MONSIEUR EUGENE LAUGIER.

NZ Truth, Issue 129, 7 December 1907, Page 5

MONSIEUR EUGENE LAUGIER.

A FRAUDULENT; PACING, FORNICATING FJROG-EATER-Some Sensational Statements m the Christchurch Supreme Court IS HE A SWINDLER AND A BLACKMAILER? Trouble m Store for Somebody.

Eugene Laugier is a French product transplanted to Maoriland soil. At present he is. browsing at Christohurch ; , at one time he was located at Wellington. He is a business man from the tips of his toes to the tips of Ms fingers, but he is too damned' clever altogether, and > he had to confess to a Supreme . Court Judge, at Christchurch, last week that he is a diddler, and that' his moral sense is considerably blunted. , Like most of his race Laugier is of an amorous disposition, and has a pronounced preference for the. maiden who is plump and young.* .And his methods with them when he gets them to enter, his employ, ..are ,not^ those -> of. a Sunday-school ,, superintendent, ' unless the Sunday-school, superintendent . was one ,o\ .. the, .im- (- moral, class of person of thjit;,. particular type that one -reads of "now and again. But "Truth" wUI .leave that alone for the present, to remark that Laugier is well-known m business circles m Christbhurch, and that his petticoat antics, have been canvassed freely and frequently. The' old sinner! for Langier ,:, is fifty if he is an afternoon. :..■- ? . At -.the Supreme Court the coot sued for £675 from Eugene Michaut, Df the big Sydney firm of merchants —Gerber, Miohaut and Co.— under most amazing circumstances.; ,It was a remarkable case all through .and occupied the Court a couple ,. of days. The letters read were most startling m their nature, but they were all written by Laugier, who, cpnducted his own case, Michaut ; being i represented by Mr Weston. Laugier's case was sinioly this : That having secured £1,500 by fraud for Michaut (defrauding the insurance companies) that he was entitled to a whack put of • it, and he made that whack' £.975— NOT A BAD LITTLE CHEQtJE ;t v . It came out that Langier, who isknown m the city as Mephistopheles on account of his alleged resembr lance to that mythical genjfcleiiran, arrived m Christchurch a few years ago and started trade as importer of fancy goods on the first floor of premises then occupied by the New Zealand Express Company in^.Here-ford-street, pompously styling ,- : lileq.— -. self "Eugene Laugier and Co., .yarehousemen." It is averred that, this, new arrival m the business centre of. the city had but little capitajj ...but as he possessed special business' Cap- ' ; acitiesin the shape of ineffable'Cheela and a not over-scrupulous conscience, he wasn't so seriously handicapped as many men are under similar circumstances. He had a >bit of luck at the outset because his returns 'were good. Backed up by the Australian firm, and using stock he had been entrusted with by them as his own, he managed to get" advances up to £2,400, first from the banks, then the finance and mortgage companies, and finally from money lenders. It is alleged that m almost every case the wily son-of-a-gun managed to put m the goods he put m for security at double their real value. Which was. pretty clever of him, if true. However, it appears that they found out: to their sorrow that it was,,., a fact, and that it was too late. Tjhey weren't cute enough for the ffogeatiiig cove with the quaint moustache. When the time came for pay-, menfr-and that always arrives m this beastly world— funds were tolerably scarce, as funds are always apt" to be, and all Laugier thought of doing was to appeal to his Sydney backers to extricate him from his financial difficulties. Well,, one of them, Mr C. Michaut, came across- to Maoriland, compelled Lan^ gier to assign his estate, and retained the fellow's services so as to be. posted up regarding v the value of the stock and the ' na'b^e-'of ' the goods, of which he knew w^tle or nothing himself. That was m March of this year. On the sth September the -stock was accidently destroyed by fire. Whether the insurance adjuster thought it was an accident or not is quite another matter, but at all events there have been vague rumors floating round the atmosphere . that there has been mention of an addition being made to the insurance co.s "black list" throughtout the Dominion. We print this allegation For what it is worth, and, of course,' it may not be worth anything." This restriction did not apply to the real owners of the goods. But Langier had no interest m the insurance policies at all ; he came m at the end, however. Appraisers were appointed on both sides to estimate the damage done by the fire, and Laugier was requested to act on behalf of the insured. The appraisment lasted for a fortnight or so, -and the gentlemen who did the work for the insurance companies side are pre-> pared to swear that all Langier. spent on his part of the work was a couple of hours. Yet he claimed £675 for it. The audacity of the frogeater.! It is known, though, that he spent some time looking for an article of very small value in-: trinsically, which he is alleged to have mislaid — % A LADY'S ENEMA, NO LESS !• As Laugier is an old bachelor^ possibly he may reqire such an-, article, but the old sinner didn't want it to be found oh his scorehed-up premises. However, if it js any news to Langier "Truth" hereby informs him that the' enema was found arid that it . is now an interesting exhibit m a sertoi" prominent establishment m Chrisi church. But the idea of charging £675 for a few bobs worth of work (exclusive of the time taken. to lopfr for missing articles of a lady's outfit) knocked the Court stifx, more particularly when Lanfier's let-, ters to M>hn-it were read, , They involved z,m<;s swin 'Miner, framl of all Inn'???.- Apprr In-! arc a few"., extracts of whst '.Turtle Chapman termed "re-,

