CITY IMPOSTOR

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 May 1928, Page 3

CITY IMPOSTOR

“SPENT MONEY LIKE »WATER.” SYDNEY, April 23. After a. long search, one that was encumbered by many difficulties, Detectives Garlick and Geldart last night arrested a. man. whom they regard as perhaps the most amazing and successful impostor who has operated in Sydney for years. Plausible, audacious, and outstandingly cunning, the man secured large sums of money from leading citizens, moneylenders, and bookmakers with almost incredible ease. Though in a few months he secured hundreds of pounds, and despite the fact that he made great coups on the racecourses —one afternoon he won £l4oo—he only had 8d when he was taken in charge. He selected his victims carefully; some of them were citizens well-known for theiQi charity and humanity, others were wealthy and liberal sportsmen. But his greatest successes were achieved when he actually duped several Jewish moneylenders,- men who have built up fortunes by their keen business sense, their care in matters of money. When arrested he was in the best of spirits, joked and talked freely to the detectives, and—not without some pride—told them of some of his adventures.

The story that he related to the persons he approached was, with slight variations, always the same. He would explain that Jie was an official in one bank or another, and that, in a moment of weakness, he had stolen £lOO, which he had lost on. the racecourse. Filled with contrition and shame, he could now see that his life —and that of his wife and little children —was ruined, for he would have to make the money available that day. He had £l5, and if he could obtain £B5 he could return the £lOO he had taken, the £lOO he had so foolishly stolen, and he would then make reparation to the benefactor by weekly instalments from his small salary. Though he had been in the bank for many years, though he was a valued and trusted servant, his salary was still small. Perhaps this, he would say with a catch in his voice, was what had led him to his ruin. “One chance; oh, for one chance to undo the evil that I have done,” he would exclaim, clenching his trembling hands desperately. Tears ; would well to his eyes and he would murmur, “My poor wife!” That was usually enough. The victim paid the £B5 and never saw the erring bank official again. The first fraud, so far as the police can ascertain, was committed about the middle of last year arid the. ruse has been used with success at intervals ever since.

“YOU SILLY. FOOL!” One of Sydney’s leading bookmakers heard the stoi-y in silence. He had heard many such stories; had read of bank officials ruining their career in this way, but finally the man clever acting was too much for him.

“You silly fool, you big mug,” he roared in his great voice, as he proceeded to give the impostor a lecture. “See what you have done. Nearly lost your good job, made a gaolbird oi yourself, and ruined your little wife and your poor. babies. You big fool. Give it to me back some day if you can. If you can’t, I won’t miss it. Remember that you can’t make money on racecourses. Now get out, you silly fool.” “Oh, thank you, thank you,” moaned the bogus bank clerk, as he wrung the bookmaker’s hand.

He wept to the racecourse with that money, and turned it into £l4OO. On one occasion he visited a bank for a loan, and the accountant, pleased by his client’s delightful personality , directed him to a moneylender. When the latter was approached, the stranger explained that he was a friend of the accountant at the bank. The moneylender, after making the most exhaustive inquiries concerning his visitor, agreed to make the loan if the bank accountant could guarantee it.

So the moneylender sent his secretary with the impostor to the bank to get the accountant’s signature. “Of course, your employer knows nothing of banking,” explained the stranger on the way to the bank. “My accountant friend could not allow it to be known that he was guaranteeing a loan for me. Why, it would mean the loss of his position. I will go in, and get him to sign it quietly.” The secretary agreed, the signature was forged, and the money paid. Subsequently detectives visited the moneylender, qnd told him that a confidence man was operating in the city. “He will tell you this story,” they explained, “and will look like so and so. Now, as soon as he comes to you, if he does, give the Criminal Investigation Branch a quiet ring on. the telephone.” “He will not come here; he has ‘already been here, the scoundrel,” spluttered the money-lender. The incident that led to his downfall occurred yesterday, when he represented himself to be the brother of a man whom his victim knew.. He was asked to call later in the day, and when he returned the man whom he claimed as his brother was there. He saw that he was discovered, and, amazing actor that he has proved himself to be, he burst into tears, admitted that he was an impostor, and asked for mercy. His ruse succeeded, for the two men, who had intended to hand him over to the police, released him after a short lecture upon honest}'. ~ The story, by some remarkable chance, was related elsewhere, and the police, who had been baffled up till this time, were able to identify the man who had been outwitting them for so long. After a wait of four hours he was arrested. , , . , Remarkably enough, yesterday s fraud, if it had succeeded, would have been his last in this country, and in few months he might have been a debonair figure in New York, Loudon. Paris, or Monte Carlo, perhaps. “Well, when I had money, I spent it like water,” he said with a gay, unaffected laugh, as he surveyed his last Bd.