A STRANGE HISTORY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1365, 14 July 1885, Page 2

A STRANGE HISTORY.

The following sketch of the career of the prisoner Ernest RoLnd Davis, who has been been convicted of forgery, and whose trial on the charged of administering' a noxious drug to Jane Essey, lus occupied so much time, will be read with interest. The prisoner, when the following report was made, wont under the name of Reade, and ncted as canvasser for the Rational Sick and Burial Association in Dunedin. The report wj\b made by a Committee appointed to obtain information with regard to the career of the prisoner. It is as follows, and appears in the Evening Star, Dunedin, on October 22nd : —" It appears that Reade arrived at Port Chalmers some time in 1883, in the ship Dun n din, under the name of Bennett, and at once represented himself to ministers and others as an ordinned Ohurrh of England minister and temperance lecturer and also pretended to be an accredited ag«nt of the British Imperial Sick Benefit »nd Life Assurance Society of Western Bridge road, London. He also stated that the Society had paid his passage out, and commissioned him to open up branches of the Society in New Z-aland, but we find that he really worked his passtge out as a ship's baker, and Cap', Whitson advanced hun mouey in London to get his cluthen out of pawn. During the viyags he conducted prayer meetings and preached several sermons,, but a Mlow pa-*-e»ger informs «s that his religion was soon estimated at its true value, as ha w;is actually detected stealing the aliipV flour for the sake of geMin* a little, profit. He was also generally ' objectionable, being at one time knocked down by the boatswain. He at once started at the Port as agent of the. Imperial Society, but finding luni"es bad he went to Waikouaiti and tried to obtain (here the appointment of M«ori Missionary, and also canvasned 'he district to enable him to build a church, of which he was of cbnrFe to be the pastor. .Finding-that he was unable to raise the requisite amouut of funds he went.to the Bank at Waikouaiti, and tried to induce the Bank to advance the money —a proposiil which, it is needless to say, was politely refused. He also managed, whilst at Waikouaiti, to make the acquaintance of a single lady, of independent means, living by herself. His

visits became at last bo frequent and prolonged that.ihe had to get the assistance of the police to keep him away. We next hear of him on the Flat as a temperaDce lecturer ; and he also managed to ingratiate himself into the good graces of the Rev. Mr Ward; who took him to be, wlmt- he pretended', a thoroughly Christian, young man. Mr Ward allowed him to preach in his pulpit, and he prayed very fervently at the prayer meetings, and it was the fact of his friendship with Mr Ward which induced Mr Dyson to join him in establishing a branch of the British Imperial Benefit Society. Mr Dyson, went to the expense of getting an . office, fitting it up, and had a lot of printing putjin hand, but before the thing was started Bennett suddenly disappeared, taking with him the entrance fees and moneys of the society, and leaving Mr Dyson to pay all liabilities-ra matter of £lO and more. He nest appears to have passed under the name of Reade, as' canvasser to the Colonial Mutual Society, and we find him at Outram, where he took proposals and first premiums from several persons, and again exhibited the weakness of sticking to the moneys received, instead of forwarding them to Dunedin. He also preached at Greytown, and having finished his business at Outram, we find he levanted without paying his board or livery stable bill. iHe next goes to Brighton as an agent of the Colonial, and whilst there preached regularly, but some people out there took exception to his divinity, and, replying to a letter in the Taieri Advocate, lie wrote claiming to be a duly ordained minister. He then appears to have preached at Kuri Bush, and at once fell in love with a young woman who was in the congregation, and he persuaded the ReT. Mr Stewart the very next day to introduce him to the young lady and her parents.- He immediately proposed and was accepted, aud he lived on them, and at their expense, for over three months, and every preparation was made for an immediate marriage. His true character was, however, ascertained, and he made a precipitate retraat from the place. Our next account of him is in June, 1884, when be was engaged under the name of James Ernest Oliver, as pig feeder and general handy man for Mr Waldy, at the slaughter yard?, l'uat past Roslyn. Here, after meeting with an accident, which caused him to go to the Hospital, he created so much mischief in the insiitution that they ran him out by the scruff of the neck. Hit. next appearance iu public was at the Dunedin Police Court, on August 28th, charged with theft, and here he pretended to be a medical doctor. We next hear of him as Dr. Montgomery, in anything but creditable society. In September his name was again Reade, and he obtained the agency of the Rational Sick and Burial Association in Dunedin. The report then went on to give the particulars as to the swindle worked by Davis in Dunedin in connection with thii Association, and the means taken by the public meeting dealing with this report to drive him out of Dunedin, one tf the speakers thereat summing up his character in the brief but emphatic sentence that he was a " skunk," every inch of him. After leaving Dunedin he went on the same course here, ultimately resulting in a stop being put summarily to his criminal career for some time to come.— Telegraph.