markable letters." They were written m French ; here are the translations. . ■ . The first missive was to Mr Chas. Gerber, of Sydney, Michaut's partner :— > i ' "I have to inform you. m case you should not be aware of it, that from the day Mr Michaut received the amount of £2,500 from' the insurance companies, he start- . Ed to behave and continues to behave m a shameful way towards me. . , As I knew the fraudulent ways he had used when insuring on be- , half of your firm so as to receive !■* values exceeding . those of the 'goods Mirin ; stock. ■ m. the case. of fire (1) he requested me on the day after the :fire to take, your interests m hand, and for .three weeks I did so to '. the best of my ability. (2) He promised me a commission of 25 .per cent, on the amounts paid by the insurance companies. As .soon as he received the cheque 1 from the two companies he turned • his back to me and showed a lios- " tile attitude. (3)' He not only neglected to pay me the £675' which ■ he owes me, but he secretly robbed me of £350 worth of goods. ;;• (4) Also of a bond warrant for - rthrefr' cases goods received by me from Rigolet m Dunedin., (5) He also tried .to appropriate my stock m Wellington, but m that case he fajlp'' . . . I have issued a writ against' him hef 6re the Supreme Court, as having acted on account of Gerber, Michaut and Co. for £675. Since that, he has issued a writ against me for sundry amounts .advanced by him* and amounting as he : states to £145, out .of which I . only really owe . £91 1.3/9, which ho. lent me to pay Rigolet's draft on the 7th'. September, and which he paid on account of the £675 I was "to receive. • For the last fortnight , he has jbeen ' aetingi m the dark,- his highway . robber' tricks, and notwithstanding '"'l, tried very hard to have an in--1 terview with him, he refuses to see me and bring about an amicable settlement. . .-. ; I should never have^ thought that -' Mr Michaut could have been so wicked. - T am v quite willing to believe -that you have nothing to do with •'his actions- and he. has done every- ; thing -of his own accord, but I 'wish to let you know that I shall be compelled' for my own sake to expose the reasons why Mr Michaut promised ' me that 25 per cent commission, _,as well as other benefits, when the case comes before the Court on November the 11th, and it will be so much the worse for you if you do not compel him to come to an understanding wilh me. I never thought I should ever • have to make use against you of the fact of your firm having for,- 1 ? years defrauded the Customs, but on account .of this infamous behavior towards me I think everything will be right so that I may A ~ defend myself: and I warn you that I shall make use of it if neccessary. - . , Last' March Mr Michaut took part of. the original invoices from me and .he believes himself safe on, this account, but he is not. I have the copy of all those invoices and many others on copying paper which Rigolet usually sends on the following month, and I have also m. my possession' a quantity of faked up invoices, some of them m Jeannin's handwriting. I never had airy idea of making use of the above invoices when I kept them, but to-day I congratulate myself upon having done so. : l>o you -believe- that I feel inclined to allow myself to get financially ruined by Mr Michaut or by yourself. Certainly not. I shall use, to defend myself, all the weapons I have m my possession , against you both. Note, also, that if I am brought about to tell the truth m Court, for my own defence, about the fraudulent means ' used by your partner to insure on your firm's behalf the insurance companies which are pricking up their ears and epecting my revelations m pub* : lie will compel you to refund the siims you have received from them. Now. I have warned you, and as I know you are m fact the only master m the firm' of Gerber, Michaut and Co. I shall hold you responsible for all that may happen if, on receipt of these lines, ypu do not cable Mr- Michaut in- -.'. structions to come to an amicable , settlement with me. (Signed) EUGENE LAUG-IER. ; : Now, here's a few excerpts from a letter from • Laugier to Michaut, and it is pretty strong, too :— After rendering you the greatest services, instead of feeling obliged to me, -keeping the promises made 'by you to me you have not only refused t ' keep the aforesaid promises, skfing it was financially impossible to keep them, but you have also conceived the noble design of robbing me of all my belongings, and to reach that aim you make use towards me of highway robbers tricks. Never, no, never. Mr Miohaut could I have imagined you would be capable of the atrocious pro- - ceedings which you have shown towards me within v the last few weeks and all for a little money to rob me. You have, first of all, sstolen about £350 worth of goods which were my own and were stocked m the High-street shop, I where' you went secretly to take • the goods away. ' Then yoii went to Hbrvstnll and h ( 1 0. ntrl fraudulent'^- hr>M of i the bond warrant for three cases

