WILES OF THE MODERN SWINDLER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8105, 27 March 1906, Page 3

WILES OF THE MODERN SWINDLER.

Compulsory education bae, it is said, done a great deal for the of crime of the more violent kind, bat, sad to relate, it has given a distinct impetus to the variety known as swindling; that ia, the .kind which requires a fair amount of intellect for its perpetration. ROUGH ON RATS. For example, the French Dolice recently put a stop to a" swindle which would never have occurred to the man who worked it—an ordinary brioklayer by trade—Lad he not had an education in which science was included. This is how he managed his fraud. He made the rounds of the fairs and other gatherings, sellingia rat powder which was perfectly harmless to human tieings, but whioh struck a rat dead on the spot as soon as be touched it. In order to convince buyers that the thing •was' quite genuine, he Urst powdered a slice of bread and batter with his "redenticide" and then ate a p'ece of it. The rest was put into a glass case in which was a rat freshly caught and the purchasers elect were invited to bring and in many oases did bring, their own rats. These rats ate the bread but as soon as they had done so they fell dead instantly. Here could be no fraud, and' ♦he clever swindler sold his fifty centime packets, of the stuff as quickly as he could hand them - out. But the police somehow became suspicious, and looked into : the I matter, and then they found that the wonderful "rodenticide" was nothing more powerful than powdered sugar. What they did find powerful, however, was . a strong electric battery, which was connected with the glass case. The.moment the rat touched the bread the current was turned on, and the rat received a shock which killed him instantaneously, •THE. SHIRT TRIOK. An amusing swindle was perpetra-ted-in Vienna a short time since. A well-dressed man entered a shop and made purchasers to the extent of several poundß. When tthey were done up in parcels he suddenly remarked": "Oh how stupid of .me! 1 have bought those shirts witboutfitrying the size. Lot me see you"—-addressing the girl serving him, the only person in the shop—''are about the size I should be; would yoainund-putting one on for me?" The girl laughingly complied and pnt the shirt on over her dress. "Now button it please" be said; "and the sleeves too if you don't mind. Tberp, thank you. good morusing" and politely lifting nis hat he left :he shop and disappeared with the parcels, the girl not daring to follow hitmin her curious "get-op." When a quarter of an hour later her employer-came in from lunch, ho found her vwith the shirt still on, weeping behind the counter. TWENTY SHILLINGS FOR ONE. A clever swindle on publicaus re cently came to light through a trial at the (Old .Bailey. A publican found tnac his cash was 19s 6d isnort almost every day. The only conclusion wns that one of hia three men had given change for a sovereign reaeived a shilling. As, however, it waa impossible to detect, the right one, and it was done week after week, he discharged his staff. .But with his new hands the same thing happened and tten after some months it suddenly stopped. Other publicans all over Loqdon were victimised the same way, but nothing .could sbe found Out until it transpired that all these robberieß of 19s i6d were the work of an organized society of thirty or forty peofle. Their method was to get employrrent in bars, when a ■''collector' would stroll in, order drink, and then put down a shilling, receiving change as if for a sovereign. When he got outside he put -down 16s to the oredit of the member; the rest went to the society's funds they keeping their members when they were out cf Work. Of ■course, so loog as the members of the society "kept straight" to «aoh other the swindle was impossible to detect; for even if the auaptcted employees were searched on the spot nothing was found on them, -because the collector had it. Indeed, one barmaid was given in charge, and recovered £2O from the prosecutor for false imprisonment. •"WAITER, TAKE FOR TWO." Hotel-keepers and restauranteurs axe frequently victimised by.the up-to-date Autolycus. The following atory anent this is a true one. A' young man entered a fashionable restaurant in the West-end and had a sumptuous dinner, with best champagne and oigars. When he had finished he called the proprietor, and said, "You have given me an excellent dinner. Your wine is splendid, and au are your cigars. But there is one thing more I would like you to do." "What is that?" asked the proprietor. "Kick me out?; for 1 haven't a farthing in the world!" was the surprising reply. A year afterwards, however, the same young man entered the restaurant and explained that he had oame into a fortune, and was going to do things properly, and the delighted host served him with the beat of everything. When that young man bad finished, howeer, mine host was recalled, and the young man said, "You have given me an excellent dinner. Your wine is as good as ever, so are your cigars. But there is one thing more I would like you to do." "What is that?" asked the host, apprehensively. "Kick me out again," ssveetly answered the young man; "for 1 haven't a farthing in the world."