THE CONFIDENCE TRICK.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 117, 15 May 1909, Page 3

THE CONFIDENCE TRICK.

An American citizen, Dr Merriatt C. Hutchings, of Michigan, U.S.A., president of an education board, reJated to the Westminster magistrate on March 20 how he had been robbed. of £169 10s and; a gold ring (valued .at £25) by means of the "confidence /trick." ' - ■ ; ■ Three well-dressed men, arrested at Northampton, were in the dock, charged with the,theft. They gave as their names: W ; illiam Ford/aged thirty-six, commission agent, Bridge Road, Battersea; John Wells, aged -thirty-eight, stockbroker, 'of Tenison Street, Waterloo Road; and Arthur Yernin, aged, forty-one, cook, of Gillingham Street, Pimlico. Dr Hutchings was at the British ! ' Museum, when Ford got into conver- .-. sation with Him, mentioning that his name wa3 Davis, and that he was a sheep farmer from New Zealand buying prize rams and selling wool. Dr Hutchings spent several hours with 'the stranged, arid confided to him that he proposed visiting St. Paul's and the Tower on the following day. Ford i professed a great desire himself to see the sights, and arranged to meet Dr Hutchings next morning at Charing •Cross Hotel. Ford presented himselfat the appointed time with Vernin, who was introduced as "Mr M'Bridej a Scotch gentleman from Australia,' also a sheep farmer engaged in wool :sales, and desirous of buying la motor, in which they could all go for a ride." —(Laughter). . After a visit ,to the outside of Buckingham Palace, the park, etc., the three adjourned to a tea shop, where' the third prisoner, Wells, joined them. Wells said he was one of the O'Briens from good old Ireland, and that though he had started life there •as a poor boy at a,few shillings a week, he was now rolling in money •through the death of a wealthy tea planter uncle in Ceylon, who had left him his fortune. His return to his native country, he. declared, was to give a priest £10,000 for masses for "his dead uncle. This statement was embellished with a reference to a proposed visit to Rome, and a contribution of £5000 Peter's Pence to the ' Pope. Wells finally mentioned that there was a provision in his uncle's will'to give away £10,000 in charity. The usual "confidence trick" procedure was then gone through. Dr Hatchings was induced to take off liis •diamond rinp and accompany one -of

the prisoners to the West End office of the United States Express Company, where he drew' notes aiad gold to the value of £169 lOs^ "I only had tea, but I am afraid I am rather unsophisticated,'^ was the conclusion of the prosecutor's story^ "and I xiidno't really realise that any^ thing was gone till all the prisoners had gone. They left' me waiting at a tea shop/'—(Laughter). The prisoners all pleaded guilty, and were committed for trial.