of goods bonded m Dunedin, 'when you knew you had no right to those goods, which are my property. You have afterwards dared to go to Wellington and try to get hold of the goods I won ip that town, and of which none are your own a After such good work lor some weeks I wonder what your brain will next conceive to' crown this beautiful undertaking. For the last few weeks you refuse to see me and run away from me. You think that through operating m the dark against me as you are doing you will have some chance of knocking me down. That is your error. You have been sinking for some time m the §wamp of Falsehood; take care, that by dint of wading into it you will sink down to a point where it will foe impossible to get out again. As for myself, sheltered from true danger, sitting on terra firma, I, unmoved, watch you sinking down to your neck, and I say that unless you listen to the voice of reason which bids you come out at once from the wrong way which you are taking, you will sink into an abyss. I could accuse you and prove, besides the thefts and attempts to steal which I mentioned m the first pages of this letter, that you and ■ your partner defrauded the Customs for over seven years; that you have, moreover, without my . knowledge, . while I was m New Zealand, caused false invoices to be ma-dc- out m my name, and have made use of them to defraud the Customs. That you have written up a false stock book m which you entered up sums and quantities superior to the real ones, and have -.acted thus systematically with a- view to defrauding the Customs and cause the insurance companies to pay you for goods which you have never had m. stock m the case of fire. All that I shall prove if you compel me to do so, and you know very well that nothing will be easier. If the love of money has not completely obliterated your reason and all notion of justice m you, I hope you will consent to aninterview and do me justice. • ■ ; (Signed) EUGENE LAUGIER. Another courteous missive:— If you will not give me satisfaction. Mr Michaut t I shall produce undeniable proofs that you have contracted all those insurances; fraudulently so as to receive .aBQOunts over and above the . real value of the goods, m the case of a fire happening. . , You have not received those, aniounts but you have acted m a fraudulent way to that aim and deceived the inspectors of the two companies, the insurance broker, Mr Stringer, and signed documents that you knew. to be wrong. If their combined efforts could not detect fraud it will be, with my help, a matter of 10 minutes. I • have, fortunately, kept a small piece of paper countersigned by Mr Jamieson, which eloquently speaks for itself. It is written m your own handwriting. It is the scrap of paper containing the so-called £10,329 of goods which were supposed to have been m stock at a certain time. Where have those goods been bought, Mr Miohaut, and where have they come from ? That paper has been shown by you to the companies' inspectors, and Mr Stringer as representing the cost of the goods m stock. I .have carefull^ put it by. Please for five minutes reflect how you are treating me, and wonder what you would think if the parts were reversed. Conscientiously you cannot blame me. . I venture to hope that your reflection and your conscience will dictate to you your duty, , otherwise I care not what will happen. You cannot say of me. what^ I can say of you that I am acting m the dark. I warn you. (Signed) EUGENE LAUGIER. Any number of threats happened m other letters ; Laugier threatened to go bankrupt and various other things. He appealed for further help ; if -he didn't get it he would sacrifice everything so as they should lose everything they had sent him m the shape of goods m bond. That was before the fire, of course. He wanted a personal guarantee for his Christohurch debts, and he promised that Michaut wouldn't lose a penny, but all that belonged to Gerber.* Michaut and Co. would be engulphed —that was so say "money of that dirty German Genber, or his father. N Well, when Michaut did come over, the fire happened, and THINGS WERE ONLY MIDDLING. At the Supreme Court Laugier, who was rather voluble, gave a lecture on the price, of fandy goods and sundries, and alluded to the utter ignorance of the experts appointed by the insurance companies interested on sucl} matters. He boldly admitted before a shocked Court that he had taken m the appraisers who always thought themselves so smart ha ha !' He told them that the goods destroyed were , worth fully £2,500, whilst m fact they > were only .worth £1,000. Through his hard work, his knowledge of human nature m general, and insurance appraisers m particular, his side had pocketed from the insurance companies £1500 more than they were entitled to. He considered, therefore, that he had well earned his share of the boodle, leaving his employees £825 to ttu£ good. In asking for a nonsuit on legal grounds Barrister Weston said that the* story of the defence was quite different to thatv of plaintiff. If Laugier's story was to be believed there was" a common swindle to defraud the insurance companies, and he himself was an active participator m that swindle. He had said that Ire had made a large profit for his- employers, and was apparently proud of it. Judge Chapman cave the thief fits when withdrawing the case from the jury and nonsuited him, with costs. ' What kind of business man must this coot Laugier be ; what is his standnrd of morality, anyhow ? Has he any morals of any kind, this French Mepbistonhelian charactei ? Is there any truth m the aiieention that when he employed little pirls m his show there were complaints fthout his coTulvrt towp.n's \hrm ? This pa nor would like to knovr, r<m? mHH wi'lin^lv rr'Mt r>. ripnini. TV.-! the detective office investigate the

