WOMEN SWINDLERS

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8289, 18 September 1903, Page 3

WOMEN SWINDLERS

(By Dr Louis Elkind.) Ever since the Humbert case- first came before the public, general and greap surprise has been expressed on all bands tbat anyone conid ior eo long a time impose on people of the highest intelligence with such tunazing assurance and success. Criminologists, however, have long recognised and studied the ingenuitv of women in carrying out gigantic frauds. A French expert in criminology recentlysaid tliai if in a criminal schemethe most minnte points had been taken into consideration and never lost sight of it was practically certain that the conception and perpetration of the crime was mainly, if not entirety, the work of a woman —an opinion which he supported by showing how a woman carries out a fraud, and giving a number oi illustrative cases.

Schopenhauer long ago declared this to be a fact, and few of bis opinions were regarded in his lifetime as so thorughly pessimistic as the following: "The art of deception is congenial in women, who make use of it aa animals make use of their claws." What is the Teason that women eicel men in this respect? It is probably to be found in the fact that in ail ages and all civilisations women have always been in an inferior position to men, and consequently have liad to exercise, in their own defence, their power of observation and insight into human nature as much as possible. Hence they are more quick-witted, more intuitive than, men, and are able to lie, to scheme, and to cheat more successfully. The Humbert case has added little or nothing to the knowledge of the criminal psychology of women, for there is practically nothing in the case which does not find" its parallel in some previous case on record.

Take, for instance, the case of Fraulein Adele Spitzeder, who, under the name of the "Dachauer Bank," as far back as 1871, opened a. big banking establishment in Munich. By means of great professions of religious fervor, extravagant generosity, a plausible tongue, and a magnetic personality, she eo impressed all classes of the community that everybody was eager to trust her with his or her cash, on which she offered interest of a considerable amount.

People withdrew their money from banka and savings banks, mortgaged their property, and, indeed, raised as much cash as tin;y conld and paid it into her bank. In a shore time she had 3),000 depositors, who had entrusted her with nearly on© million sterling. The. result- was that Government and banking securities were affected, and the luxurious manner in which Frl. Spitzeder, a former actress of no particular ability, lived and the money she squanuered arousing suspicion, inquiries were instituted, and tho Fraulein's "bank" was found to be a fraud, and its guiding spirit was sent to prison for three years. An even more remarkable case of female skill in fraud, and one whichcnminologists give as a good instance of a women's methods, is that of Miss Eugenie Schach, a young lady of" about twenty-five years of are, who imposed upon the head of the Government of Croatia, the Banns. Sho began by calling upon tie Banus and representing herself to be the daughter of a Croatian official who had died shortly before. She asked for pecuniary assistance, which was refused. A little while afterwards she appeared again, this time with a visiting-card of the Emperor of Brazil and a precious stone which she said the Emperor had sent to Count Kliuen Hedervary, the Banus, as a present. On the following day she received back the card and the stone-, the Banus' secretary writing to say that the Count feared sh-i had been the vic;im of some fraudulent action. Nevertheless, she did not desist from her purpose. Shortly before Christmas she sent the Count, a beautiful hand-made lamp mat, together with a letter containing the season's good wishes expressed in fulsome and sentimental terms. This also she received back, but the Banus, in returning it, wrote on the back of bis visiting-card a few words, to the effect that in returning her present he had no desire to hurt, her feelings. The Barms' handwriting was just what she had been trying to obtain from the first, and she at once set about learning to imitate it, with so much success that before long it was impossible to differentiate between the genuine and the forged.

Then she went! privately to the cashier of one of the largest banking establishments at Baocari with" a forged cheque for .a sum amounting to £BOO and a letter which had apparently been written by the Banus. The inference to be drawn from the contents of the letter was that some inr-imacy existed between the Banus and the young lady, and the cashier, suspecting nothing, very obligingly gave the young lady the amount required. Encouraged by this firs:- success, the young lady became bolder and had no difficulty in cashing at the same bank forged cheques for £I2OO and £3OOO respectively, the cashier, a sharp business man of long experience, being easily gulled. • But this was not all. She went to other banks at Biiocari where her fraud was i esuite successful, and in the course of two or three years not only got possession of a verv larsio sum of money, but was clever enough not to arouse the least suspicion, incredible as this may seem. Having become rich in this way she : turned her thoughts to marriage, and fell in love with a young professor of languages, who was the son of a director of a college of repute at Agram. To gain this young man for her husband as quickly as possible she wrote a letter in the handwriting which she had become mistress of, and took it, sealed and in all secrecy, to the father. In it the father read that it was the wish of the Banus that the young lady who was the bearer of the letter should be quietly married to the recipient's son, and as father and son were not only willing but ansious to comply with his Highness' request, the wedding "shortly afterwards took place. The young couple departed for Italy to spend their "honeymoon, but _ the bride's career of fraud was nearing its end. One of the bank cashiers died, the forgeries were discovered, and the adventuress was brought back from Italy and sent to prison for seven years. All thing 6 considered these frauds are among the cleverest in the history of crime. Paris has known many remarkable adventuresses, and among them must be numbered the one-time poor peasant girl and afterwards governess who, having commenced a career of intrigue and fraud at the age of fifteen, eventually assumed the name of Countess Thaleon, and by trickery and effrontery succeeded in becoming a, persona grata in the social circles of the French capital. Many millions of francs, fraudulently, obtained from the wealthy people whose acquaintance she made, passed through her hands, and among others whom she ruined was Colonel Thaleon, who was supposed to be her husband. "When, in 1879. the whole 'ton- of her career came to light, and she wa<=*prosrcntcd for her manifold swindles Colonel Thaleon went into the witness-box, and srave his opinion of his daughter in the following words: "She is the most accomplished and cunning 'actress living She cannot open her mouth without y rhat the features of the "Humbert case" are bv no means unprecedented is shown bv the details of the life of the so-called "Princess" Henrietta Latour dAuvergne. This woman, a nun who spent the greater p.irt of her life in a cloister from which sh* escaped in 1879, went to Paris quite unknown" and in great poverty, yet, though ter education was but, small and her manners were bv no means polished, she made people believe that she was a 'Trmcessr and the possessor of great wealth. bhe entertained all that was meet bnlhant hi social Paris, she prompted charitable tuv zaars. she lived in splendid style, she arranged wealthy marriages, and she gathered round her a number of notable ecclesiastics. V«t she was nothing- else than a clever -windier as was conclusively shown after a fraud concerning an arranged marriage had be*n brought to heht. . Finally: there was the case of the sham Countess Tabriany; the daughter of a wood-, duped the whole of the society anrf lived upon tfcf*.for ™ny year' until she was unmasked m 1896.