MAGNIFICENT SWINDLER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 157, 2 July 1904, Page 13

MAGNIFICENT SWINDLER.

LIFE STORY OF A PRINCE OF. SUAUPEKB. It Is noteworthy that for years jast the police lv various European capitals have beeu seeking a man' who has .swindled various people out of thousands >t pounds on the pretext that he was pos;essed of the plans of Uerman fortresses, .or which the French Government were .trepared to par him huge sums of money. This mysterious iudividual was described ■.s tlie "Prince of Swindlers." He lias lived .1 the most expensive hotels upon the noney obtained from his victims, and his oclety was mucli sought after owing to iis charming manners. "Morgan," "Ferguson," and "Baron yon ■sehelia" are a few of the names under I'uicii he is alleged to have made the acquaintance of many people in fashionable utels, and to have swindled them out of urns of money varying in amount from a ew hundred pounds to thousands, THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. His system of obtaining money was inenious and bold, but It varied in details ceording to circumstances. It was, In act, a brilliant elaboration of the. confi.ence trick. Posing under one of his aliass, he would confide in persons who be :eved In him that he was in communication . ith a German officer, who was prepared o sell him the plans of the fortifications f Metz or Strasburg, or both. Also, thai or these documents a marquis, acting foi he French Mlriister of War, was prepared o pay a very large sum of money—some- ,- lmes as much'as £320,000. He would lnuce his victim to secretly meet the "maruis," wao would offer large sums for thp lans, but not so much as the "baron" deircd, and negotiations would hang fire. In the meantime the mythical German •flicer wtfuld insist on drawing some money. nich tne victim was induced to hand ovei 0 the "baron." This would go oh uhtli he credulity or the funds of the "goetween" were exhausted, and Jhen th» baron" would fade into space' and the •'rench "marquis" would disappear as mys eriously as he had appeared; Five years ago the English police held 8 varrant for the arrest of a man'believed tr c the swindler in question for practlslnp he same sort of fraud utfon an Austrlsn. Nearly three years ago an English gentlenan complained of having been robbed ir 1 precisely similar fashion by "Bardh vbr -Sheila." Every effort was made to dis over this man. Hotels were watched, bnt he -baron- was living in affluence abroad md Scotland Yard could do nothing. » As regards the arrest in the present caw Mr Harris and his friend. Mr working in collusion with the Scotland V'ard detectives, pretended to' carir otf thr negotiations for-Mr Blrkbeck to uson" and the "Marquis de Mairoeville" it the riotel Moderne, Orleans, T/Yo hatid iver a sum of money. All kejrt tt#ap£6ißt' ■nent, and to did the police. ') ESCAPE IN A -CAjii/ The hotel was si;irounded'#nd * nVofor ar was in readiness to be deed ■f or pririoses of pursuit if necessasy! The precau aons were not taken wJDhout neea, for "Perguson" did succeed In escaping in a •ab, ana was not captured 'antlf he hnd cached Sereot railway etatlon—four m!les= iway. He was about tt> go away by tra'lr •vhen the police moter car dashed up tci the station. He hatf 23.000 francs in his Possession, but t(ie "marquis," who was tc my £3'J0,000 for the : bogus plans In Mr Harris's possession, had no more" than 17 francs in his poefeet. Jtsetween two and three years ago "Baron yon ruined a London doctor by inducing? him' to part with £1500 — thr whole of his fortune. ■ Sohelia, who- then lived at 3 private hotel in Bays'water. rhere the doctor with his wife also resided, i-odueed to him the "secret plans" of Metz. strasburg, and Breslau, and' the drawings of a new German gun. These, of course, were flctltlona, bnt he persuaded the doctor that he was to'receive two million V*anes for them from the French Governmeivt, and promised him j £6000 as his share. Another gentleman, living in the same hotel was also victimised. The doctor was taken to Holland and Introduced to "Count de BevIIle," who agreed on behalf of the French Government to' pay- two million francs for the plans. A final meeting was arranged to take place at the Lord Warden Hotel, Dover, but the doctor, having parted -with all his money, waited Iα vain for the couut ttud bu«o.