THE BANK NOTES FORGERY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 155, 1 July 1914, Page 6

THE BANK NOTES FORGERY.

', A RI'JMARKAiRLK STCRV. . Several week-" have now elapsed r-iu.-e ! ; Auckland was startled by one of the ill's; daring bank note swindlrs that have ever been perpetrated in Aitetral-a.-ia. 'NiimetoiH .clo notes were passed oil' .oi an iii:su..;>eciiiig public, and alwolutely no trace of the i-iimin.ils wa,, d„- , covered. The masterly mnnnvr [n wliicb the fraud mas carried out left no doubt thai, experts had been a: work, and , there i.s now good na.-au for the belief that the work was carried out by one of Ihe grcaiisi gangs of criminal,? who ever darkened the principal cities of Europe The headquarter,? of''the gang, nviria. was ihe scene of a large number of similar and kindred affairs f,„- quit* a long time 'before English cities .were v:«tcd. Tl aptain. whose age: is about oil. has grown afllunu on (he makings cf bi.s employees. He lives the life of a gentleman in the ChampsKlysees. and when paying a professional Vfr.it Ho New York always t.ak.s up a j stylish roa-idenee in _7i !i Avenue. The operations of ihis Napoleon of crime haw extended lo Xcav York. St. Petersburg. .Parih. and several of the Jarn-e American cities. A resident of Auckland, who professes to have reliable knowledge of the gang. supplied a. representative of the -Star" with the following statement of what purports to be a true account of occurrences leading up to tli 0 swindle recently perpetrated here.:— I'our yours ago Auckland was disturbed by a. robbery in which several ten pound notes were stolen. One of Ibesc was conveyed to London, where, in a dark cellar in a still darker alley off the Tha inns Embankment, a photograph was taken of the note. The gang had been very successful in their tions for some time, and they had no need of ready money. They eventually ran short, however, -and decided upon Auckland as the .scene of their next, operations. One of the gang was well known in the Dakotais to which place they promptly proceeded. It was nt a little town on the borderland nf North and South' Dakota that these men hied to a small printing estnblkhmeht known to them. There they printed a number! of notes from (lie block. From there | they proceeded to Auckland. They were in the city about ten days when an Italian, who was considered the ninst expert of the trio, and consequently the leader, planned thp cnup, and carried it out successfully. One or two people in the city got ai slight description nf him, ami be managed to evade the clutches' nf thp police, after which his confederates I dc-troyc.l all traces nf the crime. A recent arresit, of a suspect in Sydney was .believed to be -a. clue to five Auckland frauds, but (lie police were unable to (race any connection between the twn crimes.