A FOOL AND HIS MONEY.

Nelson Evening Mail, 19 October 1905, Page 4

A FOOL AND HIS MONEY.

Paris has provided a decidedly neat variant of the confidence trick. Alarmed l.v the failure _ of the sugar speculators and the performances of ('allay, the banker's dork, a certain too cautious investor drew all his money oat of tho ban*!*, to tne amount of £1000, ouly to find, 'however, thnt the possession of so much hard cash w^is a continual source of worry. His nights were disturbed bv dreams of burglary, and . the possibility 'of the purloining *f his hoard caused him endless anxiety. One day he got into conversation with a- distinguished looking countryman at an hotel. The -stranger, according to the visitors' book and his own cards and conversation, was a Count, and he soon gained the confidence of Che env barr-assod capitalist. The Count agreetl with the little man 'that with clerical manipulators of the G-allav stamp about, banks were ria'sy 'dt-posi lories, but 1 laughed at .the .notion of being hard set to find a safe yet inacces-siole hiding place for -money-, -'■%■ make it- a rule toke»p mine in my truiftK," said he. The capitalist objected, "What about burglars?" But the Count had a, stratagem-' of his own; He took 'his friend up to his room, and showed 'him his cash box, shaped exactfy lffco a sardine- .tin.. In fact, it one, : - only strengthened and provided with a secret lock. "That i8 "Vjh'ere * T'4:bep**my ifiorioy , said the Count. -'Suppose burglars hro!-e into my room, can you imagine them taking the trouble to. carry,, off a sardine "tin ?" . The ; cautious' capitalist wd's fascinated** by the idea. If enly he has a si■niilaf sardine tin. "Why, I r have a spare ofle,}' said "the Count, y. If it- can be of any Use to youT shall be delighted to let you >ave it. The cautious one accepted with effusive thanks, took a cab to the bank, and having changed his possessions tnto notes, drove straight back to the hotel and. locked tjhcin up in -the ettrdine box A-fter tbankin**- his . friend Again and again, he left with; his sardine lipx uncfor Ms making juv appointment with tho Count for dinner. ... ■ „,, The 'hour' came and passed, ana no Count anpeared. The capitalist repaired to : his friend's room, only to J3n*i it. empty, and then a r , LuA* le -ah^ioirs.'W B"is6ned" ""his"*' "saVdMie Tdox. Its contents were tfiveo. butt oas and some other odds and -ends of tittlp or no value. -While the . Gaunt mm been explaining tlie mechanism of tlie box he had cleverly substituted his own for the otberi aiid possessod himself pf the £1000, ,'

A young woman named j Margaret Lackey, Q/ged ; •:. twenty-four, oonunit- | ted suicide in tragic circu instances I near .Liverpool. New South Walts, lon the 3rd inst. She was walking [ withi her-, sweetheart, Frederick Pitman. The pair had -quarrelled in tbe afternoon, and tho dispute was renie.wed during the-ir._we.lk. -On rcnch ing the high-level : bridge .over the St. George's River Pitman was some distance in front of tho" "girl. When halfway across aha called out — "I'm going." This was immediately followed by a splaiah" in the water. Pitman raised the alarm and speedily o'htaiftod a boat, • but the girl, who bad jumped from a height of over thirty feiet, had disappeared. .Her -body was subscf^uent, ly recovered by the police-. Pne"-'6fTthbse^ etftra«ordinary, rumours, the source of which it is always difficult to trace, origsnatett ia .Ptalm-erston ' North a day or two ogio to the effect that the Hon. J,. Carroll had shuffled off this mortal coil. The rumour seems (sa^-s a Wellington correspondent) to havo received very wide .credence, and seciing the hon. the Native Minister alive and well in the House, a journalist sent a note down from the Press gallery informing him. of his unexpected eternise. M^* Carroll, with characteristic humour, replied that he was very sorry' to hoar of his death, i. -because he was under the impression that ho was '" : -verymuch alive. Undei- tho circumstances ha suggested that they should honour his corpse with a "wake" at the supper adjournment, and lust before Bellamy's closed the '-'wake" was duly celebrated-