Crook Evades Police By Practising As Criminal Lawyer.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18935, 4 December 1929, Page 8

Crook Evades Police By Practising As Criminal Lawyer.

TO-DAY’S SIGNED ARTICLE

(Written for the “ Star ” by

It was on the third day of his last trial case before a criminal court in Vienna that the promising career of Joseph Liechtenstein as a defence lawyer came to a sudden and dramatic end. The case in itself was neither sensational nor particularly interesting. Nobody expected that it would bring about an extraordinary denouement and terminate in an unprecedented climax. It was one of those simple affairs which are heard in criminal courts by the hundred, and the trial dragged on for days merely because the counsel for the defence contested every point with surpassing skill, demanding the cross-examination of dozens of witnesses. The defendant was an elderly jeweller accused of receiving stolen goods, a man long suspected and finally traced by the polce. Liechtenstein subjected the witnesses for the prosecution to his cross-examination grill. The lawyer was about to recall one of the witnesses wben two men entered the court room, went up to the presiding Judge, whispered something in his ear, then placed themselves behind Liechtenstein while court attendants watched suspiciously these unusual proceedings. The next moment, the Judge rose from his chair and said: “ I am sorry to have to interrupt the trial, but it has come to my knowledge that the counsel for the defence is an impostor, has never been admitted to the bar and is being sought by the police. I therefore order his arrest.” Liechtenstein threw an amused glance at the two men who now stepped forward and handcuffed him, made an obsequious bow toward the Judge and with an ironic smile asked permission to say a few words. “ I am exceedingly sorry,” he said, “to leave my client at the most crueial turn of this trial. He certainly won’t be able to find another such counsellor in all Vienna. The only one who really knows criminal law is now being forced into temporary retirement.” Vienna Laughs. And with an ironical laugh Herr Liechtenstein, fugitive from justice during the six months past, left the court room. Then he told it all to the police and gave Vienna the biggest laugh it had had for many moons. Joseph Liechtenstein, who during more than six months acted as a special pleader before the criminal courts on behalf of thieves, fences and swindlers while the police were ransacking the town in futile search for him, is one of the most colourful figures of the underworld of the Austrian capital. Few crooks have given as much trouble to the Vienna police as this debonair and exceedingly adroit malefactor, who constantly outwitted the authorities, perpetrated swindles, had a hand in robberies innumerable and managed to get off with few and very light sentences. He came of a respectable family, received a good education, and undoubtedly would have made his way in the world had he not been drawn into the circle of gangsters and swindlers by his adventurous nature and the eager search for an easily won fortune. He first attracted the attention of the police during the war when he was involved in a profiteering job. He made the acquaintance of a small _ textile manufacturer who promised him commissions if he could get orders from the War Ministry. The Profiteering Job. Liechtenstein went directly to the War Department, where he introduced himself as Prince Liechtenstein and landed an order for a large number of military uniforms. Encouraged by this success, he worked up the business on a large scale, securing Government orders for various firms until he finally was arrested and sentenced to four months in prison for using an alias for fraudulent purposes and unlawfully assuming the title of Prince. In prison he made the acquaintance of two gamblers, and six months later he joined forces with them. He founded a club in Vienna, getting the furniture on credit, and employing a number of men and women -of the underworld as decoys who brought; wealthy customers to the gambling establishment, where' they were unmercifully fleeced. The establishment prospered until one of the customers filed complaint and the police took in the gamblers, including Liechenstein—who, however, defended himself so cleverly that he was acquitted for lack of evidence. His next venture was in selling fake stocks, and he lived on this for a while excellently. Again he was caught and arrested; again he succeeded in convincing the Court that he had acted in good faith and was acquitted. Shady Schemes. Now the police began to keep a constant eye on Liechenstein, and he was obliged to quit Vienna. But not for long. A year later he again appeared in the capital working on various shady schemes, and evading the police with his accustomed facility, only to be caught eventually and charged with

EMERY DERI.)

i having sold two hotels in Salzburg to a wealthy German. The trouble with this deal was that the hotels were not, and never had been owned by Liechenstein. He got a sentence of two year# this time, but was pardoned after eight months. Whereupon he decided to be more cautious. Only a year ago he was caught selling bogus stock and was sentenced to three years in prison, but managed to escape in the third month. Every effort to recapture him was futile. It was surmised that Liechenstein had fled to Germany, and the German authorities were notified to keep an eye out for a dangerous criminal. Liechensteii# however, had no thought of transferring his activities to Germany, or even of quitting Vienna. Of course, he found it prudent to live in comparative seclusion, but only for a few weeks. Even during this brief period he was receiving regular visits from his friends of the underworld. Meanwhile he shaved off his moustache,’ arranged his hair in a different way. Then he left his lair in search of an eligible occupation. He decided that the one place where nobody would think of looking for him was the Courtroom. Having some theoretical acquaintance with jurisprudence, with a considerable practical knowledge of criminal law, he decided to take up practice as a criminal lawyer. Of course, he had neither a diploma nor an attorney’s license. This, however, was no hindrance for Joseph Liechenstein. He simply forged the necessary documents, and one fine day appeared in Court as Joseph Frankenstein, counsel for the defence in a criminal case as aforesaid. Uneasy in Court. The first day of the trial—as Liechenstein told after his spectacular arrest—he felt uneasy in the Courtroom. Not on account of a possible discovery of his real identity, but because of his inexperience as a speaker. He was not very well acquainted with the rules of criminal procedure, and so ran some risk of betraying himself. But, fortunately, it was a simple case. His client, a known thief, would be content to get off with a light sentence. So the self-accredited lawyer took courage. He spent each day in Court, only half a block away from the prison out of which he had recently escaped, and the guards of which frequently brought prisoners to the Courthouse. When he had a specially difficult case Liechenstein would spend nights studying the legal points involved, so that he went to trial better prepared than the prosecutor himself. He rapidly acquired a working knowledge of the criminal procedure, and learned by ifieart a dozen or two of the most noted lawyers' favourite expressions, together with the slang of the Courtroom. During the six months that he practised law, not a soul suspected that his diploma was forged, and that the brilliant barrister Frankenstein was in fact none other than the elusive swindler Joseph Liechenstein. A Suspicious Judge. A few weeks before his last trial case, Joseph Liechenstein got one which particularly interested him, because the presiding Judge was to be the same who had sentenced him several years before. He made elaborate preparations to impress the learned Judge, and had many a hearty laugh as pictured himself pleading before the identical Magistrate who had sent him up. But evidently he overdid the business in his zeal, for the Judge suspected from the beginning that something was wrong with the defence lawyer. Though the latter made no obvious mis-steps, his general deportment was just a bit too noisy, his self-assurance too artificial. It seemed to the Judge that he had seen that face before. During the first recess he called up the secretary of the Bar Association and asked for information regarding Joseph Frankenstein. The answer came that there was no such member of the Bar Association. Whereupon the Judge notified the police, who assigned two detectives to the matter, with the result that Joseph Liechenstein was summarily arrested in the Courtroom. As a matter of fact, Liechenstein’s audacious venture was not all to the bad. According to his own admission, he made quite a little money as a practising lawyer. Moreover, his offence, technically considered, did not constitute a crime, but merely a misdemeanour according to Austrian law. And, finally, Vienna was so amused at his idea of evading the police by assuming the role of a defence lawyer before the Court which had previously known him as a culprit, that a number of people petitioned for his pardon. A man, they declared, who could make the whole town laugh at the expense of the authorities deserved freedom, even though the use he made of it was more than questionable.

(Anglo-American N.S. Copyright.)