“She’s fidgeting the school attendance roles because her salary was dependant on how many children were in attendance.”Īmy also lied about broken windows to get extra money and often bought goods on credit then failed to pay the shop owner back. Some of the things she bought were very bizarre. “Quite bizarre scenarios for some her scams… I mean, what was the benefit to her?” “She would go around all the undertakers and order up coffins and get them sent all to the same family,” Jenny said. This was a running theme in Amy Bock’s crimes - often they don’t benefit her. She would go to great lengths to scam people, then use the money to buy things which she gave away for free. When Amy was eventually caught and put on trial for fraud, a local newspaper put it like this: Her scams were like a pyramid scheme but with nobody at the top. “She had a perfect mania for what she called ‘shopping’ which consisted of ordering goods she did not require and could not pay for. On all hands astonishment is expressed that the girl had thus far contrived to keep out of the lunatic asylum, of which her mother was a confinee for many years”īoth the newspaper and the court thought it was best to go easy on Amy Bock. Eventually, the judge gave her a discharge without conviction. “Much sympathy has been felt for Miss Bock as her mistake is believed to have been caused more by a hereditary misfortune than a criminal intent.”Īmy played up the link between her crimes and her mother’s mental illness throughout her life. “The malady I suffer from now has been upon me from childhood, and no one but God and myself know the fearful horror I have had to face year after year in the knowledge that, instead of my being able to fight successfully against it (as I have prayed so often to do), it has rather overpowered me more and more.” - Amy Bock #Dark sheep herder art trial#Īfter moving to New Zealand in the mid-1880s she was put on trial for a series of scams and frauds around Dunedin. This defence was not well thought of by the court with the judge remarking that: Specifically, Amy said she suffered from kleptomania, a mental illness which compels people to steal. If we did, a good many people would soon be bound to think that they were suffering with that disease.” Criminal CelebrityĪ police mugshot of Amy Bock, 1886 Photo: NZ Police Museumĭespite Amy’s serial criminality, she was popular with the New Zealand press. Jenny Coleman said Amy was a “wholesome” criminal in the eyes of the public - never drank, never committed violent crimes, never engaged in prostitution. They were bold, audacious and often ludicrously complex. One time, just after being released from prison she managed to convince the Salvation Army to lend her money to buy and furnish a six-room house in Oamaru.Īnother time she managed to talk her way into ownership of a chicken farm. Often she would take on multi-faceted personas, backed up by forged letters and testimonials.
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