THE ROPENICK AFFAIR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8793, 3 December 1906, Page 2

THE ROPENICK AFFAIR.

FOUR YEARS' IMPRISONMENT. / United Press Association— By Electric Telegraph — Copyright. (Received December 3, 8.11 a.m.) BERLIN, December 2. The author of the Kopenick robbery was sentenced to four years' imprisonment on changes of forgery, depriving parsons of their liberty, and illegally wearing a uniform. (A man wearing a captain's uniform and bearing a forged military order met a corporal and eleven guardsmen, marching to Berlin, and by moans of his forged document induced them to follow him to the To.wn Hall at Kopenick, eight miles away, where he arrested the Mayor, took four thouetand marks from the safe, and ordered the Mayor to be escorted to prison at Berlin. A portion of the guardsmen remained on guard at the Town. Hall while the perpetrator of the fraud disappeared. The robber, who was arrested not long after at Rixdorf, proved to be a cobbler and a native of Tilsit. His name is Voigt. He was identified by means of a photograph. He arrived at Rixdorf having in his possession £100, and glorified in his exploit. He freely admitted being the perpetrator of the robbery. Voigt was never a soldier, but a rather notorious criminal, having served sentences aggregating years for thefts and forgeriesT)