CHOIRMASTER’S FRAUDS

Southland Times, Issue 20042, 2 December 1926, Page 8

CHOIRMASTER’S FRAUDS

FAIRY GODFATHER’S FALL. MYTHICAL ASSOCIATION. “DIVIDENDS” OF 70 PER CENT. PUBLIC’S RUSH TO INVEST. When Charles Cowan Pearson stepped from the dock of a London police court recently to serve a sentence of nine months in the second division there stepped a man who never drisks, never gambles, was regarded by hundreds in the East End as a sort of “fairy grandfather,” was looked up to by his employers, the Stepney Guardians, was choirmaster of a nurses’ choir, and yet obtained £25,000 by fraud from people in the East End. What has become of the money has not been ascertained, it was stated, though much of it must have been paid away in “dividends” of the Northern Festivals Association, a mythical association of which Pearson was secretary, and which paid “dividends” of 70 per cent. Formerly Poor Law Clerk and DeputyRegistrar of Births and Deaths at Stepney, Pearson vanished in February last. There was a hue and cry, but no trace of him was found until a few weeks ago, when he was arrested in Leeds. The original charge against Pearson was one of unlawfully and knowingly obtaining £2OO from Abraham Lilofsky, a hat manufacturer, by certain false pretences, with intent to defraud.

When the case was previously before the Court Mr R. M. Howe, prosecuting counsel, said Pearson had obtained £25,000 by representing himself to be the secretary of the “Northern Festivals Association,” an association that never apparently existed except in his own imagination. For some years he paid a dividend of over 70 per cent., and people in the East End seemed to have been tumbling over each other to go to him. Then, early this year, he vanished. THREE FURTHER CHARGES. Three further charges were subsequently made—of obtaining by false pretences £BO from Mrs Freedman, of Stepney; £2OO from Lewis Goldstein, of Hackney; and £l4O from Jack Turgefsky, of Bethnel Green. Mr Howe said he understood that Pearson pleaded guilty to four charges, and if the magistrate could deal adequately with the cases he would ask him to do so. Although Pearson had obtained fraudulently £25,000, yet he doubted whether he had received more than about £3OOO or £4OOO. He had had to pay out a very large amount of money. There were no previous convictions. On those grounds he asked the magistrate to deal with the case. Mr Hornby, for the defence, said he formally pleaded guilty on behalf of Pearson, but he should like to ask DetectiveSergeant Woodcraft a few questions. The detective, in reply to Mr Hornby, then said Pearson was arrested on September 8, and apart from the present business he had always been of exemplary character. So far as he knew, his books in connection with the Whitechapel Guardians were in perfect order.

The Rev. Thomas Jackson, of the Whitechapel Mission and the Whitechapel Guardians, said he had known Pearson for the last eleven years. From the time of his appointment under the Guardians to the time he vanished Pearson was regarded as one of the most trustworthy, obliging, and efficient members of their staff. In addition to his collecting w r ork and his work as Deputy-Registrar, he seemed to be a music enthusiast. Uninvited by the Guardians, he formed the nurses into a choir, and at Christmas and on other occasions he arranged concerts for the entertainment of institution inmates and also for philanthropic objects. A GREAT MUSIC ENTHUSIAST. Miss Florence Jane Hill, a school teacher at Poplar, gave evidence of work that Pearson had done in connection with church affairs. Detective-Sergeant Woodcraft said he thought it was only fair on behalf of the prosecution and the people who had lost money to say that Pearson had been carrying this business on for quite five years. His banking account between 1923 and 1924 showed £12,020. The account was closed in February of this year, leaving a deficit of £l6O, which someone pair for Peatson, who afterwards obtained £2020 more from people in the neighbourhood.

Mr Hornby said the amount involved was great, but it had to be remembered that a large sum was paid away in dividends. He could not say where the money had gone; he could only tell where it had not gone. Pearson did not drink and did not gamble. He was a great musical enthusiast, and had been obsessed with the desire to arrange concerts, and it might be that the expense in that direction was greater than Pearson thought.

Mr Clarke Hall, passing sentence, said the loss of his character, reputation and position must undoubtedly be a very great one to Pearson. But is was a very serious ando deliberate fraud, perpetrated not once, but over and over again over a long period. He then passed sentence as stated.