CLAIM TO MAKE GOLD

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 March 1929, Page 8

CLAIM TO MAKE GOLD

ALLEGED £125,000 FRAUD A man who claimed to manufacture “gold bricks,” once a classic swindle, has been arrested. with his wife in their castle at Appiano, near Bolzano, Italy, for alleged fraud in Germany involving £125,000. lie passed as Baron Tausend, but simply,a tinsmith by profession, while his wife was a chambermaid. He obtained a diploma in chemistry at Zurich, and opened a small establishment at Friberg, where he claimed, it is asserted, to have discovered, the secret of making gold, and obtained money from numerous dupes.

The ihan was so successful that he founded several branches in different parts of Germany, and collected a considerable -fortune, with part of which he bought an old castle at Appiano, went about in a magnificent motor-car, posed as a Croesus in Bolzano, and gave great fashionable receptions.

The couple were long suspected of espionage no clue being found to the origin of their fortunie. Tausend went on frequent visits to Germany to collect money, and recently lie is reported to have obtained a large sitm from a wealthy widow and her son, who actually sold their family estate at Munich to invest it in the alleged goldmaking process. , , Taiihend escaped with the funds, and withdrew to his castle at Appiafio, put subsequently his refuge was discovered by the German police,, A demand for his arrest and extradition was presented. The police broke into the castle, arrested the couple, and conveyed them to prison at Bolzano.