A CONFIDENCE TRICK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 150, 27 June 1931, Page 6

A CONFIDENCE TRICK

INCIDENT AT THE SHOW MAN LOSES OVER £2OO. A. THIN HOPES OF ‘'INVESTMENT.* 1 A sum of approximately £2OO • changed hands at the Wanga--1 nui Winter Show yesterday and 1 he who parted with it was left 1 with the unhappy thought that he had been the victim of a confidence trick. At 3 o’clock in the afternoon the only con- > solation left lay in the very 1 thin hope that he was a partowner in a dart throwing game 1 that was sufficiently- remunerative to return him £l2OO within a few days. The victim of this unhappy occu* renee was Mr Robert Ireland, of Gonville. He was interviewed at the show by two or three young men who, it u ■ believed, were operating in a gang, lhe full story of how matters progressed has not been told, but from Ml Ireland's statetments late in the afternoon it was gathered that he had been persuaded to draw three cheques mi different times and for largo amounir and hand them over to purchase an interest in a dart-throwing venture. The show secretary (Mr F. G. Seddon) tried to intervene at one stage, but Mr Ireland was confident that everything was clean and above board. He even went so far as to mention a man’s name, describing him as a friend from Palmerston North who was as ‘’honest as the sun.” Mr Seddonassistance, which was in the nature of offering to ring the bank and stop payment of the

first cheque paid over, was not required. The scheme for lifting £l2OO by acquiring an interest in a perfectly legal game was quite bright. As time wore on, however, the man to whom the cheques had been handed tailed to come within Mr Ireland's vision, and he was continually being treated as a guest by several voung men who appeared from devious poinrs ot the ground. He developed the thought that it was time some move was made to stop payment at the bank. Detectives J. Walsh and L. Revell were on Mie scene by this time and, late in the day, were acquainted with what ha<l taken place. They succeeded in separating Mr Ireland from his insistent companions and a word in that gentleman s ear set the ’phone ringing tc the bank, and the client whose cheque were at issue was packed off in a ta/T’ to see the manager. Alas, tho counter move had been made too late and the bank’s sorrowful advice was to the effect that the account had been deplenished by about £2,)(>. Mr Ireland came back to the showg ounds still retaining a flicker of hope that tho investment was a good one, nut his friends were of exceedingly dubious mind. He scarchei * e ' s^ow Aliev ’’ for a man with m felt hat, a peculiar collar and a face he would remember in „ thousand, but be was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile the police were acting an-l several of those who were believed in be ”:n the know’’ were questioned. Last night it was believed 'hat an arest would bo made.