GREAT CRIME SYNDICATE

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 19

GREAT CRIME SYNDICATE

- BOBBERIES FROM CHURCHES. PARIS, March 3. Antoine Thomas was sentenced to six years' penal servitude, and three others (Francois Thomas, Faure, and Dufay) to i two years, for church robberies. j Astonishment and consternation wcix created in Pari6 on October 8 by the arrefet at Clermont-Ferrand, a manufacturing town in the Department of Puy-de-Dome, of a yrealthy merchant Antoine Thomas and his mother and brother. The immediate charge against the two latter was that of stealing an historic- cope from a church at Blanzac. Thomas, the rich and respected man by clay, was by night a church thief, a practitioner of illegal operations, and. it was alleged, a murderer. An array of the mo6t deadly poisons, a bloodstained stiletto, unhallowed surgical instruments, and a mas 6 of correspondence implicating women in good social oiroles, were found at his house, and were placed in the hands of tho examining magistrate. . Numerous Paris art dealers, some of them millionaires, were said by Thoma6 to have had dealings with him as receivers of stolen goods. 'They had their agents in X<ondon and in America. It was a great conspiracy for the theft and sale of the priceless treasures of French churches. 'Those dealers whoso names were given, however, denied all knowledge of Thomas, who said that his profits in two years amounted to £80,000. Thomas declared that fears of the scandal among the highest circles in France would certainly cause the withdrawal of the medical charges against him. , One of the beat-known ladies in ClermontFerrand made an unsuccessful attempt at iuioide on learning of the search at -•Thomas's house, and several others suddenly left the town. ■ Thomas himself returned on October 6 to Clermont-Ferrand from London, where ie had just sold a stolen church relic for -■E2OOO, and the following morning gave himself up to the magistrate. To him he made ■full confeseion of his part in the theft of art works, but expressed the utmost horror on being told that fcis poisons and his medical correspondence had been seized. Thomas then told how & wealthy man came to him two and a-half years ago and proposed a plan for securing church treasures. Many of the priests believed that . the separation law would render them absolutely destitute. The Government had in- | ventoried all the valuables. The eoheme j was to offer the prieate a sum of money j to hand over the chief treasures and to substitute for them cheap replicas furnished by Thomas and his friend. It worked excellently, and scores of church treasures, Thomas says, will be found on examination got to be genuine. More than 30 priests surrendered historic objects in the first fortnight. . . Thomas received handsome commission ■from the wealthy men in Paris, who had other asente in ail parts of the country. ißut the most valuable objects could not he duplicated, and the Paris millionaires — "a regular gang" — proposed downright theft. Thomas agreed. " A few days later," Thomas says, " I «tole a magnificent statue from a church In the Puy-de-Dome. Two days after it «was in Paris in the hands of M. de L., vho sent it to England. I am" the author of many other similar thefts. " And now," said the magistrate, " will you attempt to explain tho presence in your house of the cabinet containing an ar*ay of the mo3t deadly poisons and the fcjood-stained stiletto? We know you received the po;sons from three well-known firms in Paris, for we have found the J*bels and invoices. You received them as Dr Thomas at an address in Clermontxerrand not that of your house." Thomas turned pale and nearly fainted. <'Whatr You know that?" he oried. 4'Yqu found the cabinet"? You opened it?" fie trembled violently, and his teeth chatJtered. Recovering, he refused to say another word. " A still more dramatic incident followed. Thomas was taken to a cell and searched. f A little case was found hidden next his fekin under his shirt. It was filled with rpbiale, hypodermic needles, and other surgical instruments. The phials contained curare, the deadly South American poison, cyanide of potassium, and various 4YUgS. The discovery raised the question of •whether, in addition, to the many mysteri(O\js thefta from churches — such as that of jthe finger of St." Louis in its crystal case £rom Foi6By in November, 1906, and of a valuable statue from a church at St. Wioholas-de-Port in December, 1905. — the Q?homas Crime Syndicate might not also be fesponsible for various thefts from drugged: •plotims in trains. The moet notable instance was 'that pf traveller in a train >J»twe©n Clermont-Ferrand and Bordeaux, 4Ay>, on pecember 14, 1906, had a narcotic Injected into bis face as he slept, and who ftras robbed of all his valuables. Thomas, who was about 35 years of age, ■was quiet and refined in manner, neat in dreee. and reserved and sober in speech. Hi? lather died more than three years ago,

