THE CITY FRAUD.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 539, 1 July 1869, Page 4

THE CITY FRAUD.

It is understood that a special meeting of the shareholders of the Great Central Gas Consumers' Company will be called to take into consideration the best course to be adopted with regard to the robbery which has taken place at their office. The Inspector of the Board of Trade first discovered the robbery. Whilehewasexamining the books of the company, ho noticed that there was a deficiency, and he asked Higgs to explain. Shortly after that " gentleman" was found to be missing. The exact amount of money stolen is not known , but it is stated to be nearer LBO, OOO than L 50,000. The shares of the company have fallen from Ll4 10s to Ll2. The detectives are still searching for the delinq\ient.— Some curious particulars respecting Benjamin Higgs, the bookkeeper, who has committed extensive frauds on the Great Central Gas Company, are furnished by a local pjiper. Higgs's mansion at Twickenham contained about thirty rooms, fitted and furnished in the most sumptuous style. A large pleasure-ground ran down to the river, where he had built a massive river wall. He had also a large kitchen garden and a model farm. He was building extensive stabling, fitted with all modern appliances, kept two pairs of carriages, nine horses, and several ponies, and his family carriage and brougham were the most substantial and elegant in the neighborhood. He kept eight female servants, five gardeners, one groom, a coachman, and undercoachman, the household expenses requiring not less than L2OOO a year. The quality of the furniture (lately sold by auction) may be judged from the fact that a pianoforte sold for 155 guineas, -which originally cost 300 guineas, was regarded as the greatest bargain of the sale. Higgs' a personal tastes and habits were not less extravagant. He wore jewellery of great value ; he gave concerts, for which he engaged first-rate performers, entertained them magnificently, and sent them back to town by special train. Higgs, too, was very benevolent — on the old principle, we presume, of " easy come, easy go." On three occasions he gave concerts at the Clarence Hotel, Teddington, engaged the most celebrated professional singers, paid all the expenses, and devoted the entire proceeds to the building of new schools. An insolvent received a cheque for LIBO, with which he effected a composition with his creditors, and an unfortunate man who was seriously injured by an explosion of the kitchen boiler while at Higgs's house was established in business with L3OO. The Free Church of England at Teddington, which Mr Higgs never attended, received from him a new organ at a cost of L3OO, and he had promised the congregation L2OOO towards the erection of a new church. On the morning of his departure there were eighty men employed upon a new mansion which was in course of erection upon land he was to have purchased at a cost of L6OO per acre ; the purchase, however, was never completed, although the buildings were in progress. The mansion was estimated to cost L 50,000. Higgs accounted to his wife and friends for his extraordinary expenditure by saying that he had received a legacy of L 90,000 from a relative. The immediate cause of Higgs's sudden departure — the mysterious advertisement — the still more mysterious paragraphs in the evening papers, and the long delay in publishing the facts have yet to be explained to the public, and especially to the shareholders of the defrauded company. It is certain that for several days before leaving he was making preparations for his departure. We are informed that on Friday afternoon, March 5, he entered the Waterloo train as usual, but instead of alighting at Twickenham, proceeded on to Reading, thence to Liverpool, and that night went on board a steamer for America. There is one side to this extraordinary story which is indescribably painful. Mr Higgs has left behind him a wife and eight children (probably by this time nine), who until now were ignorant of the source whence all the comforts and luxuries of their home were derived, and therefore innocent of all participation in the fraud, and, we are sorry to add, are rendered absolutely destitute and dependent upon others. Some further account of Higgs and his family is forwarded by a correspondent. In addition to the large sums of money fraudulently obtained by Benjamin Higgs from the Great Central Gas Consumers' Company's funds, it is known that he had at times been very successful in bonajide speculations, by which he had honestly cleared many thousands of pounds. In one instance ten thousand is said to have been the net profit. As such was his readiness to oblige those who then reckoned themselves his friends, that during the monetary panic of 1866 he averted ruin from more than one person of position in the city. Yet so intense was the insanity of his vanity, that all he acquired, honestly or dishonestly, including a legacy of small amount bequeathed to his wife, was scattered broadcast, in an endeavor to realise something that could only be paralleled in the pages of Dumas pere. His extravagance can scarcely be conceived; and by numerous acts of charity, so strong a feeling has been excited in his favoramongstthe poorer classes of Teddington and the neighborhood, that at the sale of his furniture at the Clarence Hotel it was observed by many present that, were a thousand pounds offered for hi 3 apprehension, not a poor family in Toddington would betray him. That his flight or disappearance was for some time premeditated is incorrect, as is the statement that he went via Reading to Liverpool ; for so sudden was his departure, that Mrs Higgs was le*t almost destitute, and was compelled to dispose of her personal valuables and other things to defray the wage 3of servants. It has been generally reported that the execution put in Tide End House, and the entire sale of furniture, library, &c, was at the instance of the Great Central Gas Consumers' Company. Such is is not the case. A guarantee society had given a bond for £250 some years ago, on behalf of Mr Higgs. For that amount property realisms: thousands of pounds has been sold. The Great Central Gas Company benefit only to the extent of their bond, and Mrs Higgs receives nothing, for fthe freely gave up all, under the impression that the proceeds would be devoted towards recouping the company. Who holds the remainder] A distressing incident connected with this case was the death of his mother. This event was k hastened, it is said, by the grief she felt on hearing of the fraudulent conduct of

her son. She and her husband formerly kept a public-house at Brightwaltham, a village near Newbnry, in Berkshire, which they were induced by their son to leave and take np their residence in town. The remains of the old lady were buried in the churchyard at Brightwaltham, on Monday, April 5. A detective officer went down from London and was present at the funeral, but Higgs was absent ; the officer therefore returned without having obtained any information that would give a clue to the abscond er's whereabouts. Higgs was very well known in that neighborhood, having lived there during his boyhood. He quitted Brightwaltham for the metropolis, where he obtained a clerkship. His subsequent career is now very well known. A dispute as to priority of right among the claimants 011 Higgs's estate to levy on his goods came before the judge at chambers on April 19, at the hearing of the interpleader summons taken out by the Sheriff of Middlesex. Mr Kuhl had obtained judgment, and levied an execution on Higgs's property at Teddington ; but just before the levy the Guarantee Society entered and sold a portion of the property. These pajrjfci^s, with others who had purchased at the sale by the Guarantee Society, appeared and read affidavits and made complaints. His lordship, Mr Justice Brett, finally barred the claims, and the sheriff will resume the sale for the execution creditor, Mr Kuhl. — European Mail.