth, Issue 731, 21 June 1919, Page 5

WILY WILLIE WILLIAMS

Some Somme Soldier Impudent Imposter Impeached. (From "Truth's" Dunedin Rep.) Those who set out on the "makehaste" principle of obtaining wealth without working for it usually fortify themselves with general knowledge sufficient m variety to make their tales "go down." If they do not so equip themselves they court early disaster. When Albert Harold William Williams told a "wounded hero" yarn to the Dunedin Soldiers' Welfare Association he forgot to decorate his plausibility with the "chiels that winna ding," the result being that he found himself a few days , . later • pleading guilty to a charge of being a rogue and a vagabond, m that he did impose upon the Association by representing himself as a wounded soldier for the purpose of obtaining money. i After Willie had murmured "guilty," Demon Donald Cameron vaulted into !■ the box to enlighten "The Beak" as to the imposter's methods. From the detective's story, it will be seen that Williams had not made a profound study of the chronological sequence of the war's happenings, nor had he wasted his youth m the study of geography. The detective said that on April 17 the accused sauntered round to the secretary of the Soldiers' Welfare Association and asked for financial asr sistance, as he was going- to get married. He declared that he had been wounded at the Somme, and the secretary, always eager to assist deserving cases, . PASSED ' OVER £5. Williams got married all right. Two days. later he came back again to see the secretary/ and collected another couple of pounds. The total grants made before Williams was eventually bowled out as an iniposter amounted to £17. When approached by the detective, he said that he had enlisted and had gone into camp on Tahuna Park with the Main Body. Turned down there, he went away with the Third Reinforcements, the ship going right on to Cairo. Prior to this lie had worked at A. and T. Burt's, but the demon was unable to find any such name on Burts' , wages register. After landing m Egypt, Williams said he went into Sling- Camp m that country, but fell ill, and could not proceed with the troops to Gallipoli. However, he went across to the Continent, being, at the Somme, wounded m the knee, the cheek, and having his head bashed with the butt of t a rifle. The next thing he remembered was waking up m Brocklehurst Hospital, m France. He, after all these adventures, returned to New Zealand by the Port Melbourne on March 24. He was, he said, born m Whangarei^ His real name was Jones, but he had been adopted by a man named Williams, who iised td live m Anderson's Bayroad, and who worked on* the trams. The detective could find no trace of an Anderson's Bay-road Williams ever employed on the trams. A Catholic priest had told him that his adopted parents died m Dunedin during the epidemic, but the "D." found no record of the fact. Asked regarding the names of his officers, Williams mentioned Captain White and Sergeant O'Dare. No person of the latter name was m the Thirds, but search of the records showed the existence of a Captain White. This., added Detective Cameron, was the only reference made by accused to HIS DEEDS OF VALOPv that was borne out by; fact. At the time of his arrest he was m possession of a returned soldier's badge, 5/940, a pay-book issued to one Dent, ■ and an allotment warrant, dated February 4, 1919, for 24s made out m the name of Fleming. The Dunedin Soldiers' Association, who were supposed to have issued the badge, have no entry regarding the supplying of one' to 5/940 Williams. N The detective then handed up accused's photo., taken from that interesting periodical, "The Police Ga'ette." The corresponding letterpress went to show that Williams, m the name of Dent, had been convicted anil discharged at Auckland on four charges of theft, committed just about the time . that the battle of the Somme was fought. In short, eoni eluded the detective, Williams was such a consistent liar that nothing he said could be believed. He had been receiving gratuitous massage treatment for alleged knee trouble, while his wife and he had been living at a boarding-house at the expense of a benevolent institution. In reply to the Magistrate, the Probation Officer said that he knew nothing of the accused, and could not on any account give a recommendation that he be admitted to proba - tion. It was absolutely necessary that an example be made of imposters, as one or two made it their business to live upon money that had been subscribed and collected fo.v the specific purpose of helping genuine soldiers.. When Willie appeared before the court on Tuesday morning, a further charge of false pretences was preferred against him. . This had to do with his having obtained goods valuel at £17 from a mercer called Fish, by representing himself as a returned soldier. To this also Williams pleaded guilty. Additional facts submitted by the chief-detective went to show that accused was convicted at Auckland m 1916, on three charges of theft, m addition to those already mentioned. For these he was SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS' - { reformative treatment at Invercargill, being released last December. After coming out of gaol, having done eighteen months' reformative treatment, Williams went to Auckland and took down the Hospital authorities there on the pretence that he had lately returned from the front. He also left his landlady lamenting-. Meeting- a Dunedin girl there, he came to Dunedin, getting- married under circumstances as before stated. Then he went to live with the girl's mother, who is not m affluent circumstances, persuading her to massage his knee while he remained four days m bed. Mother got tired, and the hero departed with his twenty-year-pld missus, to interview patriotic people. He told a tale of woe so well that it moved Mrs. McFie to arrange for their board at the City Buffet. On April 30, Willie went to Fish's shop and took away a load of clothing on the plea that the/Army owed him a lot of money. He was then wearing a uniform with four blue stripe chevrons, and limping on a Malacca cane, borrowed from Ahe hospital people. It appears that he went into camp m January, 191 G. and was discharged unfit m April, 1916, character fair. He never saw any other service By his false pretences he had > accumulated a cartload of goods mostly from benevolent people. . The Magistrate said. Williams had deliberately set out to obtain money by imposing on people as a returned soldier. Reformative treatment seemed not to have the. desired effect, as accused committed these crimes before the period of probation fixed by the Prisons Board had expired. As a deterrent to the accused, and to those who might be like-minded, he would inflict a severe penalty. On the first charge ho sentenced Williams to one year's hard labor, 'and on the second to six months' hard, the sentences to be cumulative. .