CLEVER CONFIDENCE TRICKS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10541, 24 August 1910, Page 1

CLEVER CONFIDENCE TRICKS.

The Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph records two recent instances of amazing and successful trickery by confidence men. A leading jeweller, he says, now mourns the loss of a pearl necklace worth something like £4400. One day a smartly-dressed man entered his shop and asked to have some jewels of his repaired. Whilst the work was being executed he chatted with the owner of the shop, and looked at a number of beautiful jewels. They were wonderful pieces of workmanship, he said, and tempting to customers. "By the way,"- he added, "I am a. dentist, and among my customers there is a very 1 rich Brazilian lady, who is iust now making many purchases. I shall ask i her the next time I sec her if she would like to buy a necklace." The jeweller was easily taken in, and at the pros- ■ pcct of securing a good customer he beamed with delight. On the following day the man returned and handed the jeweller his card, which bore the name of a well-known dentist. "I am , happy to tell you," said the bogus J dentist, "that the Brazilian lady called at my place yesterday, and I spoke to her about the necklace. I told her that it belonged to my wife, who wishes to dispose of it. If you will let one of your men accompany me we shall drive in my automobile to the lady's , house, and I am sure that she will buy ' it." The jeweller had not the slightestdoubt that he was treating with a wellknown dentist, and readily agreed. A , handsome automobile was at the door, and in a few minutes the obliging customer, accompanied by a shop assistant, drove away with the precious collar. They stopped before a magnificent apartment house, and, in getting down, ; the "dentist" told the shop assistant to wait in the automobile, as he could no* let the lady suspect that the necklace came from a shop. The shop assistant was taken in as well as his employer. There could be no risk in waiting in the luxurious automobile of so wealthy a dentist, with the liveried chauffeur in front. The employee did not even dare to ask a. question, and the pseudodentist disappeared into the house with the precious necklace. The wait was a long and anxious one. Finally the shop assistant got out to ask the concierge if a Brazilian lady dwelt in the house. The reply was in the negative. Had she seen the gentleman who had got out of the automobile? Yes; he fiad simply asked her what were the hours of ii 'certain notary public, and left by another door. The house had separate entrances opening into different streets. The shop assistant rushed lip to the chauffeur. . Where was his master? "That was not my master," said the chauffeur, who now became excited in his turn; "this is simply a hired automobile from a big garage. The man engaged me at the Place de l'Opera." The chauffeur saw that he also had been tricked, and at once put on full speed. He turned into the side street, where there was another entrance to the' house, and raced up land down various thoroughfares, but there was no sign of the man with the necklace. Needless to say, nothing was [ known of him at- the house of the dentist whose name he adopted, and it is not likely that he will remember to 'pay his fare to the chauffeur. The jeweller has given a detailed description of the ncklace to the police, and this for the present is his only comfort. The second case is thus described: — Two Greek gentlemen approached a French professor of literature, and informed him that they had a fortune of £360,000 to claim. Would lie _ help them and share the profits? He jumped at the idea, and all three set out for Egypt. During the journey, at Naples," one of the Greeks found that he was being tracked by men who meant to murder him, and had to be bought off. The professor, on being told, at once paid £4OO to the wouldbe assassins, and all three took ship again. At Messina : another adventure happened. Tlie same Greek was again threatened, this time by a lawyer, who pointed a revolver at him, demanding also £4OO. The professor advanced the money at once on his ultimate share of the £360,000. All seemed smooth now, and tlie three were just about to embark once more when the same Greek reported another mishap. His consul wanted him, and threatened to detain him if £IO4O were not paid at once. The professor, as usual, paid. Then he found that he had no money left, having brought only £2OOO in cash with him for travelling expenses, which had proved heavy, lie returned to Paris to get -more 'money, but when he arrived there ifc all at once dawned upon him that he had been swindled. He acted upon this amazingly happy thought, and the two Greeks, one of them by default, have just been sentenced in Paris to three and five years' imprisonment respectively, and to pay the candid professor back his £IB4O, which, however, it is to be feared, he will not see again.