and he announced soon alter that he had come into a fortune. His "factory" seemed to have been utilised mainly as a (place of storage for stolen goods. His accomplice (Faure) gave himself up at Clermont-Ferrand on October 8. The most famous of tho works of art which Antoine Thoma6 admitted having stolon was the jewel-studded reliquary which was taken from the Church of Ambazao j on September 12, and which is worth from ] £6000 to £10,000. This work was con- j veyed to London, and after six days' search the police there discovered that it had been | deposited there, and was in perfectly safe | -coping. ACCOMPLICE'S STORY. Faure bade a touching farewell to his wife outside the Clermont-Ferrand Police Station. His two little children clung to him. He kissed them passionately. As he turned to the police station a journalist accosted him. Faure then related to the i journalist the following story :—: — I "I am innocent. I swear it. And vet in the last few days I have learnt of the eonspiracv in which Thomas played a part. I was at school with Thomas, and two months ago he offered me employment. I accepted, and went to live with | him. There seemed to be nothing for me to do, and I complained of that. He said I should be busy in good time. "As I went to bed on September 11 he told me to get up at 5 o'clock next morning. We rose early, and took train from Clermont-Ferrand to Durtol, where a motor car, occupied by a well-dressed man and woman, awaited us." (Faure gave the police the number of the car.) "We drove to Ambazac. Thomae and the man left us there, but soon returned in high spirits, carrymg a bulky package. We drove to ' Paris and took train back to Clermont- j Ferrand, leaving the package at a big house ' in the capital. A fortnight later this ' package [containing, of course, the caaket] came back to us at Clermont-Ferrand. , Thomas and I took it to London, and stayed at an hotel in the French quarter. " Next day we took a cab and drove with the package to a big house in a busy street. We went up in ai lift and knocked t at a door. A man opened it. He expected ; us, and told us to put the package in a corner. Then I was sent downstairs, j Thomas joined me a few minutes later j Then we drove to several houses, into which Thomas went. < " In the evuning he received a telegram, and was greatly downcast. After dinner he suddenly told me the real nature of his operations. I was shocked and horrinea. He told me to fly, and said ho was going to give himself up. I swear I knew nothing of lis drugs and poisons. I decided to surrender and to establish my innocence." STOLEN IMAGE FOUND. ! M Vigier, examining magistrate at Cler-mont-Ferrand, visited the house of a leading antiquary implicated by Thomas, tie found there the golden image of a dove stolen on August 14 from the Church ot i Laguenne. The thieves on that occasion. i as at Ambazac, arrived in a motor car which bore the 1 same number as the Ambazac vehicle. . The Clermont-Ferrand antiquary, who said the image was only a replica, admitted having known Thomas for years, and ha\ing made for him numerous I replicas of historic church treasures. He etat'-d that Thomas stole several reli1 quaries a, vessel to hold the consecrated I wafer, and many other valuables from the Gueret Museum and the Lhurcn ot Saint Nectaire. . A leading Paris curio dealer, in a statement, asserted that the existence of a secret "gang" of wealthy, dealers for the sale in England and America of stolen art objects had been more than suspected for some time. Thomas, in a later statement, again asserted that the heads of the conspiracy wei -e wealthy men who had thrown him over. "But I will tell all. So much the worse for those whom my revelations will drag to ruin. I will tell, too, of other plots, such as that of burgling the Abbey of Conques, which contains £80,000 worth of valuables. I ha%e given the magistrate some of the rioh men's names already. They are powerful, it's true; but we ehall ' see if justice is not more powerful." THE BLACK GANG. The following (cays the Matin) is the i statement of the Clermont-Ferrand magis- • j "\t present it seems that the ' Black 1 ' Gang,' of which Antoine Thomas was a 1 comparatively unimportant agent, has at ; its head seven or eight great Paris dealers. \lready we know some of their names. : But for the moment we have to be extremely circumspect in order not to : render more difficult the huge labour of » justice we are about to undertake. *ou • may rest assured, however, that with tne ■ knowledge we already possess, and in spite > of any precaution* they may take, tne i ffuilty 'persons will be brought to book. I " There is going to be a great scandal ■ and some remarkable revelations. v\e i <lo not doubt that we shall eucceed in , ' unmasking this formidable organisation, > which has a secret governing committee > ' and innumerable subordinates. Add to these a whole army of receivers of stolen , eoods in towns abroad, and you will get i an idea of the importance of this thieves | is one. of the most important affairs

