MERCER'S MERCERISED MILLIONS

NZ Truth, Issue 852, 18 March 1922, Page 5

MERCER'S MERCERISED MILLIONS

BAD BUSINESS BY A BUDDING BREWSTER

EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPADES OF NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD YOUTH Houses, Furniture, Motors and Jewellery Ordered and Not. Paid For YOUNG GIRL DECEIVED BY HER "LIEUTENANT" LOVER

' Seeing that de Rougement is m a fair way of losing the reputation he held during his lifetime of being one of the biggest liars of the age, it might be worth while, after the facts related m the Wellington Magistrate's Court this week have come to light, to put ih a modest claim on behalf of a Wellington youth for the title of the champion living liar.

The story of the audacious lies put over recently by Henry John Mercer kept the Magistrate's Court bubbling witji laughter on Wednesday. How an inriocent-iooking youth of nineteen could have deceived well-known business men m the city. as he did, is beyond comprehension. Young Mercer might toe likened to Brewster, with this difference, that he had an advantage over that gentleman of fiction, m that, whereas Brewster flung about hundreds m a desperate attempt to end up with nothing, our Wellington young man started with nothing m a desperate attempt to outrival Brewster In financial dissipation. • Mercer's' career asa multi-million-aire lasted only 'a few days- During that time he ; bought houses, motorcars, hundreds of pounds' worth of furniture, jewellery, and the like — yes, bought, but did not pay. for them. In the course. of this welter of extravagance Mercer posed as a contractor possessed of some forty or fifty motor lorries, as the son of the manager of the -Vacuum Oil Co.,' as a lieutenant of the Canadian Navy, and -as an officialof the Union Steam Ship Co. Also m his few CROWDED HOURS OF COLOSSAL 'DECEPTION, / young Mercer became engaged, ordered, a £40 engagement, ring for his "future"' wife, and grandly wrote out a "cheque" for £50 to pay for ,her trousseau. Last, but not least, he came forward, as an employer of labor, .engaging a small horde of out-of-work firemen, pantrymen and f stewards, and after taking them down to a vessel m port, he quietly gave them the slip and left them lamenting. < Only one charge was laid against Mercer when he appeared before Magistrate .Riddell, and " this was that he attempted to obtain from F. Yeats, furniture manufacturer, of , Cubastreet, furniture to the value of £364 13s by falsely pretending that he had a seven years' contract with the Vacuum Oil Co., and was a married man. Mr. J. F. B. Stevenson represented accused and Chief-Detective Kemp conducted the case for the prosecution. " Accused .listened t° the- evidence impassively. Pie appeared to be quite an ordinary looking young fellow, and anything hut the type of youth who could successfully impose on wideawake business people. Fprmal evidence was given by Hairley' Griffiths, accountant for the Vai cuum Oil Co., that no contract existed | between accused, and the company, j Verna .Lionel Kerr, employed by H. J. Rutter, land agent, related details of one of the . first deceptions worked .by accused. . ' He said that the latter called at Rutter's office on March 2 last and gave him his name as Willoughby. Accused, said he had a contract with the Vacuum Oil Co. for casting ■ benzine betwficn Wellington and Palmerston North. 'First, accused wanted to rent an office and then went on to the weightier business of buying a house. Finally. Mercer decided on a home at 69 Ross- street, Kilbirnie. ■ Later he came back to the office with a young lady whom he REPRESENTED AS HIS WIFE. The house at Kilbirnie was inspected and terms come to, under which' Mercer was to put down £50 right away and the present occupiers of the house were to get out as quickly as possible. The day following, Mercer strolled into the/ office and asked for a copy of the agreement to show his solicitor. The deal' did not come off as Mercer was heard of no more until arrested. He would have had to put down £300 m hard cash before he would have been given t possession of the house. ' Next witness, Stanley Forrester, erriployed by Yeats, the furniture man, told how young Mercer went about making arrangements to furnish his mythical mansion. Accused arrived at the shop on March 3, accompanied by two ladies^and a man named Newman. He announced that he wanted about £400 worth of furniture. By way of credentials Mercer said, he was • ', JUST OVER FROM AMERICA, and had a seven years' contract with the; Vacuum Oil Co. Witness said that Mercer was rather a young man to hold down such a job, but. the latter proudly explained that his dad was manager of the company m America. Witness, was satisfied, and the business of selecting sideboards, tables and chairs went ahead merrily. When over £300 worth of goods had; been earmarked . for Mercer, he asked witness to meet him at his house m Kilbirnie to see just how they would arrange the furniture there. Witness turned up' at Kilbirnie but Mercer did not. At the Kilbirnie house witness met the occupier of the house, ..who . was all m a hurry and a bustle to get things shifted for the coming of the young millionaire. Witness took measurements and returned to his office to find that Mercer had called during his absence. Mercer returned again later and order-' ed .another' £40 worth of sticks. He .avoided the matter -of a deposit and said he would look Eilong the following day. with a cheque. Mercer had not turned up. since. ..

