Cheques, Like Autumn

NZ Truth, Issue 1035, 26 September 1925, Page 22

Cheques, Like Autumn

PLASTERER DISTRIBUTES A PLASTER

(From "Truth's" Palmerston N. Rep.)

Meet the complete philosopher: Richard Edward Ellis, alias Robert William Thompson, when pleading guilty m the Magistrate's Court at Palmerston North to eight charges of uttering valueless cheques and obtaining goods thereby, displayed a cheerful resignation accompanied by the hearty mastication of gum. ■• '

Ellis's modus operandi was simple, , and he certainly made a thorough job of Palmerston North and district. Forsaking the too energetic vocation of laborer at Auckland, he floated into Palmerston North with a number of cheques m his pocket, made payable to himself, and purporting to be signed by F. S. Easton, a person of financial standing at Foxton. All the tailoring and mercery establishments Ellis visited accepted the slips without question, and allowed their best goods, chosen with an eye to quality, to disappear through the front door. It was only when : the bank returned the cheques marked "signature unlike" that. the fun started — although all [the complaints

have by no means been laid yet, there being other charges pending. Taking a mild interest m the proceedings, and chewing incessantly, Ellis pleaded guilty to all counts, and was remanded to the Supreme Court at Christchurch for sentence. "He said he was a plasterer," stated one of the shopkeepers' " m describing how he had been, fleeced, by Ellis. . "I think he was!", murmured Detective-Sergeant Quirke, with „ meaning. ; ■ ' The total sum involved was over £ 70, while on another charge, mailing the ninth, Ellis was remanded to Dannevirke, the scene of the alleged- fraud.