DARING SWINDLE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 49, 27 February 1913, Page 2

DARING SWINDLE

DEAL IN A LONDON MANSION (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 17th January. Last Saturday a man coolly held a sale in a West End house, for which he had obtained an agent's order to view, and he got safely away with the proceeds, £302. The house in question ie 9, Park-place, St. James's, the London residence of Mr. Gordon Woodhouße, Wlio, wishing to let it, placed the matter in the hands of Messrs. Hamptons, of Pall Mall. The actual victim wa3 Mr. Rochelle Thomas," of the Georgian Gallery, Kingstreet, St. James's. On Saturday morning ho Was ' visited by the manager of another antiquary, who had been approached by a man giving tho name of Bolton,- to purchaee a portion of the antique china and furniture at 'the house m Park-place. The deal was +o be completed without delay, as it was represented by the man that the premises were required by a club. Thfe priheipal of the manager was in Paris, so the latter suggested that Mr. Thomas should undertake the business. "I" at once instructed my two sons, Alfred and Victor," said Mr. Thomas, 'to go round to see Mr. Bolton. The man told them that he was secretary to Mr. Gordon Woodhouse, the owner of the house, who was at present at his country house at Stratford-on-Avon, and that he was instructed to dispose of a small portion of the china and furniture, adding that he had to go to Mr. Woodhouse at Stratford-on-Avon later in the afternoon. He requ«sted my sons, in the calmest manner possible, to make their valuation 6,t their leisure. 'He wae instructed to aek the sum of £300, he said, and my eons estimated the worth of the property to them at £302, which amount they offered. He then enquired as to payment,, and my .sons" offered him a t cheque. He said, 'Very Well, but will you leave it open?' My younger son, thinking. to oblige him, suggested that ho should go to Lloyd's Bank and get bank notes, which he proceeded to do. Mr. Bolton then wrote out a receipt upon a piece of Mr. Gordon Woodhouse's stationery, which he took from a bureau, and signed it' as 'H. Bolton, on behalf of ' Gordon Woodhouse.' , On the return of my younger son the bank notes and £2 in gold W«re handed to Mr. Bolton, who eat down at a table in the drawing-room and carefully checked the notes and their numbers. After shaking hands, and making the excuse of being pressed for time to catch his train to Stratford-qn-Avon, he said goodbye. While waiting for the van to fetch the goods, my elder eon got into conversation' with the housekeeper. After a little while he felt that something was amiss, and it began to dawn upon him that he had been the victim of a remarkably clever, swindle." , Mr. Woodhouee .was then communicated with by telegram, and the reply came 5 "No one has any authority to cell any furniture from 9, Park-place, —Woodhouse." In the meantime, of course, the masquerading secretary had disappeared, and all trace of his movement« are lost. Enquiries by the police show, that the swindler wa*. granted permission to view the house, which is for sale, by the agente on the previous day, and inspected the premises on' that day. On Saturday the housekeeper received a telephone message purporting to come from the agents, stating that the man was again inspecting the house, and eha had no notion of the i extraordinary imposition he was carrying out upstairs. "My eonsj" said Mr. Thomae, "were naturally misled by appearanoee. Such quick transactions are not unueual in our business, and their reception by tho> housekeeper also materially. helped the swindler in his plans. H« acted with a calmness, however, that, would have deceived anyone, I believe. He epoke well, hia manners' w«r© good, and ther,e wae nothing to- distinguish: him from the club-men frequenting the district of St. James's. It is the first fraud of its kind, bo far as I can " ■