[ complaints ? And did they contemplate ' Taking- action for indecent ASSAULT had not certain parents been anxious to hush' the matter up ? There is j another matter' that this paper I would like to receive a denial about : Did Laugier ever write a letter of seven or eight pages, or thereabouts to a young girl of fifteen, and did she not promptly hand it over to her mother ?,v Further, wasn't the father inform^ of the matter, and did he not wait for Laugier one night and gave" him a hell of a thrashing.. And lastly, didn't Romeo do a good tw.o hundred yard sprint, leaving his hat and stick on the spot where he met his Waterloo ? But there is another item that Laugier might Stigmatise as a base falsehood. It is alleged that shortly after his arrival m Maoriland he waff received as a friend and guest m the .house of .some prominent people. As. his manners didn't please the head of the family he was told as politely as' possible that his presence wasn't appreciated, and that his room was preferred to his company. And out of pure spite and petty revenge the" cad had the damn-, ed audacity to spread a false rumor that the lady was his mistress. A despicable 1 act, this ; but, of course, this charge may be false. If it is "Truth" will - be only too pleased to grant space to Laugier for any violent contra-dipt, on- that he may chose to indite; , Meanwhile, it is alleged that Laugier may find .himself up against a rather strong- proposition shortly, and the 'Tecs are interesting 1 theme selves m the matter. Also an application is to be made to make him bankrupt. . •