CRIMINAL'S RUSE FAILS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21159, 16 April 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

CRIMINAL'S RUSE FAILS.

MAN FOUND IN PRISON.

AMUSING PARIS INCIDENT.

An amusing incident of French prison life was described in a Paris Court recently when a " model convict," Paul Teulier, appeared in the dock. Teulier earned such an excellent reputation while serving a five years' sentence of imprisonment that ho was placed in charge of the prison accounts with a motor accessory firm.

Two days after Tculier's release a pros-perous-looking man called at the oilices of the firm. "lam a friend of tho Minister of the Interior," he told the director, 'tho Minister, he continued, wanted £3OOO worth of travelling bags for prizes in a national raffle, and if the firm paid him (Teulier) 10 per cent, commission at otico it could have the order. At that moment tho telephone bell rang and somebody announced that he was speaking from tho Ministry of the Interior. 110 asked for the man who was talking to tho director, and had a short conversation with him. The head of the firm was duly impressed and paid the canvasser —who was Teulier himself—the amount of the commission. When tho bags were delivered tho trick was discovered, and the police began to search for Teulier. Ho was found at length poring over his account books in prison, for he had already been sentenced on a different charge.