Captured: Portraits of Crime 1870-1930 - Flipbook - Page 111
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BROKEN HILL
GAO L
FORTUNE AND FICTION
Bernard O’Sullivan
DRUNKENNESS, FORTUNE TELLING
Bernard O’Sullivan, a 66 year old painter and decorator
originally from Limerick, Ireland, was photographed on
17 January 1927 at Broken Hill Gaol while serving sentences
for drunkenness and fortune telling.
O’Sullivan or ‘Sullivan’ appeared in Broken Hill Police
Court on 7 January 1927 charged with having two days earlier
deceived and imposed upon local woman, Rose Tumbers, by
professing to tell her fortune. The Court heard that O’Sullivan
had visited a number of ‘business houses’ asking women if they
would like to have their fortunes told. He charged for his
services and by the Police’s reckoning had made a ‘great deal’
of money. Sergeant Noble told the Court that he had received
numerous complaints about the manner in which O’Sullivan had
spoken to the women. On the day in question, he had seen
O’Sullivan drunk in Argent Street—Broken Hill’s main street—and
arrested him on this charge. The following morning he was also
charged with fortune telling.
Police reported that O’Sullivan had been in town a couple
of days, and in the previous week had been in Wilcannia telling
fortunes. O’Sullivan told the magistrate that he had been
drinking heavily for four weeks and was in a “rather muddled
state”. He said that, “the reading of people’s hands had merely
been a matter of amusement” and there was “no harm done”.
O’Sullivan asked the magistrate to deal leniently with him so
that he might keep his employment with the Perry Bros Circus,
which, at the time, was the second largest circus in Australia.
Noting O’Sullivan’s previous record — which included two years
hard labour for indecent dealings with a girl and two years hard
labour with twelve strokes of the lash for indecent assault — the
magistrate sentenced the Irishman to six months for drunkenness
and twelve months for fortune telling.
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