Mélanie Méthot and Katie Stobbe*
State Records of New South Wales, Series NRS2232, Item no 3/5983,
Prison registry, photo taken 6 June 1929.
“35 previous convictions” is the phrase Sydney’s gaol authorities highlighted below Karl Ernest Schultz’s 1944 bigamy charge in summing up his criminal history. They obviously recognised that this was a real problem case! The gaolers also enumerated our man’s six aliases which included variations of his first names along with various brand new surnames such as Rafferty and Sinclair. [1] Schultz had almost as many weddings as he had aliases, “marrying” a total of five times (that we know of!). He distinguishes himself from other bigamists not only for the extraordinary length of his criminal record, but because he committed bigamy an astounding three times. He was certainly one of a kind!
SRNSW, RNCG-617-1-[17/1567]-36870. “Criminal History”
Criminal career prior to the first bigamy charge
At twenty, Ernest Schultz married the 17 year old Mable Rebecca Burns in a rather unusual hospital bedside ceremony. Presbyterian minister William Ingram performed the marriage and the parents of the teenager signed the certificate. Schultz, also under twenty-one, had obtained the consent of his mother Emily. Marital bliss did not last long. Mabel testified at Schultz's first bigamy trial that her new husband "tore the marriage lines" a mere month after the wedding. [2] In fact, a year after their March 1927 wedding, Mabel pursued Schultz for wife desertion.
NSW Police Gazette, 23 May 1928 no.21, 340.
At that time, Mabel was aware that her husband also used the name Ernest Raftry. [3] Using aliases, Schultz had succeeded in defrauding hotel keepers by passing as the son of a rich resident. Charged for two false pretence offences, the young man received cumulative sentences of one month hard labour for each offence. [4] In 1930, NSW police issued a warrant for disobeying a magisterial order for the support of his wife and child. Records show the now 22 year old owed his family the grand sum of £115 and 8 s. A motor mechanic by trade, the coverage of his brushes with the law (and the long list of offences) make it seem that he was actually first and foremost a professional crook. None of his jail stints had the desired effect of reforming the enterprising reprobate, who reoffended as soon as he was out of prison.
In June 1933, local New South Wales papers the Tumut and Adelong Times and the Wagga Wagga Express reported on the "Affabled Stranger". This time around, Schultz posed as a flight lieutenant. A “young man of extraordinary affability” and “congenial mannerism”, he gained the trust of a number of citizens, and succeeded in defrauding several of his unsuspecting new buddies. The reports disclosed Schultz’s modus operandi. In his statement to the police, Schultz "admitted he was never a member of the Air Force and he still owed the money he had borrowed from confiding acquaintances." [5] Once caught, the recidivist modified the truth slightly by stating that he indeed had borrowed money and had left without paying his lodgings. These admissions did not in the least sway the judge, who sent him back to jail.
After his time in Goulburn gaol [NSW], Schultz decided to move down to Victoria, reinventing himself partly as Ernest Rafferty. It seems he did not intend to start from scratch, instead reverting to his old habits by stealing a car. The Camperdown Chronicle devoted nearly a whole page to Ernest Michael Rafferty’s larceny.
Again, we discover a pleasant young man who obtains people’s trust and then defrauds them. At trial, the arresting officer’s testimony confirms Schultz's m.o. He lied, saying that the car belonged to him, but once the constable mentioned it was reported stolen, Schultz resorted to half truths stating: "he did not think it could be reported stolen, and thought there must be some mistake about it, as he was trying to sell the car for Clarke." In light of his prior convictions, the bench viewed the matter with deep concern and sentenced him to 9 months imprisonment. In his personable manner, Schultz lied once more and said "he had been living an honest life for four years now, and at present had work in Geelong." The judge may well have been convinced by the discourse, since he "expressed the hope that Rafferty [Schultz] would go straight at the end of his term of imprisonment." [6]
One may indeed hope… but as soon as he was free, Schultz was again arrested, this time for vagrancy. [7] Old habits really die hard (if they do at all). This time, he kept the Rafferty surname, but reinvented himself as a RAAF pilot. His new identity came complete with a spiffy uniform that he wore when meeting with Lellas Myrtle Stonehouse, his new conquest. A month after their first encounter, the couple went to a registry “to officialize” the relationship. Little did the unsuspecting Lellas know about her new husband’s past. Before discovering for herself the wonderful world of make believe, Schultz had decided to recycle his uniform scheme. In this fantasy, he posed as a recruiter, promising he could help young men find a job in the Australian Air Force. Once discovered, the convicted felon lied through his teeth before finally declaring: "It’s no use holding out any longer. I have never been in the Air Force. I will tell you all about everything." Yet again refusing to admit his own culpability, Schultz blamed "drink" and his new wife. He was “holding out because he did not want his wife to know." [8]
The lawyer he selected certainly confirms that Schultz had gall, hiring the female barrister Miss Patricia O’Donoghue, who’d been in practice some 6 years.
