PIANISSIMO !—THE STORY OF A GREAT FRAUD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 148, 25 June 1898, Page 4 (Supplement)

PIANISSIMO !—THE STORY OF A GREAT FRAUD.

What's in a name? in Ihe case or 'Brinsmead' tliere was J. 40,000 from a confiding public to begin with, and from six months to five years hard for the company-mongers as a finale. The history of the remarkable piano swindle that has just been disclosed in (he Old Bailey is instructive. Thomas Edward Brinsmead, a mechanic, earning two pounds a week in Ihe employ of John Brinsmead and Sons, having been discharged fo* manufacturing pianos on his own account and believing that to the pOblic a piano by the same munc —but another maker—would tinkle a.s sweet, commenced operations pianissimo in Camden Town, and from 1894 to lsOti his, business had the soft pedal down, lor there were no profits. But thenwas a public to be gulled, and T. K. Pti-insmead, despite an injunction of the High Court restraining him from passing oil' his pianos as those of tin* famous firm, turned his business into ,a limited company, 'T. !•.. Brinsmead and Sons,' with a capital of ,CB,OOO. Liquidation soon followed and the enterprising liquidator Jordan, purchased the piano business for a mere song, some £300. It occurred to-him that if only virtuoso.-, in the art of company-mongering could lie found to play upon the confiding British Public with a firm touch, the modest little piano factory in Camden Town might yet put some valuable notes into the pockets of its proprietors. A [rascally trio, Messrs Ainsworth, Bernard and Kaye were found, directors of the Consolidated Contracts Company, which was formed for the promotion and formation of other companies, and was practically this trio. Although Jordan anil Brinsmead both knew and informed the trio that there were no profits from the business tlie quintette laid their heads together to refloat the defunct company a.s a prosperous concern. One Davis, a clerk, residing at Clcrkenwell in a room for which he paid f>/ a, week, was found a convenient tool. The business that had been sold io Jordan for £..00 was sold to Davis for £ 0,000, and a few weeks afterwards this unconscious purchaser became, ar. 'unconscious vendor' and sold, to another equally unconscious vendee, a clerk named Wilson, this flourishing business for £76,----000. Each clerk goi £5 and was merely the dummy of Ainsworth, Bernard and Kaye. Then Ihe new company was floated with a. capital of £100,000, and Brinsmead, Bnllantine and Lomaxns directors. The purchaser who paid £76,000 found pickles better than pianos, and went off to a. pickle factory. The vendor was sent off to the seaside for the benefit of his health—when the writs began to come in. Ainsworth, Bernard aud Kaye published in a paper under their control, 'The Investor,' a most glowing account of the business of the. company. An enticing prospectus appeared in its advertisement columns and a leading article which purported to give independent advice to the unsuspicious public was no less laudatory. Orders for 800 pianos had been received within a month, the profit.. would produce a. dividend of 12 per cc.it. and the vendor —tin* clerk with a Hillary of £1 a week and a 5/ habitation —would guarantee a dividend of Sper cent, for three years, and lodge a sufficient cash deposit with trustees to insure its payment. The public took the bait, tliey saw 'Brinsmead,' and that was good enough for them. They planked down £-10,000. Two cheques for fifteen thousand and twenty thousand pounds respectively wore drawn in favour of Davis, endorsed in his name but without his authority, and paid into the acount of the Consolidated Contracts Company alias I lie pockets of Ainsworth, Bernard and Kaye. £0,000 of the shareholders' own money was placed in the hands of trustees to ensure, the payment of the S per cent, dividend. The. directors issued two 'fortissimo' circulars in which they represented that sixty men wer at work in the factory, and tlie number would shortly be increased to 150 to cope with the orders in hand, which would yield a profit of £00,000. Sixty men were, put on to give tone to the proceedings. They comprised a potman, a milkman, joiners and day labourers, and. they pulled packing cases to pieces, sawed wood, made shavings and dug in the yard for sand to make concrete. There wre in the factory just enough pianos to swear by—or at. But the conspirators had no .sustaining pedal for their performance. John Brinsmead and Sous, finding how the public had been fooled, renewed the litigation to restrain the company from using a name calculated to deceive, the subscribers for shares clamoured for the return of their money on the ground that they had- been 7 misled' by the prospectus

and the .: Investor into believing they vyere investing in the old firm, the company Avas ordered to be wound tip, and criminal prosecutions were instituted for conspiracy against the band of swindlers. Of the £40,000 subscribed,- only the £9,000 set aside for the payment of the 8 per cent. dividend is left, but the shareholders, if they recover but little of their cash, have at least the consolation of seeing, after many delays, postponements aud attempts to evade the clutch of justice, Ainsworth and Bernard, the arch-conspirators, get five years penal servitude, Jordan 18 months, Kaye 15, Rrinsmead 6, and Ballatine, a clerk and tool, 3 months.