The next victim of the plausible young mail was Fredk. Newman, a carpenter and joiner, who said he was introduced to Mercer by a young lady. •Mercer asked him to come and help ihim to choose the furniture- Witness did so as a labor of love, and apparently overcome by feelings of gratitude, Mercer offered him a job AT £6 A WEEK, which witness later accepted, Witness's first job was to go with Mercer to Dun/bar Sloane's, where Mercer ar- | ranged to buy a house m Moxham-aven-ue, Kilbirnie. Witness was to. place the furniture m this house and have it ready for Mercer's return from his honeymoon. Witness got a nasty shock when he called on. Dunbar Sloane later and found that his wealthy benefactor had been arrested. Mr... Stevenson asked Newman if he had ever' lost a penny over Mercer's interest m him. . ' "Yes," replied witness, "I paid his tram fare one day from Courtenay-. place, but he returned it the following morning." (Laughter). Every neck was craned m- court as. the "lady m the case" entered the wit-ness-box. She ,is a small, frail little girl with large, expressive eyes.- She had an air of quiet ' self-possession, and the only time she was! embarrassed was when' the motley crowd' at the : back of the court laughed unfeelingly over the £40 engagement ring and the £50 trousseau. "cheque."' Accused lost some of* his apathy during the time she was giving evidence, and appeared -TO REALISE SHAMEFULLY the embarrassing- plight, m which he had, placed the little lady who, had

trusted so blindly to' him . and his mythical millions. The young - lady said she knew accused as. Harold Willoughby, heing introduced to him by a girl friend. Mercer told her he was a lieutenant m the Canadian Navy. Friendship ripened into love, and she became engaged to him. Her haippiest day was when she searched with him for the nicest home m Kilbirnie. "Harry" seemed to prefer the house m Moxham-avenue — it was the more expensive. Finally he signed a contract with Mr. Cameron, the owner, who said he would make way for the young couple as soon as possible. Then she and "Harry" went to Yeats's, .where she tasted the delights of selecting expensive furniture for the home to be. Her golden castle seemed complete when "Harry"- took her to the jeweller's, where she blushingly decided on a wonderful £40 engagement ring. It was too large for her little finger, so "Harry" ' left orders for it to be reduced, m size so that he might call and pay for it the following day. And — joy, of joys— "Harry" ordered a bonsor Essex car for her at the D.M.V., and finally gave her a "cheque" of £50 for her trousseau. The little woman smiled sadly when the crowd at the back of the court laughed raucously at .her soft-spoken admission about the trousseau. ■• Bitter disillusionment came When she heard some days later at Dunbar Sloane's that her "Harry" had been arrested. Mr. Stevenson: I think they told you Yeats''S that you were ' A A VERY LUCKY GIRL „ with such ,a- wealthy young man? Witness (sadly): Yes, they did. Counse} then asked his ' Worship's opinion about the "cheque." It iproved to-be but a worthless slip of paper made out on a bank draft form. " "No .person with any knowledge of business would have been deceived by this alleged cheque," commented Mr. Riddell. '■ Plain-clothes Constable Tongue, related how he interviewed Mercer on March 4 last m the furnishing department of 'C. Smith's, Ltd. Mercer was., then passing the time ordering some expensive carpets; He accompanied , witness fo the detective office, where he made a statement m which he detailed all his deceptions. He likewise admitted having no money to back up the numerous orders he had given. He said he lived with his mother at Nq. 2 Hobson -street.

To Mr. Stevenson: Accused had received neither .money nor goods from the firms he had deceived. The only firm put to expense had been Dunbar Sloa.ne, who had run up a taxi hill for £3 10s m showing accused round the various' house§. Accused had ! ordered goods to the value of £ 110 from Kirkaldie and Stains, "and he might have been able : to secure a .porti6n of this order oh credit. .

Further questioned by counsel witness said that on March 8,. while out on remand, accused paid a~visit to the Star Registry and; • saying he was someone IN AUTHORITY IN THE UNION CO., wanted to engage as many firen^en, stewards and pantrj'imen as were avail - s able. He gathered together as-, many men as he could lay hands on and took them down to a .boat m port, where he gave them the slip.

Mr. Stevenson submitted that the case was not one that should go on to the Supreme Court. There was no intention m accused's -mind to iprofit by his .deceptions. The whole thirig was more like a kineiriatograph corriedy. It was more a case for advice and control than punishment. All accused had been, guilty of -had been a series of acts of great Jolly. Two years ago Mercer had been knocked down by a bicycle, stiff eiing an injury to his head. Since then his behavior had been most peculiar at times- He had a .penchant for ordering things and was imbued with the idea that he had much wealth. This no doubt came; from the fact that his father had died leaving the mother and son m a comfortable position. Often the mother had been embarrassed by finding paperhangers and plumbers at work m her home taking measurements. They had been ordered by the son without any directions from the mother. When accused met his young lady he became infatuated, and with the idea of becoming a toig man, had ordered all these articles. The mere fact that after accused had been let out on bail, he had sent all those stewards and firemen on a foolish .errand, proved that the young man's behavior was eccentric and not criminal.

In reply, Mr. Riddell admitted that the case presented considerable difficulties. A person guilty of accused's extraordinary behavior must be either sub-normal or of criminal tendencies. There was no evidence of criminal tendencies on the part of accused. The question of contract entered into the case. If there had been a civil contract, then there was a ciyil remedy. He . doubted very . much whether accused could be convicted. The boy should he medically examined m order to find if he were mentally deficient. The charge would ,be dismissed, but any further attempt at deception by accused should' be irnmSdiately brought before the court. - ' ■

Mercer looked intensely relieved on hearing his Worship's decision,, and strode confidently out of court with his head m the air. ...