The Melbourne Age reports (tongue in cheek) that she asked the presiding judge to grant leniency to her client, who after all had just gotten married, proclaiming that "he intended to live a respectable life with his wife." The Age reporter mentions the general laughter she elicited when O’Donoghue argued that as “a result of the engagement he had no money”, which she quickly corrected by stating that he had no money for a honeymoon. We then learn of Miss O'Donoghue's claim that one of the arresting officers had remarked that: “The accused was the most honest thief he had ever met,” which again generated laughter. Was she trying to work the courtroom? Or did she assume she was losing the case? Despite her apparently honest attempt to get Schulz off, the judge sent him to prison for 12 months for each of the two offences.
It seems Schultz had been quite successful in lying to his solicitor, telling her he was a professional wrestler from Queensland, that his previous convictions for false pretences “were merely for wrestling in amateur competitions.” [9] Papers across Australia had a ball with the story. Brisbane’s Queenslander printed “Honestly Crooked and crookedly honest”,
“Portia”, The Herald, 25 February 1931
including the same information as other papers, but somewhat endearing “Rafferty”. [10] No one bothered to check if the wrestling story held any truth. It might have had some truthful elements. When he was arrested in 1930 under the name of Ernest Bolton, he described himself as a professional boxer. [11] Only Melbourne’s Weekly Times elaborated on Schultz’s criminal record, stressing that the young man had confessed to his other numerous convictions.
1936, the first bigamy charge
Amongst the long list of offences, the maintenance order from 1928 caught the attention of Constable Carruthers. The existence of such an order meant that the affable young man in front of him, who defrauded innocent people in order to offer a honeymoon to his bride, already had another wife. Schultz’s handwritten statement contains an elaborate web of half truths and outright lies. Despite the two marriage certificates flaunted in his face, he asserted mistaken identity, clinging to his Rafferty surname. He made up a story about how Mabel had told him she was already married and that’s why she couldn’t accept his marriage proposal when she told him she was pregnant.
Schultz’s story reveals he was not clueless. The young man knew that having impregnated the woman, he needed to do the honourable thing: “I therefore offered to marry the woman immediately, but this offer she declined”. In Schultz's fantasy, Mabel told him he should assume her “husband’s” name. Ever the gentleman, he stayed with her until the child was born and left only to find work. The “confession” continues on three pages. Schultz includes the right amount of detail, such as the Melbourne cup, the timber workers’ strike and the maintenance order she took against him. It all seems plausible. He held tight to his travelling boxing troupe story, claiming he could not have married Mable because he was in Queensland on the day of the wedding. Many witnesses testified that Rafferty was the same man as Schultz. Still, his written statement remained quite convincing at first read, so much so that the court had a handwriting expert verify the two signatures on the marriage certificates. [12]
Perhaps the court was cognizant that Schultz’s German origins may have turned people against him. We know that his older brother enlisted in 1915 in the Australian Imperial Force under the surname Raftry. Albert explained to military authorities that he did so because he was afraid the army would reject him on the grounds of his surname. [13]
Schultz’s 1936 bigamy trial stands out first and foremost amongst other cases because the accused denied marrying his first wife. Even after being confronted with two marriage certificates, he persisted with his lies. The uniform he wore when meeting Lellas was produced at trial, a highly unusual exhibit for a bigamy trial. The item offered a particular visual for the people in court, a reminder that the accused had used it for his own gains. Justice Lowe sentenced the fraudster to 18 months to serve in addition to the two years he received for larceny. As such he is part of the 26% men accused of bigamy who received a sentence of 18 months or more in Victoria.
Stay tuned, next time we will find out about his second bigamy trial!
REFERENCES
*Thanking the wonderful in-house editor Dr Marian Lorrison for her suggestions.
1 State Records of New South Wales [SRNSW] RNCG-617-1-[17/1567]-36870. 1944
2 Public Record Office of Victoria [PROV] VIC30-P0-2693, “Statement from Mabel Rebecca Schultz”, 1936.
3 New South Wales Police Gazette, 23 May 1928, 340.
4 The Corowa Free Press, 18 October 1927; “Hotelkeepers Victimized”, The Corowa Chronicle, 19 October 1927.
5 ‘An Affable Stranger Gulls Tumuts Residents”, Tumut and Adelong Times, 27 June 1933; “An Affable Stranger”, Wagga Wagga Advertiser, 1 July 1933.
6 “Motorcar Stealing Case”, Camperdown Chronicle, 20 October 1934.
7 “Geelong and District”, The Argus, 25 June 1935.
8 “Jobs in Air Force”, The Age, 4 February 1936.
9 “Most Honest Thief Ever”, The Age, 29 February 1936; “Rafferty’ Rules of Finances Land Him in Gaol”, The Evening News, 29 February 1936.
10 “Rafferty’s Rule”, Queenslander, 5 March 1936.
11The Herald, 28 May 1930.
12PROV, VIC30-P0-2693, “Statement from Ernest M. Rafferty”, 19 September 1936.
13 National Australia Archives: B2455, RAFTREY ALBERT
Comentarios