which French justice ha* undertaken for ma.ny yoai->. The proceedings will be long, ior neaih e\ery dopartment in France is concerned. But the results will be considerable, since we are going to loam the ramifications of one of the most powerful organisations in the history of modern crime."' "THE ADORED ONE." Meanwhile, while all France was ringing with the doin^o of the crime s>ndicate, a woman was weeping her heart out in Cler-mont-Ferrand m a houoe not far from the prisoner Thomas's cell. She_ was "la femrno adoree" to save whose name Thomas her lover — gave himself up. While she lamented in secret the wreck of the great, though Ruilty, passion of her life, she had to appear unmoved in uer husband's presence. Her letters to Thomas were in the magistrate's hands, and social ruin threatened hourly. She was traced by a journalist, and after the first shock of horror at finding her guilt already 'known, consented, on condition that her name should not be mentioned, to relate what she knew of Thomas. Like all the rest, she thought him an j honest, and wealthy merchant. She had known him for come lime when, after 6he • had quarrelled violently with her husband, lie declared his passion for her. Tender and devoted at first, he grew violent and threatening with the growth of his passion. » "How could I dream," said "la femme adoree," " that he was a ' thief and a robber? Had I known, I do not think that even my lovo could have survived it. Sometimes, it is true, he terrified me. I knew he was violent. He would come to me with threats upon his lipe- Once he drew a stiletto — yes, the same as that seized by the police,— and said to me, ' See this. If I ever doubt your love, I shall touch you with the point and you will die. I will die with you. The stiletto is poisoned, j Be careful neve>' to touch it.' j "He was proud of his poison-lore, and used to boast he had that in his phials to kill every soul in Clermont-Ferrand. I thought it was merely a hobby. He used to show me plants and flowers, and tell me of the deadly power in them. I knew nothing of his shameful medical practices, but sometimes he would say that isuch practices would be iustifiable, so the exposure of his activity in that direotion does not greatly surprise me." PRISONER'S NEW POISON. An elderly lady, Mile. Anne Perdreau, aunt of Antoine Thomas, lived in the latter's house, and also spoke of hi 6 passion for the study of poisons. Mile. Perdreau had never the least suspicion of her nephew's career of crime, and was prostrated by hie arrest. She often protested to Antoine, she said, against his habit of collecting deadly drugs. He would reply j that it was his hobby, and that he found j*- so fascinating that he" could not abandon Often he would shut himself up in hi 6 j study, and they could bear him move his flasks and teat tubes. A few months ago a neighbour mentioned that she feared she would have to have % a dog killed. Antoine Thomas offered eagerly to do it for her. The dog was takon : nto his study, whence shortly after there came a cry of triumph. The dog "lay dead, and Thoma3, who was greatly pleaded, explained that he had been experimenting with a new poison, and had been completely successful. Holding up a phial containing a yellow liquid, he cried, " One little drop of this was enough to kill." He had a library of books on poison, and was a student of the methods of the greai poisoners of the past. On this subject the magistrate above quoted said: "We ire asking ourselves row, . when every hour brings us tome fresh detail, if we are not getting on tho track of crimes of a different kind and an even graver nature than all those already spoken of."