SWINDLERS.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 3217, 20 November 1900, Page 7

SWINDLERS.

Many of the greatest swindlers of the century have been men of considerable feeling, devoting much of their time to the uplifting of their fellows. Indeed, not a few great financial swindlers have themselves derived no pecuniary benefit from their defalcations. Take the case of the famous baronet known as ' Sir John,' who some years ago helped himself to his clients' money to the tune of over £524,922. For years he was regarded as a great -hearted philanthropist. He was either president or treasursr of 27 charitable societies. These were so attractive that he allowed his house to go to pieces, and when he was sentenced to 14 years' his one regret waß that he had not made suitable provision for a chapel in Fulbam, the expense of which cost him £900 a year. The case of Walter Watts, a clerk in the Globe Insurance Compaay, who contrived in one year to embezzle £70,000, was even more curious than the above. While he was being regarded by his employeis as a model of care and industry, he possessed a faultless equipage, and his horses were the envy of Rotten Row. He waß also widely known as a liberal patron of arts and the drama. He was even the lessee and manager of Marylebone and Olympic Theatres, running them regardless of expense. While undergoing ten years' penal servitude the one thing which gave him satisfaction was the quality of his Shakespearian plays. These to him were worth all the money. W. J. Robson, a clerk in the employment of the Transfer Department of the Crystal Palace, at a salary of £1 per week, had an intense thirst for fame, and to gain the applause of the crowd he appropriated £27,000. He wrote several plays, but, as no one would produce these, he hit upon this plan. The plays were successfully produced, and Robson was spoken of as the coming man. He feasted h's admirers in a most lavish manner. Even when conscious that detectives were on his track, he was basking in the applause of his guests in a fashionable West End restaurant, without any thought of escape, although he knew that his career was over. Leopold Redpatb, described as a man who gave away huge sums, and rented a splendid mansion, was in the employment of the Great Northern Railway at a small yearly salary. His great hobby was to minister to the needs of the poor. He would walk miles and make no end of sacrifices to succour the widow and the orphan. Even when it was discovered that he had embezzled £40,000, and when he could have escaped, he was found collecting money for philanthropic purposes and making a round of charitable visits. The case of John Sadler, M.P., is even more extraordinary than the foregoing. He, too, was given to muoh charity, and seemed a model of honesty, co much so that he was trusted all round, ani was made a director of numerous ooncerns. Whilst he had ample private means, he drained the Tipperary Bank of £200,000, and all for the purpose of defrauding a Swedish railway company of £150,000. His case was altogether a puzzle to the authorities. When his brain was examined there was nothing discovered pointing to insanity.