TOLD BY THE POLICE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 308, 22 September 1908, Page 8

TOLD BY THE POLICE.

CRIME AMD CRIMINALS. RECOLLECTIONS GRAVE AND CAY. PECULIAR CASES IN NEW ZEALAND. . V. The following police stories of crime and criminals lieard from time to time are reproduced as nearly as possiblo as they wore told. , A Swindler's Bid for Fortune. . The man was handsome and well read, but tho Fates had been unkind, and ho had to cast about him for means of building up his broken fortune. . His choico fell upon_ a wealthy Scotch farmer, whoso only relative was an 'attractive .daughter of marriageable age. 'The adventurer was engaged as ploughman on the farm, and a friendship with tho daughter of the house ripened into something moro serious. The time-worn preliminaries wero succeeded, by> declaration of tho state of affairs to the farmer, but tho man of the soil had sundry questions to ask concerning tho amount of cash, etc., his daughter's chosen was possessed of. Tho young man was frank,and,admitted that his assets were nil, outside of a heart full of love, but he was expecting a .legacy. "You go away and make your mark (and some money), audi I'll consider the matter," said the old 'man as ho dismissed the applicant for tho daughter's hancl (and fortune).

The young, man wended his way to a city in the far .south, with a scheme already formed to help his negotiations along. Ho called at a printer's ostabishnient, and. ordered some notepaper, which was to bo headed , "First Free Church of Scotand, In-verness-shire," and on taking dolivery of tho paper sat down and forged a letter to himself. The letter, which was dated some weeks back, and was addressed' to the forger, ran as follows: — "Dear Sir, —I am very sorry to have to inform you that your dear aunt died hero yesterday, i am pleased to tell, you, however, that by her will she : has, left you the whole of her valuable property, consisting of a number of houses and sections in this city, and some £8000 in cash. Undor this will, I have been appointed, together with yourself, an executor. 1 As you aro at a considerable distance, would you be good enough to call upon some respectable" solicitor in your town, and place the matter in his hands.- Ho will prepare power of attorney, which you can have forwarded to me by first mail. By return mail you'will receive a portion of your legacy. I am pleased to have to tell you that your dear aunt passed away peacefully, believing ill Him Who giveth rest, unto the .weary, and she is now much hivppior. in a better land. Hoping you are well and doing well. —I remain, etc."

The. letter purported to bo signed by tho Rev. Dr. Burns, D.D.j of Inverness-shire. Armed with this letter the forger set out for the office of a well-known solicitor, and had the necessary deed drawn up, and forwarded to Dr. Burns. , A request for an advance to tide him over tho space before tho first instalment of the legacy could'come to hand resulted in the solicitor advancing a modest £100, which money the adventurer placed in a bank," and straightway commenced to draw cheques.':,' He] returned to his late employer's farm, produced -the lotter and tho chequebook, and without further difficulty obtained tho consent of tho old man to tho marriage. Everything was progressing swimmingly with the-swindler, who spent money lavishly, and won the goodwill of the old man in addition to strengthening the already well-established lovo of the daughter. Funds ran out at length, but a' visit to another solicitor,. a native of Irivorness-sliire by tlic way, resulted in the raising of another £50. This in turn was frittered away, and tho venturesome young man overdrew his account at the bank. The tide of fortune began to ebb, and within a few days tho adventurer found himself in the hands of tho police. As soon as it was know' that ho was under arrest, solicitor No. 1. found fault. with the polico for arresting, his client, and, assuring them that tho ' wholo matter was a mistake, made every ondeavour to have the ■ prisoner liberated. This kind of thing went on for some weeks, the man being brought boforo the Court arid remanded time after time. At length an English mail arrived, and with it a letter addressed to solicitor No. 1 from Dr. Burns. Tho reverend doctor intimated that he had not the slightest knowledge of the individual mentioned in tho powor of attorney or of his dear deceased aunt, and suggested as politely, as possiblo that tho whole affair was a hoax. Tho contemplated marriage had not been celebrated up .to'this time,: and when the truo facts of the case were known the forger was haled before the Court again, and pleaded guilty to several charges of false pretences, which ended in his removal to gaol. The charges of obtaining £150 from the two solicitors wore never taken into Court.

Romanco of a Whisky Still. Illicit whisky was being sold in considerable quantities about a certain West Coast town, and the Customs authorities enlisted tho services of a couple of policemen to act upou information received and take part in a contemplated seizure. All went well with tho plans laid, by .the authorities, and, the Collector of Customs and a couple of policemon burst into the building in which tho still was situated, to find an old man sitting smoking. .. A completo plant, with several barrels of the fiery fluid, was found within the building, but the old, man pleaded ignorance of the presence of the plant. In duo course ho .was taken before the Court, and convicted and fined £100, or, in the alternative, ordered to undergo six months' imprisonment. Not haviiig £100 handy, the man elected to go to gaol. One of the policemen who had gone up with the Collector of Customs had been in a similar raid a few months previous, as a result of which raid a man had been sent to gaol for oight months. Tho person who had conducted the party to the placo where the still was situated on tho first occasion had been masked, and on the second raid tho pilot, or informant, was well muffled up. Tho walk .and conduct -of tho informant generally roused the suspicions of the policeman, and he informed a superior officer. The old man who had been fined was brought before tho inspector, to whom he made a state-, ment that he knew nothing about the house he was in prior to meeting two men on tho road at ——. These men said they would give him a. lift, and subsequently offered him work,-which he was _ going to tako when ho had completed a job lie was on. Ono evening 'the partners asked him to stay in tho house and keep the fire going whilst they went out to do some business. It was during this absence that tho mufflcd-up stranger had led, tho Customs and police officials to tho site of the. still. The old man, being charged with boing unlawfully on the premises, had no hope of escape., Circumstances pointed to the fact that his story was a true one, and after due inquiry one of the two mon who had employed him was arrested, and it was proved that ho was the person who had led the officers to tho still. After ho had been convicted ho made a confession of the wholo transaction. This showed that the two men had bcion at the whisky-still business for some time, and had drawn two rewards of £25 eacli for supplying information which led to tho discovery of two of their own worked-out stills. In tho first case the "lamb," or, to bo more precise, tho man who had been found in possession of tho premises at tho timo of tho raid, had been sent to goal. \Vlion ho came out after serving his sentence ho would not beliovo that his comradcs had "gone back" on him. His story was that it had been arranged that if any ono of tho trio went to gaol ho was to bo loyal to his comrades, who would si,ill continue the still and put ■away one third of tho profits for the absent ono. Tho old man arrested in connection with the second still was liberated when the true facts of tho case worn brought out, and tho pair who took his placo, besides being convicted for their connection with tho still, were sentenced five years' imprisonment and two years' imprisonment respectively for conspiracy,