A CAREER OF CRIME.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXIIi, Issue 11688, 5 July 1890, Page 2

A CAREER OF CRIME.

♦ — ' EXTRAORDINARY DISCLOSURES. [Peb United Press Association,] Auckland, July 3. A man named F, P. Williams, who lately has been an hotelkeeper at Auckland, recently stated to the police, while under the influence of drink, that he had been guilty of a number of audacious thefts and embezzlements Committed in England, America, and the colonies at different periods of his life, and that he had in 1855, in the early days of BaUarat, while employed by Joshua Vines, of the firm of Vines and McPhee, coach proprietors, robbed that gentleman of .£2OOO when he was carrying on the business of a gold broker. The police authorities at Auckland have communicated with the police at Melbourne to ascertain, if possible, whether such robbery took place, and it has been found from official records that such was the case. Vines, it appears, first bscamo acquainted with WiUiauiswhen purchasing gold from him. Vines stated that on one occasion he gave Williams a .£lO note in mistake for £1, and Williams afterwards returned the money. This act of honesty led to his being employed by Mr Vines in his gold business. One Saturday Mr Vinos intended to 'de- • posit ,£2OOO ,in the bank, but learning that one of the coaches, running between Ballarat and Creswiek, had rnn over a woman, he went to tho scene of the accident entrusting the money, as he states, with his clerk, Williams, who left for the purposo of going to the bank, but did not do so, and Vines heard nothing further respecting him, although it is statßd that a large reward was offered for his apprehension at the time. Williams, who is 04 years of age, has stated that he first began his evil practices in 1843, when he was employed as junior collector in a cotton house in Manchester. He cleared out from Manchester with ,£3OO of his employer's money, and proceeded to New Orleans, where ho w«iß employed by a merchant named Massey, whom hn afterwards, so he states, robbed of 500 dollars. He subsequently joined the 16th Lancers and deserted, and revisited tho United States and obtained the position bank manager in Nevada City. He subsequently absconded with 20,000 dollars, and was lucky enough to get back to England. He af U rwards visited Cape Colony, and then came to Victoria, where the robbery, when employed by Vines, took place. The police now find, when they have tho confirmation of Williams' confession, that Williams cleared out for Sydney by the Wairarapa on Tuesday. Williams, whose confessions of extraordinary robberies were telegraphed, has been through the South, and some time ago was in tho employ of Mr Liardet, of Wellington. Christchubch; July 4. A Chrislchurch resident has communicated with the Star a confirmation of the confessions of F. P. Williams, who accused himself of stealing X2OOO from Joshua Vines, on the Victorian diggings. The affair happened at Creswick, where Williams deposited in the Bank a parcel of nail-heads, &c, instead of the gold entrusted to him.