A MODERN BORGIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18547, 3 November 1923, Page 3 (Supplement)

A MODERN BORGIA.

\ MURDERS AND FRAUD. NINE SLAIN BY POISON. I DEADLY MYSTERIOUS DRUG. POLICE HUNT IN RUMANIA. Throughout Rumania the police are hunting high and low for a prisoner whose astounding crimes have perhaps had 2.0 equal since the days of the Borgias. Already his victims number nine, among ihem being a judge who hail a case against the man in hand. He has been in prison, but he escaped by nutans of a very clever forgery. He is said to v-'oek with a poison as vet unknown to scienexj. The wanted criminal is Josef M ■>!•*• at' attractive and well-educated man of 42 rears of age. He was trained as .1 Roman Catholic priest, and worked in parts of Hungary which, as a result of the w.ir, fell to Rumania. Later he became a nigh railway official at Arad. When .the Rumanians entered he made himself agreeable to the new authorities, find he was given a higher position. V- lion the Rumanian armies raided Budapest. Mold, posing as a high Rumanian ofticer. managed li< secure, by "requisitioning. ' IS Jruckloads of telephone and telegraph instruments and other valuable merchandise. Through an agent 11: sold these to the Rumanian Government, making a pro fit of nearly 1160.000. With his ill-gotten gains.lie set up a factory at Arad. where, acting a:, a Government contractor, he i employed a thousand workmen and did exceedingly wel]. In the course of a Government inquiry if was found thai Mold had been cheating the authorities on an ambitious scale. Orders wore therefore sent to Arad that a judicial inquiry should be held. Deadly Cigarettes. The agent through whom Mold had disposed of his "requisitioned" goods made up his mind t> "turn King's evidence."' He was to have been the chief witness in the case, but the day before he was to appear at the inquiry he suddenly died—of some mysterious poison. The same night another of the principal fulnesses was found shot dead. A rail way official, who was to give evidence at the inquiry, was found dead in a brook, and medical examination proved that he had been poisoned. Thus within 24 hours all the chief witnesses against Mold had been disposed of. For a while it was not thought thai Mold had anything whatever to do with these mysterious crimes. He was living quietly at home, and the police believed a secret gang was at work against the persons concerned in the affair. A special judge was sent from Bucharest to the neighbouring town of Klausen burg to carry out an investigation. Mold visited him to make a declaration, and 24 hours later the judge was found dead in his lodgings. It was discovered that lie had died suddenly after smoking a cigarette which had been "doctored" with arsenic, belladonna and other mysterious erotic, poisons. Still Mold was not suspected. Quarrel With Brother. Then he quarrelled with his brother regarding the buying of a patent. The brother became so violent, threatening all sorts of exposures, that the family thought lie was insane, and he was put into an asylum. There he died after smoking a cigarette. Another brother who wish-id an inquest to be held, died of poison a .few days later. Another judge was.sent from Bucharest and some days after hi arrival he was found groaning in agony on the floor of his room. Near by was half of a lighted cigarette. A doctor was brought promptly and managed to save the judge's life. The cigarette was one which the judge had taken from his own cigarette case. It was found to have been treated with the same secret poison.

Two detectives working on the case had narrow escapes. One was poisoned after drinking some beer, but w?s saved by the efforts of bis colleague and a doctor. The [second detective, seeing that his confrere was saved, jokingly remarked he would like a cigarette and picked one out of a box on the table. In a few minutes he became unconscious and the doctor had a difficult task to pull him round. The cigarettes in the box were examined and it was proved that*a number contained a deadly poison. Gang of Criminals. Meanwhile the investigations abused the police to suspect Mold and they arretted him. Inquiries led to the discovery that the ex-priest-profiteer was really the head of a gang of criminals, a highly organised " Mafia,"' distributed all over the district. He had made, as has been mentioned, £60000 out of his original fraud. In Switzerland he had invested several millions of francs, the proceeds of othe-- profiteering ventures, and elsewhere he had large sums safely banked. A few days before his trial was to begin his counsel handed to the judge a letter from the Minister for Justice at Bucharest stating that the case had been cleared up and that Mold was to be released forthwith. There was no reason to doubt the genuineness of the document. and Moid was set at liberty.

Next day ii was discovered that the letter was a forgery. Mold had, however, shown ft clean pair of heels, and was nowhere to bo found.

One of the highest police officials in Rumania is now working on the case, and ■cores of detectives are endeavouring to catch the Borgian ex-priest. Half oi Mold's gang are now under lock and key about 30 persons—and it has been mad* clear that the man was responsible for at least nine deaths.