How much of his seven-year term Hardy served is unknown and his whereabouts for most of the period from 1901-1909 are a mystery . His account of the period makes the claim that he was attached to the staff of the Duke of Connaught and later traveled to Toronto , Ontario , Canada where he became a high-profile editor at a news agency before being falsely accused of forgery and returning to Britain . The lack of documentation makes such a claim difficult to prove , although it was a claim he maintained from 1910 until at least 1920 . Other accounts of his life from his family state that he talked of how he had lived in the United States for some time and had been in San Francisco for the famous 1906 earthquake . The claim is difficult to verify and should be believed with caution , especially given that the 1906 earthquake 's destruction of the city 's records was commonly used as a convenient explanation by criminals to forget their past . 1910 saw Hardy 's second seven-year term of imprisonment . He forged a cheque using a simple confidence trick which assured a fellow passenger on a train that Hardy had money in America and could afford to repay a loan . Once invited into her Croydon home , Hardy located her cheque book and forged her signature whilst she was out of the room . He was tried under his then alias of Hall Frankland and again served his time in Dartmoor Prison
1906 earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
F. Digby Hardy