THE CROOKED PATH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19269, 5 September 1924, Page 5

THE CROOKED PATH.

ADVENTURER'S CAREfe GRIME IN THE UNDERWOLJJ DARING IMPERSONATIONa -J-y, ■ After Jiving a life of fraud and criminal duplicity for <l4 years, a daring impostor has been fenteneed to three years' _penal servitude at the London Session*. Boeilaxd ' Isherwood is his real name, but 8 * many others. The police hive disojaygped fo«ir of these aliases, and, it is bplie.yed there are more. '• ■ ■: .-us*;. Isherwood was born in a little, ' the North of England, and brought tip carefully, but before he was jtjje 'teens the lure of adventure had called him, and he set out for Canada. How,'he".got there is a mystery, but he has been to deny the aocusaton that he arrivedr;ys3fe * os a stowaway. ~',, In Canada, Isherwood found thai were nor-so easy as he had thoueht, ;'ih<l that the streets 'were'not paved with gv|d, So he took the crooked path, '-. arid Si a. result found himself sentenced .to', six months' imprisonment in Ottawa, 'fieliad been a waiter for some years then, ,'lnit after this first sentence he evidently*'fleoided to turn "crook," and in the ifbkti few years carried out frauds' and 'crimes that gained him further terms of injpriso'tt' mcnt. < CANADA BECOMES After his second conviction .< Ishwtsrooti began to try. to conceal his identity iaby changing- his name. In one town be g»ve out that he was the son..of . a wetl-joiown Scottish'peer, and in another that he-Was an American oil engineer. _ Eventually Canada became too-hot for him.. Beeidei incurring the attention of the police, hi had become entangled with a womaji, firon whom he wanted to get free.. So befbri; 1914 he crossed the border to Amejci<ja» where he sooji spent all his money. T?iefi he set cut to. make more, and ..the. iinderworld of on« wf- the larger cities he .fell ; in with a gang of coiners. He w?s eventually sentenced ■ for passing counterfeit money. .'-.'.'.' _ Later came the war. and the adventurer • joined up with the Canadians for service abroad. His war record is the one blank in this amazing man's career. Nothijigr is-known of him during the four.years. h» served in the army,' where his" "crinjiaal record was never suspected. Retumin£'*'toi Canada after the armistice, he . obtained an honourable discharge, and' then "came, back to I/ondon, where, with the money he had obtained from the army aiithorMJe*, he spent a gay time in the West End. He frequented many of the more notowoiis night clubs, and before the left : London, ■' in February or March of 1920, he was mixed up with many women.and men known to the police. FRAUDS ON WOMEN. ' Isherwood's funds running short,'he went to Scotland, where, in Edinburgh, he was sentenced for frauds on working men ahd women which totalled several hundred pounds. Then he returned to London, and again had to resort to fraud ito 4ill his empty pockets, and 'at various, south coast resorts he committed frauds ...on women._ He was accustomed to the. best .of everything although he has been "down and out" on more than one always liked to appear well dressed,, .«ind affected a public school manner -wherj.;|ie was not posing as a wealthy CanaJdMtiijpr American. . ~..-, ,-.■.■ This plausible imposter had- a remarfeabte manner, with women. His agreeable, ways gained for him many friends, who ~sß covered only too late how heartless a jdta* ceiver he was. His _ daring knew,. ,jio bounds when he was in need of. moiiey. When arrpsted a few months, not a shilling in his pocket that fie call his own. 'Even his clothing hajd been stolen. .',.' .-;'.

IMPERSONATING A DETECTPS& » The final feat which proved Isherwpod’s undoing was his impersonation of Inspector Wallace, of Scotland Yard. -He “arrested” a city merchant on an entirely'falsa , charge, then went, to this gentleman!®-wife and obtained clothing from her grounds that it was required' for her .husband. who, he said was detained ai 'Ppvtemouth wi a forgery charge, . . iw

Isberwood also defrauded , a garagapfoprietor for taxi cab hire bv : , representing that he was a Scotland Yard officer engaged on the Crumbles crime. ~ He. driven to the Russell Hotel, where appeared, and the driver never received, pi* .fare. ..„ r "at