ANOTHER CONFIDENCE TRICK.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 66, 11 December 1907, Page 3

ANOTHER CONFIDENCE TRICK.

! Various are the wiles of confidence men; but tho amazing thing is that so many people who give evidence of tho possession of ordinary, wits in everyday business matters aro gulled by these tricksters. The latest qxamplc of' this confiding innocence comes from Batlmrst, in this State. A welldressod stranger—ho is always well-dressed in these cases, and the stranger tho better, apparently—was hospitably, entertained by several leading men, to whom he appeared a porson of wealth and importance, anxious to buy one of the best houses in the place. Tho story by which ho got to pockets was tnat while on his way to Sydney to bring his • wife and family to settle in Batlmrst, lie intended to call at Lithgow, where ho had a horse competing at the races, whose chances- of winning were so excollent that he felt quite safe in advising his friends to seize the opportunity of making some monoy; Five or six of them thought so highly of the suggestion that they ontrustod him with a sum amounting in all to £30 or £40 to invest for them. Now, knowing all this, you may easily guess the rest. Of course, they have not heard from him since. Indeed, their chances of hoaring whether his horse won or lost at Lithgow aro considerably discounted by a rumour that their swell friend is one of Victoria's leading confidence men.