ALLEGED TRICKSTER

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 April 1933, Page 8

ALLEGED TRICKSTER

STATEMENT TO POLICE

(peb PRESS association.]

AUCKLAND, April 10.

Jack Walter, aged 32, a sales,man, was charged in the Police Court with, conspiring with James Taylor and a third person whose name is unkUiown, to defraud Francis Atkinson of £ 580. Lengthy evidence was given by the. complainant, Atkinson, of making the acquaintance in the street, of a, man with whom he subsequently had a meal in a restaurant. While there his acquaintance found a wallet, which they traced to its owner in a city hotel. The owner of the wallet said he was representing an Australian turf commission agency, and Atkinson and his companion embarked on a coni' plicated series of transactions), in which he alleges he lost £5BO. ..

Giving evidence, Detective-Sergeant

Doyle said that the accused . booked a passage from Wellington to Sydney under the name of George Andrews. When asked at Wellington about the alleged confidence trick, the accused replied: “It’s fine and dandy, boy, carrying on with business.” While witness was escorting the accused in the train to Auckland, the accused, pointing to Atkinson, made the following remarks: “Ain’t he a sucker? Look ;at him; How could a man pass him by? Guys like him are born every day. Tn fact they never die. I don’t like that guy. You know, he lies to me. He told me he had £lOOO in the bank. I felt like cracking him when I found out he had only about £650. He offered to raise a mortgage of £4OO on that farm of his at Kaitaia, and, for once in my life, I felt sympathetic, and I stopped him from getting on the train to go up and raise that £4OO. You know, if 1 had five minutes with that guy now, he would run away from you dicks, and you would never see him again. If I had waited another day, he would never have squealed to the dicks. He had

not heard the finish of the story. You know, this is a good story, and I don’t think it’s been put over here before. It’s what we call pay off. 1 suppose he told you I trod on his toe when 1 picked up the wallet. I got only £lB2 out of this. The other two guys got the same, and the mug got £l5 of his own money back. This is a great little country. I like Rotorua. There is a lot of money there. I could make a lot of money in a season there with a couple of good men, but I would want a little protection. We would give you a five pei’ cent, guarantee that we would only take on visitors, and never touch New Zealanders. I have made a lot of money in my time, but I spend it as fast as I get. it. The “dicks” in the States got me twice, and the last time I had 90 days.” The accused pleaded not gulity. He was committed for trial.