THE SPIDER'S WEB.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1403, 19 January 1899, Page 9

THE SPIDER'S WEB.

REMARKABLE MJtCKMkhi &ME: I TWELVE THOUSAND MISGUIDED MATRONS.

(Special Correspondent "Auckland Star.")

London, November 25. | The blackmail case at present before I the public ha* laid disagreeably bare j fife-tain m&s fact*, tf of> e insignificant ftdvertiserrierit hltttihg at improper Remedies Coiild in a few weeks tempt j fid fewer than, twelve thousand women | itf Seek riieanS to. avoid the obligations of ihate'riiity what .appalling numbers there itiiisi fHrfwii We oti the look-out td shirk motherhood by any' nianner 8f mfefahs: Thaink goodness the culprits in this particular instance have I ifiow. been p laid by the heels. They were settlirig down quite quietly to a life of respectability on their ill-gotten gains when the police intervened. Two of them had started a grdfc'dr's" i?»hop in the country, whilst the third was in treaty for a Cornish poultry farm. All three (despite many aliases) are brothers, to wit, Richard, Edward, and Leonard Chrimos. They seem to have been steady, hardworking men, who laboured at their nefarious projects With Infinite detertnjttation and industry; beginning work at 9 a.iri. and bffeSri gOirlg ori till ,11 p.iri: . , , Tf18....Ma-8r?8 ,wejf jfiL w.hfeh , 12,000 matrons were enmeshed dpfihe'd with an advertisement. Richard Chriuies took a room at the top of the same building in Ludgate Circus as that in which the New Zealand Press Agency has its offices, and inserted in the papers a palpable inducement to a certain end, "The Lady Montrose Miraculouo Female Tabules," which were said to be " aeknowladged by ladies throughout the world to be worth a guinea p«r tabiile:'' The medicine Wttß pricied at is M p@r box, and it was Bftid "th& igstiifionials , Which were feveh; arid thofisajttds or were Bach Worn to" iindor bath before on of p3h Majesty' Commissioners of.. Oaths IB Bis trttg alitt. .gelHiiM. Persons wanting the medicine were requested to apply to it. A. N. Montrose, of 64, Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, afld there, was this caution, " Don't waste 1 money on, useless, famous, infallible; etc;; fluids, mixtures, etc. It is utterly imposibio for Lfiese weak water and medicine remedies to be as strong as powerful irresistible compressed -tabules." At the Police Court on Monday the Crown Counsel made some remarks 6fi inserting this class ol ftdvgrtisenieiits; which I fioMinend to thb . attrition of cblotiial prints which §hall ,b& fiamelfcSs. It was surprising. Said tho learned gentlemaH, that an; newspaper .which called itsc'f respectable' should descend to publish palpable inducements to crime such as these. The police desired him (Mi Muir) to say that journals so acting brought themselves within the law if ftltßr: one warning they continued to bViblwß t»at ,81aS3 of .advertisements, and they, fibula be ifldistfcd ast accessories before the fsefc, or for inciting td the eomniissibri of a seripus crime. W liop(§d that w.atftihg wou'd be mm b Uiz'6 byjOuriHhJ which ha? iip to th. 6 -IffciSt a's?r'. gjd the- j selves in their profesich in tha ! The" prisoners now proceded vf'J the second step in their programme Having, said the Crown Couifso', go persons to answer the Lady Montrose advertisement, thoy bscarns posesao' 1 of the names and addressess of soar ISjOOO pornons"-"women who ■« • r <? 1 rH t themßeltfes lawfully b* fc#l&,,iii M their vowl:. aoii. To these thfey issued ft pampiilet accompanied by a typewritten letter from 7, Pleydell street. The letter was sighed "The Manageress," arid gave glowing accounts of the marvellous tmadvGrti&ed remedy, "PanoMa," for female ailments. It Stated -that; while there were hundreds pf advertised remedies* all at last had to fall back on Panolia, the price of Jivhich in confidence was 225. a bottle. \ P l^Boll6 ™ were not always successful in this effort to obtain money; out to those who hesitated they addressed a further letter expressing disftppoiatment at no order havifig been received, and offering to send a sample bottle for os, from which they guaranteed quick and painless results. That ™1,5i 0W *«», Prisoners intertwined the swindles -undefl the names of "The SW Tabules" and "Pan--12000 r»b«l h? had men «oned, some iriSl&r .V. ctlmß got themselves enfc£snLfA l hlS B , piSer ' s wel >- They i ™iSS *^ ms ? ves in the Prisonerspower either by direet or indirect con, Sessions, of their desire to fet vid of ■?"* fenced the consuwiiiation of the infamous,

