DUPED BY GOLD LACE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1299, 30 November 1911, Page 4

DUPED BY GOLD LACE.

A FASCINATED TOWN. How ii purely fantastic uniform liberally embroidered with gold lace fascinated • and deciuved an entire lov.-'u was related recently during the hcayin* of a charge of fraud-/writes tho Paris correspondent of tho "Daily Mail"). A couple'.of months' ago thorn arrived iu tho town of Granville, situated on tho Channel (Department of the Manchs). a '.distincuisaed-lrfflking man, who described .himself as ."Aloiuieur'-])u'rand de Bellefend do 'Gournay,- 'Principal Administrator of tho Colonies, Director of the High School for East Africa." Thn stranger immediately opened negotiations for tho purchase) lor .£'3ooo of a largo "property at Brevillc, whnrc he said ho was goinc to open a professional school for intending. colonial officials. .As he could not'take possession until January he was accommodated for the' time being iu n farm on tht; property. The "Colonial Administrator" appeared in the streets of Granville iu a spWdid uniform, consisting Of a smartly-cut black tunic, with the collars and sleeves heavily embroidered with gold lac?, well-fitting trousers strapped over smart patent boots, and a military cap liberally decorated with gold lace. On festive occasions this -uniform .was finished offoy a broad tricolour sash '.worn '.round 'th'e waist.

- Twenty-four hours after his first stroll through GranyiUe, . M,; do Bellefoud. was tho lion of the place, and tho local magnates vied with one another to bo seen walking with him. M. da Bollefoud, urbano and condescending, appointed a nuni ber of tradesmen as purveyors to the Colonbl School. He became acquainted with' the officers of tho garrison, and when he called at the barracks in his resplendent uniform the guard used to turn out and render military honours. From the esta.ti down to provisions, he got everything on credit, including even horses and rattle, which, he said, were to bo dispatched to the colony of Addes Haras (?), in Abyssinia. Forty tradesmen lost sums varying between .£2O and .£.30 before one of their number wroto to the prefect for information 'regarding the stranger. A police commissary was specially sent from Cherbourg to investigate, and arrested M. de Bellefoncl. as the latter was unable to produce any identification papers. or a- deed entitling him to wear tho'Cross of the Legion of Honour. The farmyard gates were decorated with official-looking notices headed "R.F." (Ec.publique I'runeaise). M. de Belletond told (he "Matin" correspondent that he never intended to harm his creditors, and that he was the victim of his "good heart.' . He said he thought it advisable to wear uniform because it always made a good impression.