Captured: Portraits of Crime 1870-1930 - Flipbook - Page 78
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PA R R A M AT TA
GAO L
T H E FA L S E P R O F E S S O R
Cecil Pierpont
FA L S E P R E T E N C E S
Cecil Pierpont, a 37 year old musician from England, was photographed at Parramatta
Gaol on 20 October 1903 while serving a twelve month sentence for false pretences.
Under the pseudonym Cecil R. Aubrey, Pierpont arrived at Blackheath in or about
June 1903 and took up residence in a boarding house. He appeared as a well-dressed man
with education, eloquence and manners and advertised his services as a piano and organ
tuner. After a period of about six weeks, Pierpont announced to the Blue Mountains
community that he had come into a baronetcy and was now Sir Cecil Aubrey Pierpont.
He claimed his title carried an income of £3000 but would need some local assistance
to tide himself over until the arrival of the first instalment of his fortune. People
readily took up the opportunity to assist Pierpont who, in turn, entertained with
organ recitals, good food, champagne and cigars. In September that year Pierpont
announced that he would be leaving the Blue Mountains and signed a number of cheques
to settle his debts with local businesses.
By the time the valueless cheques were discovered, Pierpont was in Sydney.
But he was quickly apprehended and taken to Katoomba Police Court to face two charges
of false pretences. The Court heard that Pierpont had been ‘dealing out cronk paper’.
He had been a petty thief since his arrival in Australia in 1886 and previously faced
similar charges in both Melbourne and Tasmania. As well as uttering valueless
cheques, Pierpont had also forged other people’s signatures on cheques, swindled
people out of goods and money, and had been convicted for petty theft and break and
enter. Pierpont’s previous sentences totalled thirteen years and nine months. He was
also a registered habitual criminal. For his crimes against the people of the Blue
Mountains, Pierpont was sentenced to six months hard labour on each charge.
Pierpont appears to have been born Thomas Henry Penney in Southampton in 1865.
He used a number of aliases throughout his time in Australia, including Dr Cecil Rowe,
Professor Gordon Rowe and Cecil de Vere. He was also married a number of times,
including to several women at the same time. Matters eventually caught up with
Pierpont, and between 1917 and 1934 he faced numerous charges of stealing and bigamy
in Queensland. He died in Melbourne in 1952 aged 87 years old.
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