plot, In August, 1897, the prisoners c took at 73, Ludgate Hill, under v the name of Richard RaridolL 'ihe i rerit wa* £4O quarterly, payable in j advarice'; arid the place used an a ] central depot for Hiediciitesy p?ds y i boxes, arid correspofickf xce i either with Biiadbtfery Brts'J, < Montrose' or Panolia. They a. so tjdk j in December/ 1837,• a . room on the first floor at No. I, Bouv6rie street, which was used by all three* prisoners; and on the door of which the,word " Mona, J ' or '• Moria and Co." was painted. That place semed to navo been, used for nothing at all bxejpt, pci'hapV,' as a quiet place for the concoction of thd wa!j off infamous and horrible crime. By last the time was apparently ripe tbt *M | commission of tho crime. Leonard Chrimes, in the name of Charles J. I j Mitchell, took an office at Trafalgar Buildings, Northumberland Ave me, and on the 12th September Richard Leonard (jhrimes bought for £ > a Cyclostyle for" multiplying letters and docuinerits. Nest 4ay Richard 1 ehrfinhs- hired- a tpyowritfir, wh'fch was delivered at 73, " Ludgato Hill, oi th# offices', take*! in , tho name of Randdlh AboiVt the i samo time the prisoners (mgfTgtfd a i young man named Gibson as c.erlf. 1 Forty-two books containing tho names ' ! and addresses of 8000 women were I handed to a firm of addressing agents for envelopes to be prepared, and each • circular to be hfladed with the name arid address of the woman written to. It wasf a thifig that, as customary tS tfliS tt'itdQ; tho ffiaflogor addressfedf orie of the self to make sure triat it was Mtimmeiy j posted; but that particular orio never reached its, destination. | One of tKc ; iUktxiiohft letters 1 was adI ! dressed to a, Mrs Cliifnvfh wh6 had speculated in a box of Lad;y Mont- ' rose's Tabules, and it came into the hands of her husband, who very pro--1 perly at once took it to the City 1 Police, and that was the first discovery 1 of the cVfntt*.' The youth Gibson, who * had been engagfecl a* ft elork, was em- | ployed to call for the repliS* «*,Tra--1 falgar Buildings, and take them to * Brighton, where the prisoner, Leo- ' nard Chrimes was staying. The pri--5 soner, however, gave him no address, : but. always met him at the railway station".- Eventually tho police, who , had bcri wtttfellirig; stopped Gibson J on his Avay iti itlei Cttfim§§, but the 1 latter iSenmed to had persons s watchirig .ftjfp.' for h» martrtged e not to meet him that ftVmtfg:, After a it was known that the police w«f# on y tho watch the office at Trafalgar e Buildings was avoided and abandoned, n . but tha postal authorities subsequently " delivered there, in the printed onvce -opes addressed to Mitchell, 475 letters, 6 containing remittances to the amount a of £240, At the Imperial Buildings 0 833 letters addressed to Montrose were s found. 0 [As our readers will doubtless remem- % bef, we have been informed by cable * that trie prisoners wore each sentenced s to seveii years penal servitude.—Ed. * N.ZiM.f