CLAIM TO MAKE GOLD

Evening Star, Issue 20133, 25 March 1929, Page 2

CLAIM TO MAKE GOLD

, ALLEGED £125,080 FRAUD ARRESTS AT A CASTLE. A mall- who claimed to manufacture “gold bricks,” once a classic swindle, has been arrested with his wife in their castle at Appinno near Bolzano, Italy, for alleged fraud in Germany involving £125,090. He passed as Baron Tansend, but was simply a tinsmith by profession, while his wife w-as a chambermaid. He obtained in chemistry at Zurich, and opened a small establishment at Eriberg, where he claimed, it is asserted, fo have dis-covered-the secret of making gold, and obtained money from numerous dupes. The man was so successful that he founded several branches in different parts of Germany, and collected a considerable fortune, with part of which he bought an old castle at Appiano. went about in a magnificent motor car, posed as a Croesus in Bolzano, and gave great fashionable receptions. The couple were long suspected of espionage, no clue being found to the origin of their fortune. Tausend went on frequent- visits to Germany to collect monev. and recently he is reported to have obtained a large sum from awealthy widow and her son, who actually sold their family estate at Munich to invest it in the alleged gold-making process, Tausend escaped with the funds, and withdrew to his castle at Appiano, but subsequently his refuge was discovered by the German police. A demand for In’s arrest and extradition was presented. The police broke info the castle, arrested the couple, and conveyed them to prison at Bolzano.