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Globe, Volume II, Issue 149, 25 November 1874, Page 4

A case of sharp practice occurred on Monday in a rising township near Gisborne (Poverty Bay) which affords a striking proof of the danger of allowing strangers to be present whilst important private business is being transacted. It seems that a Gisborne merchant had arranged to give a well known hotelkeeper the sum of £l3O to quit his house of business, owing to some slight difficulty which had cropped up. The hour arrived, and so d'd the merchant, and the parties interested adjourned to a private room to complete the transaction. Meanwhile, however, an unobtrusive individual was hanging about the room with apparently nothing to do to kill time, who, on being asked if he required anything, replied that he “ only wanted to have a game of euchre with Tom.” The game was played, but still the stranger lingered, and immediately after the receipt had been signed, and the merchant had placed the money on the table, in front of the hotelkeeper, this meek-looking stranger laid a firm hand upon the crisp, clean bank notes, and announced that he seized them under distress warrant on behalf of a brewery dim not entirely unknown to fame. The “euchred” landlord put up with the loss philosophically enough, although some warm argument did take place.