Every now and then we like to look back on things
we have unearthed. This is one.The Man in The Iron Mask: The Truth Revealed
In Edwardian
England a man accepted an incredible wager: the prize: £21,000. It
was set down by two notable men, J P Morgan (the wealthy banker) and the
Earl of Lonsdale. But following several sightings around various cities
and towns, "Iron Man," who pushed a pram 'throughout the
world', face covered in an iron helmet, surviving only on the sale of pamphlets
and postcards, disappeared like a phantom. Only to return 6 years later having
'nearly' completed his remarkable odyssey around the globe.
The story
of the "Iron Man" captured public imagination, then and now,
and today people the world over are searching old newspapers and dusty archives
in an effort to trace the footsteps of this intrepid perambulator.
TheBigRetort reveals all for the first
time...
Alleged frauds
Four
years before he took up his remarkable challenge, in 1904, Harry Bensley,
then described as age "29," a labourer, appeared at Willesden
Magistrates Court. Charged (on remand) with obtaining various sums of money 'by
false pretences', the details of his arrest were indexed in the Times
for various dates from September to November. This the first time the 'full'
story of Bensley's escapades has been presented to a gullible public...
and it makes shocking reading.
The scam
Bensley
had claimed that he was the son of one Sir Robert Burrell, and as such
was heir to extensive estates in Norfolk. He also made the claim that he was
heir to his godmother's estate, that of the late Mrs Holland, also at
Thetford, Norfolk. On his thirtieth birthday Bensley let it be known that he
was due to inherit an impressive property and the thousands of acres of land
that came with it. But there was one problem... or so Mr Bensley confided to
his victims. If he attempted to raise money against the value of his future
inheritance then 'the whole of the estate fell into the hands of the trustees'.
He showed
a Mr Jordan a telegram. It came from a moneylender offering him two
hundred pounds against his future inheritance. However, although Bensley badly
needed money, for some unexplained reason (perhaps a caveat in the 'will'), that
if he accepted the offer then this would thwart his inheritance. Or so he
claimed...
By
curious but timely coincidence, Mr Jordan (the victim of Bensley's scam)
received two telegrams from the moneylender himself. This was most curious. Mr
King offered him sums of £50 and £100 if he would 'induce'
Bensley 'to accept this offer and a second one of £1000'.
And then there was Bensley's sister...?
She urged
her brother to borrow £200 on 'his furniture' in order that he could go
on a cruise with her. Bensley told Mr Jordan and a Mr Bradley,
warehouseman (and his second victim), that he could not go on the cruise
without the money. But, of course, there was that inheritance...
Bensley
reeled his 'marks' in like two haddock on a fishing line. Messieurs Jordan and
Bradley duly lent the money... but without surety. Bensley had
instructed them to destroy any IOUs as these would stop his inheritance.
Eventually nothing was heard from Harry Bensley. A visit to Thetford resulted
in the police being called in.
A history of bogus claims
The
claims were bogus. Harry Bensley was a well-practised fraudster with no
regard for his victims or their families. "Jordan and Bradley had been
defrauded of their lifelong savings and their provision for their
children," the Times reported. 'Mr King' the moneylender did not
exist. There was no relationship between Bensley and Robert Burrell (who was
indeed wealthy, very alive, but had not received a knighthood). In what must
have been a classic version of a long-firm fraud, Jordan and Bradley had been
scammed.
Unknown
to his victims Harry Bensley, using the alias "Harry Barker,"
had planned the whole thing as far back as 1903. By the 17th May of the
following year he had set sail on a ship headed for Sydney. Bensley had purchased
the tickets, one for him and the others for his wife and child, with the first
tranche of money he had taken from Jordan. This remarkable and elaborate
deception, which revealed a degree of prescience found in a sociopath, had
taken a year to complete, involved his 'wife' who was a seamstress, and was
commenced by the same man who four years later would announce to the world that
he had accepted a remarkable challenge, an astounding wager, (amongst others)
to walk 'through the world', always wearing an iron mask, pushing a
perambulator, picking up a wife, peddling photographs and pamphlets of his
'planned' endeavours — while keeping his identity secret. As we shall
later discover there was a very good reason for this.
Harry's Game
On
completion of this mammoth six-year task Harry Bensley was set to win an
astonishing $100,000... a fortune back in those days. Or at last that is
what Bensley claimed, for whatever Harry claimed should always have been taken
with a (huge) pinch of salt. In fact, like all good tales there was (and is
more) than meets the eye to this frankly modern myth. Besides being a
conniving, and rather nasty fraudster, Harry Bensley, a labourer and no more,
was also a bigamist and wife 'deceiver'.
In August
1898 he had married Kate Green, laundress, also of Thetford. The
marriage produced two children. At his later 1904 Old Bailey trial, the
Common Serjeant heard that the family lived together until two years previously
in Norwood. (Anthony road then Cobden road.) However, in July 1902, one year
before he commenced his elaborate fraud on Messrs Jordan and Bradley, Mr
Bensley — strangely now described as 'a remarkable man' (by some at least?) —
deserted Kate his wife and their two children leaving them absolutely
destitute. (Perhaps 'remarkable' is the word.)
The Barmaid and the bigamy
Sometime
at this juncture, Harry Bensley had made the acquaintance of a barmaid in
Norwood called Lily Chapman. (Listed as "Clapham" in some
documents.) Ironically, it was a bigamous marriage to Lily that would catch up
with Bensley. But that was after he absconded with Jordan and Bradley's
money. Mr Bensley had presented himself as bachelor and heir to a large estate
at Thetford to unsuspecting Lily. The modus operandi of the career criminal followed
its traditional agenda. Harry married Lily under the bogus surname "Burrell."
Of course the representations he had also made to Lily were untrue, as indeed
were those he would go on to make to Messrs Jordan and Bradley much later. He
compounded this deception, the false pretences, by committing bigamy. He was
still after all married to Kate Green. Another false representation that was
soon to catch up with him.
At the
Old Bailey, an additional charge was brought for 'feloniously and unlawfully
inter-marrying (sic) with Lily Chapman at Marylebone Registry Office on
February 5, 1903, his lawful wife, Kate Bensley (sic, the Times quote
uses 'Beasley'), being then and now alive'. (The Times, 11 Oct, 1904,
p13, clmn c.)
Having
upgraded to a 1st-class cabin with his new 'wife and child', "Harry
Barker" (the name he travelled under) set sail on the 17th May with
his wife and their child. Having paid £10 for each ticket,
"Barker" upgraded to 1st-class passages for himself and his wife and
child, a difference of £64 we are told. But all did not go as planned...
The arrest
The ship
arrived at the Cape on the 4th June and a reception party awaited. Harry
Bensley, son of a sawmill worker at Thetford, was 'nicked'. Brought to book by Detective
Sergeant Cole and Detective Inspector Pollard, the prisoner was sent
by Willesden magistrates to the Old Bailey. Finally, his deceptions had caught
up with him. (Presumably he had more form as 'previous good character' is not
recorded in any reporting on the trial.) Harry Bensley, aka Burrell, aka
Harry Barker (etc) was sentenced to 4 years penal servitude.
Significantly (or so it must surely seem later) he responded to the Common
Serjeant at the Old Bailey, "Thank you, my Lord. I deserve it."
Perhaps the first time that Harry Bensley had issued a truthful statement.
To follow
in TheBigRetort's buried news series, something the 'experts' and
national newspapers missed completely... Iron Mask: The Truth Revealed.
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