N Z IMPOSTER CAUGHT

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 83, 6 February 1928, Page 6

N Z IMPOSTER CAUGHT

SAI"JJ WE WAS HOOD'S BROTHER 'SYttPAXHX -OtiM FLIGHT'S "' r\ [.■■' .Result.. . ~ ;i '--■'■ ?> •.. ■ 'MtfNEY,. "January 27', ~"' The 'fact that Hj. nam©, was Hood enabled -». "bftimkiil .. witfcjl ■ a| Zealand record to ifor a 'ffefwi' dayavon the fate of Cliptain .flood,, who, .with Lieut. , Moncriefty uudertoolc ilWatedl .flight across the Tasinani. 'Only "last week, the imp&stejr was lafrested iin .Sydney on, ;ai charge of failing to ( pav. for i meals and acconlmpclatiou at one.'of..,the city's' largest arid, most, etxpensiv/bi hotelis.*' the 'hotpl just ~prior, '/to. .the beginning'' of the flight by the daring, laii-men.' But'j'it Was not until ihe knew they had\gone that he spread the informal! tion 'that he was GUptaMwHood'-s ibro-'J .tiler. '-..." ... ~, ■i ti

He was somewhat fetedAOii the brst clay of the .flight, and; left the ho,teLthat night ostensibly..to,go Where official nevi's t>f tte/flight's! pro*' gress would;,-he;? available. He returned late; that jiight, ;' apparently: very • dijicohsolate, was the subjeiat of much .sympathy ;by other :persons;staying .at the house. ■> ' Next, morning''he''.''■"'•'stated 'that he had .'-bean, unable to, sleep . all hight v wdrrying : over the fata .of. his bro-, ther, fohd,though; a ;week of. stay. was hj>, 'the manager, ;fa.ther:. itfian, worry hhn at such a ; time, refrained from ,presenting./.the bill, which' (amoiinfied to a tnfle. more than £20.! In fact he.wsf lentertairied >by, other hoarders and some of them were ft>bl j j ash enough . to. lend jn'm, money. : More daring still .was >an! exploit he put over.lit..the expense of ithe.Syd-, fley ."Sun" newspaper,, /when.,a .re--porter, sought liniormation regarding the; "possibilities of the flyers having landed somewhere along the New Zeakhd coast. In the i)sue .of-Chat paper that .afternoon appeared ,an exclusive interview /.with, ■Capfltin Hood's "."brother." in which the, lat-' ter .stated .that; Hood knew,,, nothing about. 'Morse code, nor,had he , .any knowledge of wirelessi. He.expressed the;• opinion, that, his '-brother" would ber found is'omewliere in the RimuHidistrict in. which,, , he said, " f lhy .'brother and.,l hay®,, hunted and ca'nvped on'hfatiy octfa»ions.'' ~; "Next day, 'however, Captain. Hood's " brothel' became .pessimistic. Kej appeared with'a black hatband and armband, anid/Hfore a blaok jtag, Sympathisers became more attentive, and everything wa.s,. done to take his mind off his ! 'brother's" fate. That night, however, he disappeared from, the hotel, and they 'feUred that the worry might have sent him off his n*ead- ; But no. Captain turned up at a »-wagger residential hotel at Darlinghurst, and, simulating intense gloom, took up his quarters there

In Darlinghurst, however, they are j "hard-hdiied." Without some proofj they wer.3 not open to take the man j on hig own face value. Conse-i r qU?iitiy they commuhicated. with detectives, /At/iheSame tim e the manager of/the city hotel awakened to the !pOss'ibiiity cjf.Sis exTguest beihg, ah Impostor, also' swore a warrant for hi s arrest. Detectives 'acted rpromp'tly, nvith -the result that the impostor was,,; soon under arrest, and 'the Same 'afternoon was taken before the douVt. : -He "admitted ~tJie..:in|position and yfis y ߧ ) ti'peiiti6d" 'to' three iho'nfhs' im- : prfspri'ment, .it being stated in (Court, that,he had a formidable record for the same type of crime in New Zealand. ~ . .