WAR AGAINST SOCIETY.

Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16653, 19 November 1925, Page 3

WAR AGAINST SOCIETY.

WOMAN'S CRIME VENDETTA. IMPUDENT FRAUDS AS DSCTOR. Once more that apostle of fraud and sworn enemy of men, known to the police as Una Elizabeth Bowen Williams, and sometimes Una Hanley, has gone to gaol (says a Sunday Chronicle writer). She has been sentenced by the magistrate at Goodwick, Pembroke to three months' imprisonment for her old, old crime of obtaining food and lodging by false pretences. Personal acquaintance with this remarkable adventuress, who once told a judge that she waged a vendetta asainst society because she was an illegitimate child, enables me to throw a new light on the enigma of her strange character and to reveal new and intimate details of her extraordinary character. I first met Una Hanley at Cardiff in .1921. It was at a function at one of the local hotels, and we were introduced by a brigadier-general of distinguished record, the man she bigamously married. What brought her to Cardiff in the first instance and how she managed to get herself accepted by local society I do not know, but she was certainly indulging her inordinate desire to appear in the limelight. "Cutting a Dash." No one could help but notice the well-built, sportingly-dressed woman with the robust complexion who talked rather too loudly and laughed a little boisterously. Though possessed of considerable physical charm, Una Kanley is by no means pretty, and one was at a loss to discover the secret of her lure until one had had the opportunity of conversing with her. Then the mio-.t force or her personality altogether transcended her rather flamboyant manner. .Whatever else she is, Una Hanley is certainly a woman of some culture and intellectual attainment. No matter how much her ostensible vulgarity may prejudice you against her, it is impossible not to feel something of her appeal. When first I saw her I said to myself: "What a coarse woman." It says much for her personality after live minutes of her company I had entirely altered that view. Not knowing her true history, of course, 1 imagined that her real trouble was an ordinate streak of vanity. She was the sort of woman, one felt, who had to be "culling a dash" before she could be really happy. Certainly she did her best, in the hotel that afternoon to live up to that reputation. The Shy "Bride." One of the first things she told me in conversation had to do with her I approaching marriage. "The general," | she said, "wants everything to be done I with as little fuss as possible, so we 1 are doing our best to keep it a secret. ; You won't give us away, will you?". . "Of course not," I promised. But 1 learned afterwards that she had already paid a visit to a local newspaper office and given full particulars with the request that a notice of the ceremony should be published. She told me also that she was a qualified doctor in practice, and reeled off a number of degrees which she said she had gained. 1 gathered that she had done medical work in France during the war, and that at the moment she \vas engaged in hospital duties of a special nature. Twice more only did I see her. The first time she again enjoined me to keep the news of her forthcoming marriage a secret: the second time was when she was motoring away from a Cardiff registry office, the shy "bride" of a British general. Medical Impostures. A few months later I read of her arrest in Dublin on a warrant issued by the Medical Defence Union for falsely representing herself to' be a qualified practictioner. Then followed the disclosure of her true identity and record. She was charged at Marylebone Police Court, and the evidence revealed a remarkable career of deception. The year before, it was stated, she had had the audacity to attend a class for students at a big London hospital. Here she got into disgrace for stealing a pair of boots belonging to a colleague and narrowly escaped prosecution. Next she tried her luck at another London hospital, but her imposture was discovered, and she had to make a hurried departure. Even so, she did not leave without taking away property which did not belong to her. But these two experiences were nothing compared with her next impertinent exploit. A doctor practising in the West of London advertised for a locum tenens. Una presented herself, and so impressed the medico with her sheaf of bogus qualifications and recommendations that he turned over the practice to her. Here she performed a month's service, attending operations, treating patients, and issuing death certificates. For these offences she was heavily fined and, being unable to pay went to prison. It was inevitable in the circumstances that the fact of her bigamous marriage with the general should be brought to light. Judge's Denunciation. The next step was her appearance at the Old Bailey on a charge of bigamy. Her real husband, it was disclosed, was an agricultural chemist, whom she had met and married in London. Only a few days before her "marriage" to the general she had written asking him to take her back.

"I have nothing to do with thefrauds you committed" said the Judge. "I have to sentence you for bigamy. By your reckless conduct and extravagance you made it impossible for your husband to live willi you, and parted. You contrived, by a mass of lies, and by representing that you were a widow, to contract a marriage with the general. You will be imprisoned for six months in the second division." But' little time elapsed after her liberation before she was again in trouble. This time the charge against her was one of having obtained a diamond ring and dress materials illegitimately, and despite her cheeky advice to the magistrate that the proper course would bo to bind her over, she had another tasto of gaol. Kvcn this did not teach her that, for all her vaunted vendetta against society, she was only fighting a losing light, and shortly afterwards sho onen moro had to undergo nu enforced hermilago. "J prefer, she told the Justices at Goodwlok, "to be tried by you, because if I go for trial 1 shall be read a moral lecture by the Judge." She was wise,