Adventuress and Automobile.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 20, 19 May 1909, Page 46

Adventuress and Automobile.

THE INTERESTING Miss ell ARLESWORTH SHOWS A NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS. There is probably no rase on record quite like that of 'Violet May Gordon ( harl« sworth. whose disappearance and reappearance have furnished England with a nine day-’ wonder t writes a London correspondent). There have been other women adventuresses and there will be many more. Mme. Humbert in Paris and Mrs. Chadwick in America have shown what clever women can de and how bankers and lawyers ma\ become as clay in the hands of the potter when the woman financier camps ujMui their trail. But Mme. Humbert and Mrs. Chadwick were experienced. Thev were women of a “certain age.’’ versed in the ways of the world and skilled in detecting the weak points of human nature. Mi— Charleswortli is a girl hardly out of her teens, of lowly station and without the background of worldly wisdom and aplomb that would be thought essential. But then Miss C harlcsw<>rth is In'autiful. and perhaps be ..nt y is the most useful of assets in the capita’; <»! an adventuress. Tht trouble L'gan with the report of tie ••‘i rible automobile accident in North V ths. The machine containing Miss Charles worth, her sister, and a chauffeur had run \ intently into a wall skirting the s» a cliff and the “young heiress” had be<‘i thrown into the waves over a hundred fcei l*4ow. No trace of the body could l>e found, but this was thought to he natural enough. a< the currents were swift and uncertain. The occurrence created a painful impr«-—ion upon the public in general. but it is safe to say that the m<»-t painful impression of all va- aroused among Miss charlesworth’s creditors. These were found to be so nun>» >us and timir Haims were of so extraordinary a nature as to give rise to an uneasy -iwpicion that possibly Al»ss • 'lgj r!e<w.-rth’s death was of the < mati kind Suspicions Ijecan e eertainte s when a partially destroyed telegram picked up at random disclosed the fact that tin lady herself, alive, well, and quit* dry. was in quiet retirement ii the n« rth of Scotland. Then her v story Iwcame public property. ghter of an E •glish , Kv hanie who was reduced to want .:s i re-idt of a strike. Thus thrown upon Lev »>wn resources. she lound that she >ia.i none < f the ordinary ’ of an estr,. rdiuary kind is -h<.wn by the fart t at -h» <ail«*d per-onallv upon certain weli kn»>un banker* and a-ke«i for small loans. She bail no security to offer and affected a guileless surprise that a godchild of General Gordon of Soudan fame should be asked to enter into mercenary details. Was she not the heiress of that jnigbty warrior with £500,000 of his

money ready to be paid to her at the age of twenty-five? The story was, of course, a sheer invention. General Gordon had never heard of her, and as for possessing £500.000, he died worth hardly that number of pence. And yet the bankers believed that story, believed it with a simple-minded sincerity that is not usually supposed to be among their virtues. They swallowed the whole of it, the relationship ami the heirship, too. The bootblack at the corner would have known better, and yet these innocent and eon tiding bankers gave Miss Charlesworth what slip asked for almost without hesitation and wholly without inquiry. Thus furnished with a small capital IVliss ( harlesworth began to speculate on the Stuck Exchange. She knew nothing of the business, hut she found some susceptibh broker who taught her the ropes. At first she was successful. Then she lost, lost steadily and heavily. When she was asked for cover she explained her innocence of such matters and trotted out the old story of Genera! Gordon, and it was just as successful with the brokers as with the bankers. They seem to have competed with one another for five honour of financing her. and so the game went on apace. Irade-men could hardly l»e proof against blandishments that had fascinated the money magnates. Dressmakers, milliners. jewellers, furriers, automobile manufacturer- hastened to lay their offerings at her feet, and were' satisfied to wait for their money. They are still waiting. She leased four country houses, one in \\ iltshire, one in Rosshire. one in Wales, and one in London, and she went from place to place with her retinue of servants, her splendid hunting horses, and her dogs. By way of giving the bankers a vacation, she borrowed money from the jewellers. They were just as complacent. Far he it from them to ask any security. The General Gordon myth was enough. No one asked for documents, no one made inquiries, no one had suspicions. The facta that a young girl was living at the rate of £40.000 a year was enough. The mere detail that she paid for nothing, that everything was upon credit, was overlooked. Some of the creditors did begin to press, but Mis- (.'harlesworth was ready for them with a variation of the Gordon myth. The money was in the hands of trustees, who in the ordinary course would pay it to her when she reached the age of twenty-five. But the trustees had certain discretionary power*. If they suspected of her extravagance they would postpone payment. Now. if these creditors made trouble there would be publicity. The trustees would hear of it. there would be inquiries, payment would be postponed, and then where would the creditors be? This story did just as well as the former one. Still there was no suspicion and not one among this band of innocents had the enterprise to ascertain that General Gordon owned at his death no more than his la-t pay warrant. The cra-h had to come -ooner or later. Every game has its end. and Mr=s ( harlesworth saw it coming. She owed £ lO.OCH) to one broker alone. How much she owvl to others, how much to the bank-, how much to the army of tradespeople. how much to house-owners and hors*? dealers will probably never be known. Financial magnates especially have a certain reluctance to confessing that they did things financially of which a village schoolmistress would be ashamed. They do nut wish to admit that they were dazzled and hypnotised by a pair of beautiful eye-. They could certainly explain their behaviour in no other way. and some of them may be married, and curtain explanations might be even more embarrassing than the legal. There seems no likelihood that Miss Charlesworth will he greatly inconvenienced except bv bankruptcy proceedings. On the other hand *he might be made chancellor <>f the exchequer. National deficit* would have no terrors for her.