DISAPPEARING BRIDEGROOM

Taranaki Daily News, 17 January 1933, Page 4

DISAPPEARING BRIDEGROOM

BOGUS SPORTING WRITER. GETS' 'SIX MONTHS’ HARD LABOUR.' Five months of swift life in 18 towns, followed by six months’ hard labour in one. gaol, is the . hectic experience ’ of William Charles Spencer, the disappearing bridegroom, who at the age of 22 has aimed at the amorous adventures of Dpn Juan and the extravagant episodes of Casanova, writes R. E. Corder in the London Daily Mail. . This dark and slender son of a bricklayer’s labourer was gifted with brains but no balance. He won a scholarship, left school when he. was 16,. and, according to a detective at the South Western Police Court recently, he subse-

quently obtained -a good position as assistant cashier with a firm of builders in Putney. - ■ ■ ■■■■'■■ ....... For two years he did good work, and was trusted with the handling of large sums of money and signed cheques. ■ Last July he absconded with £450, leaving behind in Fulham a girl to whom he was.engaged. ....... William 'Charles Spencer, assistant cashier, was transformed into ‘Billy Fortescue,” the sporting correspondent of a London daily paper. And “Billy Fortescue” had the time of his young life. He sucked the honey of enjoyment from every town that took his fancy. He spent £lOO on clothes, £ll4 on railway fares, and much' 'money in drinks and presents to women. >/. “It was an orgy of extravagance,” said the detective. During a visit , to Brighton “Billy Fortescue” met a girl of 20, made love to her, took her to Jersey, proposed to her, and being accepted bought her an engagement ring. ••• Returning to Brighton, “Billy For-

tescue” gave notice of marriage at a registry office, and on the wedding day the bride-to-be was waiting at her home in a Blue lace bridal gown. But she waited in vain. “Billy Fortescue had taken his suit and his suits far : - beyond Brighton. '' ‘ Meanwhile the police and the- fiaiice .... from Fulham were • ioking for William-.. Charles Spencer, who, having spent dhe stolen money, ceased to be Bill-.. Fortescue” and -a - man-about-towns. He appeared in the dock recently a • buoyant young man wearing a raincoat. <•. and a self-satisfied smile. _ . ■>.>. “Have you anything to say? aske* .-. Mr. Broderick, the magistrate. “Nothing,” replied ■ William Charm . tugging at his small dark moustache. “Then I am afraid you will have to- ; go to prison for six months with hard labour,” said Mr. Broderick. William Charles Spencer smirked, , tossed his smooth head, and left - the., dock with a flourish worthy of “Billy ... Fortescue." .. '"