Criminal's Amazing Career.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 March 1910, Page 4

Criminal's Amazing Career.

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One of the cleverest swindlers ii the world has just been preventec from carrying out a gigantic franc in connection with an £8,()00,00( railway scheme in Chili, say; Lloyd's Weekly, in which severa' well-known British financiers are in volved. Harry Silverberg has had nn ex traordinary career, and has brough off a good many big coups, but hoik so big as that in which be basjusi been circumvented. Some time age he appeared in South America, anc though apparently unknown to more prominent commercial men there, lit managed during his travels to se cure valuable coucessionsT At length he was appointed to ar influential administrative position ir connection with the Chilian railway scheme mentioned above. The mi (lertaking progressed well for some time, until the promoters receiver news winch araused their suspicion! respecting the man's conduct. The American lawyer who is act ing as counsel for the syndicate ir America was instructed to investigate the conduct of the business ir Chili, and in consequence of whal be learned be communicated witl: the police in New York. Hy their aid the ox-convict's portrait was discovered in the famous Rogues' Gallery, where it appeared over the nnmo of "Harry Silverberg.." Meanwhile Silverberg bad disappeared, and it was only after n search lasting .several weeks that In , was tracked to London. He appeared to have the entree to several important clubs. Again he vanished. Xobody knows where he has gone, but no efforts are to be arrest him now that the failure of his scheme is assured. Kxalted personages have succumbed to the wiles of this clever swindler, who seems to have bad an unusually wood time, and to have moved in the best of society wherever he went. He speaks six or seven languages fluently, and, in addition to accomplishments innumerable, seems t-o be blessed with an inexhaustable fund of good humour in adversity. "The cheeriest, most versatile scamp that T ever came into contact with. ' is the description of him given by ox-hispoctov McCarthy, late of Scotland Yard, who was able to give an "Express" representative an interesting account cf some of Silverberg's performances. AKRKNTKI) AT A DIXN'ER PARTY. It was in September, 189G, that lie made his first public appearance on the stage of crime. And the story of how lie was laid bv the heels by Mr McCarthy is as follows ; An American, Mr John Coleinan I) ray ton, came- to Scotland Yard, and complained be was being impersonated on the Continent by a man who was running up bills'and obtaining jewellery in bis name. Mr McCarthy's investigations led to the discovery of a man who was staying at the Victoria Hotel, Westminster, under the name of the visitor to Scotland Yard, John Colemau Drayton. His doings on the Continent were traced, and, as a result, communi-:-atioiis were made to the German police, who ultimately issued a warrant for his arrest on tin , charge of obtaining jewellery to the value of C7.T) at lUden-Kaden. "When I went round to the Victoria Hotel to make the arrest, however." said Mr McCarthy, "the bird had fhiwn. T managed to trace him through the cabdriver whom he had employed to take his luggage away, and ran him to earth at last in the Savoy. "He- was giving a dinner to a little party of friends when f called. I told him that 1 had come to arrest him, and he asked me to let him linish dinner and say good-live to his friends. Of course, I refused to let him out of my sight, and his offer to write out a cheque for me for a year's salary did not help him in the least. "I bundled him into a cab and took him straight to Bow street, and lie was brought up the next day. ae was actually wearing some of the jewellery referred to in the warrant at the time of his arrest—links, studs, a ring, and a diamond studded cigarette case. What he said was brief and to the point. 'I owe the money/ he observe dcoolly, 'and if they don't press, I'll compromise. It' tbev do, they can go to Jericho.' " After a stay of some weeks in Hollowrtv, pending the extradition formalities, Silverberg was sent to Hamburg in the custody of Mr McCarthy. "He did not seem in the least downcast,' , said Mr McCarthy. "Tn fact, he was so lively all the time that I kept the sharpest possible watch on him; and even then lie managed to fool me once, for T caught him standing drinks and cigars to passengers—who had no idea, of course, that he was a prisoner- — and charging the same to me. BANQUETTE!) BY KING OF SLVM. "On the boat, as jwsseiigers, were Miss Annie Abbott, 'The Georgia Magnet,' and her husband, on their way, I believe, to fulfil some Continental music hall contract. Silverberg made l'riends with these compatriots of his, and 1 cautioned him against trying to play any tricks on them. 'That's all right/ lie said, nonchalantly. 'I have tried, but it's no good".' " After handing over bis prisoner to tho German police at Hamburg,. Mr McCarthy happened to meet the Abbotts, and gathered that the versatile Silverberg had stretched his inventive powers to the utmost for their benefit. He had told them that bo was a journalist, who, speaking in public in Germany, had said something derogatory to the Kaiser, for which he was fined £o()0. He had, by his own account, appealed, had been allowed to go to England, and had induced- the Foreign Secretary to take up his case. The Foreign Secretary had further furnished him with a first-class detective—Mr McCarthy—to see fair play. He gave out that be was paying Mr McCarthy's expenses. He was sentenced for his jewellery swindle to two and a half years' bard labour. The next news of him came in December, 1900, when he was arrested in New York. lie was then passing under the name of J. J. Carlisle. His life, from his release from prison in Germany to his arrest in America, sounds like the career of a novelist's pet criminal. He had been to India, where it is said on credible authority that he was entertained by the Viceroy. Ho bought a racing stable in Calcutta, and paid for it with bogus drafts. He was received by the King of fiiam, who entertained him to a banquet and granted him a railway concession. Ho has been married half a dozen times to wealthy woman, divorcing each in turn, and generally making a good thing out af the victimising''of women.