HOLD BURGLAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13778, 17 June 1908, Page 7

HOLD BURGLAR.

(JETS DETECTIVES TO ASSIST. AN AMUSING SCHEME. By Telegraph.— Press Association.—right, • Odessa, June 15. A BUIIGLARiof Odessa, dressed as a captain of gendarmerie, imitating Voight, the cobbler of Koepenick, telephoned for a party of armed detectives to proceed to the Governor's residence in order to search a house in the vicinity. Having effected an entrance with his corps the burglar sent them back to the guardroom and then proceeded to ransack the house, from which he took all the valuables obtainable, and escaped with his booty. The shoemaker Voight, .posing aa; » Prussian captain, made the burgomaster of Koejicnick the laughing stock of Europe. He based the uniform »l a pawnshop, and, taking command of some soldiers who were inarching down the street, went to the municipal treasury, and, ill the n*tne of the Government, demanded its fund*. When the burgomaster {untested, ho placed him under arrest, and then emptied the safe and made off. Later on, a somewhat similar incident omuiied in Vienna. A swindler attired in the uniform of a lieutenant .succeeded in obtaining £51200 .from the, regimental enshlwx of the 42nd Regiment of Artillery. He drove up to Vienna arsenal in a cab,.and entered the adjutant's office, which was crowded at the time. He. introduced 'himself as Lieutenant Goldbaeher, and representing himself to be », member of, the Control Commission, demanded the keys of the strongroom, as the commission wanted to examine the strongbox. The adjutant, without a- momenta . hesitation, handed over the desired keys, and the "lieutenant" gravely signed the' receipt. Then lie withdrew,' and opened without question, and in the presence of the sentinel stationed before it, the doors leading to "the strong-room. Once there, the bogus lieutenant, with a crowbar, hidden under his tunic, forced open one of the boxes, and appropriated the money. The reason why the adjutant was so ready to give the keys was that lie expected a committee of the Control Commission. His astonishment may well bo imagined when an hour later the genuine Control Commission came and discovered the burglary.