A CLEVER SWINDLES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2059, 10 August 1893, Page 13

A CLEVER SWINDLES.

SENTENCED TO SIX MONTHS' IMPRISONMENT.

The police hayje reason to believe that the man William Richardson, alias Arthur Richards, who was sentenced at the Police Court on Monday to six months' imprisonment for uttering a false cheque, is not altogether unknown in Australia. In Sydney he not only managed to perpetrate an extensive fraud on the public, but laid his plans so cleverly that he completely 11 bamboozled " several leading public men. A short time ago he fell in with a retired army captain who was possessed of £200 and who was anxious to go into business. Richardson suggested that he should form a combination of a friendly society and insurance company. The captain fell in with the proposal and the scheme was floated, it being arranged that Richardson should be inspector, and the former manager. Richardson induced Sir Henry Parkes and several other well-known politicians in Sydney to become directors of the concern. The army captain then went away to Bathurst to open a branch there, and during his absence Richardson so pulled the wires that he got the directors to reverse the relative positions of himself and the captain, and to appoint himself manager and the military gentleman inspector. The business went on swimmingly for a time, as the company offered advantages which they could not possibly carry out on the premiums demanded. Above 90 of the employes of an omnibus company joined the society, each member contributing Is a week. The very first claim made, viz., a sum of £2 for sick allowance, was put off. Richardson made excuses why it could not be made, and eventually gave a cheque for the amount, which was dishonoured . The Sj dney Morning Herald shortly after exposed the whole scheme, and in reply to a question put in the Legislative Assembly, Sir Henry Parkes stated tbat he and his fellow directors had been completely " taken in" over the matter. Meanwhile Richardson left ,Sydney and proceeded to Melbourne, the directors in Sydney having to refund the amount paid into the society. Whilst in Melbourne, Richardson endeavoured to start* another combination, but did not succeed, owing to the intervention of the press. He came to Dunedin about a fortnight ago, and almost immediately set about nttering false cheques. On Monday morning, about 7 o'clook, he was arrested in bed at a hotel in Port Chalmers, where he had evidently gone with the intention of leaving by one of the first Bteamers. ______________