THE CONFIDENCE TRICK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13306, 12 October 1906, Page 5

THE CONFIDENCE TRICK.

AN OLD MAN LOSES £170. TRICK WITH BITS OF PAPER, [by telegraph.—press ASSOCIATION.] Dun-edin, Thursday. Three men, well dressed, and strangers to Dunedin, were arrested to-day on the charge of obtaining £170 from an old man named Joseph Dickenson, by means of the confidence trick. They gave the names of William Henry Mitchell, William McPherson, and Patrick Ohferkuch. They had on them about £100 when arrested. Dickenson came to town on Saturday. On Monday he met some men near the Arcade, and they entered into conversation with him. Dickenson wanted work, and one of the strangers said he had a friend from Gisborne, who wanted a man. They went to the Gridiron Hotel, but the man from Gisborne did not want anyone, and the parties had a drink. A third man entered. He claimed to bo Tory wealthy, having come from Ceylon. The rich man commenced wagering about a trick in which five pieces of paper were used. The thing was apparently so simple that Dickenson was induced to engage in the game. Before doing so, however, he drew £166 he had in the Savings Bank, making with £4 on him, £170. The four then went to another hotel, and it was not long before Dickenson's £3.70 was in the hands of the man from Ceylon, who then left. One of the other strangers stayed in the restaurant with Dickenson, and it was arranged that Dickenson should go to Oisborne. He was given a steerage ticket from Lyttelton to Wellington, and a railway ticket to Lyttelton. two of the men seeing him off by the train, but the old man had become suspicious and left the train at Port Chalmers. He returned to Dunedin, and informed the police. The detectives at once got to work, and with the aid of Dickenson, three men. were arrested to-day, and will be charged at the Police Court to-morrow.