CONFIDENCE PLOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15998, 17 August 1915, Page 10

CONFIDENCE PLOT.

ATTEMPT TO ROB FARMERS. SAN FRANCISCO STORY. OTAGO VISITORS WARY. [FROM OCB OWN* CORRESPONDENT. ] San Francisco, July 21. Two Ot-ago farmers, who recently visited San Francisco, have preferred charges against men described by the police as expert criminals. Before Judge Oppenheim, at the San Francisco Police Court, Robert TVatson, I'red Stewart, and Frank Thomas, appeared on remand, on a charge of grand larceny, preferred by James Howell, a Justice of the Peace, at \\ aipiata, Central Otago, and his brother, Thomas Howell, Lee Flat Station, near Dunedin.

In bis evidence, James Howell said he j and his brother were in partnership in New Zealand a* sheep farmers. Witness had letters of introduction to Mr. Alexander Macpherson, an official at the New Zealand court at the Panama Exposition. Whilst he was seated in Cook's office at San Francisco on the morning of July 10, waiting to have his touring tickets to New Zealand completed, an a.Sable stranger, professing to come from Auckland, exchanged confidences, and complaining that his hotel was too expensive, and located in a low neighbourhood, said he would move to the Pacific Hotel, where the Howells weie staying. A friendship sprang up, and during a trip to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, on July 11, Frank Thomas, the affable stranger, toM witness and his brother that he was about to purchase a trotting stallion to take back to Auckland, and desired the New Zealanders to go and see the horse before he completed the purchase.

The Second Stranger. On Monday, July 12, according to arrangement, the Howells started off under the direction of Thomas, and reached : Jefferson Park, in the residential district where Thomas said the horse was stabled. Walking along the pavement on Eddy Street, they overtook a man who accidentally dropped a letter, which James Howell (the witness), picked up and handed to the stranger, who thanked him profusely in an Irish brogue. Thereupon Thomas asked, " What part of Ireland do you come from?" He gave some place near Dublin. In the ensuing conversation the man represented himself to be Patrick O'Connor, but is known to the police as "Lord Gordon," alias Robert. Watson. O'Connor said he had been left a fortune of £300,000 by a rich uncle in England, and that his uncle had left in his will a condition that £60,000 of the money was to be given to the poor, and that none of it was to go to churches or any charitable institutions of any kind. O'Connor showed a newspaper account of a lawsuit that had been held in connection with the fortune. When questioned, O'Connor said his uncle made most of the money on the West Coast of New Zealand, in the gold mines at Hokitika, and that he left there and came to America. Poor ol New Zealand. f Frank Thomas, said witness, interposed, and said if the uncle made the money in New Zealand he did not see why New Zealand should not get some of it. "j- O'Connor • agreed, arid announced his readiness to give the two brothers £6000 each if they could prove that they were 1 men. of means, l'homas, excited, jumped up off a seat and exclaimed that he would prove he was a man of means, and would cable to Auckland for £3000. He went . off to send "a. cablegram for it, and in the meantime O'Connor chatted on the various features of the business. Witness and his brother were dubious, and James Howell , asked to be taken to a priest or lawyer to have the matter put on a legal basis. O'Connor said the priest would have nothing to do with it, and lawyers were to keep out. The money would be freely given if the New Zealand fanners showed ■*' they were men of substance. It was then • that Thomas Howell said the matter was •• too loose, and he refused to accept responsibility for distribution. Frank Thomas returned after an hour's absence, saying he would be able to produce his £3000 in ,the morning from Auckland. "It was at this stage," said witness, " that I said ' I will send for £3000 also,' " O'Connor, as a guarantee for expenses, produced a number of hundred dollar bills from his purse, and placed them in an envelope as a bond that he would return next morning to close negotiations. O'Connor said if ho failed to appear the dollars in the envelope could be divided between the farmers and Thomas. Thomas sealed the envelop© and pencil marked it. At the cable office Thomas showed an - eagerness to write the cablegram for witness, and the latter simply signed it, ■whilst the brother was outside the office. Witness suggested that payment for the message should be taken from the bond in the envelope, but Frank Thomas dramatic- /» ally drew from his pocket money and paid £2 5s for the cablegram. At the Bank . ■ of California Thomas did all the talking, and Howell produced identification to facilitate payment when the money would ,T;f arrive the next day. In the evening at his hotel, witness thought carefully over the case, and dei; cided they had gone far enough, and -' should have bona fides. He got up quietly :« raid went to the Detective Bureau. Detects tives quickly assured him it was a confiI': dence trick of the first water. Returning ']f to the hotel, Thomas had become suspici- j f ous through the brother being late for ■S supper. When undressed and ready for bed, witness determined to send a cable- >' gram cancelling the money coming from •k\ New Zealand. This was at 11 p.m., and on the head of the stairs he met the detects tives and Thomas.

Arrest of Other Two Men. On the following morning, Detective McDonnell went to witness at breakfast and asked him to go outside the restaurant and ! vp. if he could recognise a man standing I on the street watching the actions of the witness. The witness did not know the • man, hut noticed that his movements were ' being closely obseived. Separately, the • brothers and the detectives went to the scene of the plot laid in Jefferson Park. , "The spy" went on the same tramcar. ! and all pot off at the park. Witness, his brother, and the —disguised as tramps—walked about for a sight of Patrick O'Connor, and just as they were on the point of leaving for the bank to ascertain what had transpired, a detective arrested the " spy" Fred Stewart, who •was hurried off to gaol. Witness went to the hank, and on rejoining the party halfan hour later, found the detectives had captured O'Connor. Evidence submitted by Detectives MeConneil and Hallivan showed that the former name upon O'Connor sitting on a bench in the park, cutting the pages of a popular magazine into strips, the exact size of bank notes, and putting them in packages in a handbag beside him. To "MeConnel*. O'Connor said. " Ah ' I see von nre a tramp." Asked whv he was cutting the magazine, O'Connor said that he had discovered that " the magazine contained German war news, and he was just, cutting it up." The tramp was too wise, and arrested O'Connor. The handbag contained packages of bogus notes' intended for the victims. The three men were confronted with each other, and admitted they knew each other. . The prisoners were committed for trial in the Superior Court.