THE "CONFIDENCE TRICK."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19195, 8 December 1925, Page 12

THE "CONFIDENCE TRICK."

THIEF CAUGHT IN LONDON. QUARTER OF A .MILE CHASE. [FROM Ot'R OWN' CORRESPONDENT.] LONDON. Nov. 6. A great deal of care. is taken by the High Commissioner's staff to ward off " confidence " men from New Zealand House, but occasionally they evade the vigilance of the staff. This seems to have occurred in the case of a man named Edward Robinson, who has just been sentenced to six months' imprisonment for stealing £lO by means of a trick from Mr. William Penny, a farmer staying temporarily in London. Neither the thief nor the victim had anything to do with New Zealand, but Mr. Fenny happened to be making inquiries regarding settlement in the Dominion. Robinson made the acquaintance of Mr. Penny at the High Commissioner's office on October 26, and learned that the latter contemplated migration to New Zealand. Robinson then stated that he was a New Zealander and owned farm property amounting to about 30,000 acres, and he offered to give advice and introductions. The two men went together to Australia House, where Robinson said he wanted to get change from the bank upstairs, and he asked Penny to wait for him in the hall. Robinson returned later but said the bank was closed. He. then asked Penny to change a £lO note. Penny took out two £5 notes, which Robinson snatched from his hand and then ran away. Two days later Penny saw Robinson in Southampton Row and gave chase. He followed the thief for a quarter of a mile and eventually caught him. Robinson was brought up at a Police Court where he was described as a tailor, 40 years of age. In crossexamining the prosecutor, Mr. Edgar Smith, defending solicitor, suggested that he handled the accused'man very severely, battering hiiii about the face, which was streaming with blood. Mr. Penny replied that Robinson showed violence, and struck him on the nose and chin.