AUSTRALIAN CRIMINALS

Hokitika Guardian, 11 February 1921, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN CRIMINALS

BOW THE “CON MEN” WORK. SYDNEY, Feb. 2. The crime wave shows no sign of abatement. There have been several more serious shootings in and about Sydney, some amounting to murder. Hand-in-hand with the disregard for human life, there is a disregard for the rights of property. Theft was never so common or swindlers and rogues so active.

“Con men”—confidence men—have been very busy lately. There must be some truth in the old saying that a fool is born every minute, for the public never seems to learn, and every week someone or other is robbed by old and transparent tricks. The most common is that of getting possession of notes with a promise to return with gold. These tricksters work in gangs on the steamers, gnd seek persons who are going abroad. Only a tew sovereigns are issued to travellers, now, so everyone wants gold. The rogues strike up an acquaintance with someone who ""looks easy and display a handful of gold. They have got this, they say, by some secret channel, and they can get plenty more. The victim’s cupidity is promptly aroused. He is conducted through some streets, asked to wait in a doorway while the obliging one slips inside with the notes —and, of course, he never comes back. It is no exaggeration to say that scores of people were tricked in this way during the past year—yet the list keeps on growing. , There are gangs who travel regular l> on the trains. They get into a compartment with a likely-looking gentleman. . One of the gang will start the three-card trick, or something of tlu. kind, and behave as if be were not quite sane, but bad plenty of money.. The others will win considerable sums from him, and then the victim will be invited to participate in the good thing. . .People are such egotists that this method seldom misses. There are other gangs who sell things , to credulous people who come wander- j ing out with money. They are humorists, these rascals, in a way. Quite often they have sold country travellers the foot-warmers and water-botfles out of trains. A man wandering about at the Zoo met an affable stranger who . took him to see the Japanese fish and sold him one for £5. He went away to get a jar to put it in—and, of course, never came back. A man on a steamer passing through Sydney went ashore with two apparently wealthy Sydney men. They took him up George street, and showed him the huge building known as Queen Victoria Markets. They offered %o sell the Mock to him at a low price, and he accepted ami paid £l5O deposit. One man went inside to „ e t a receipt, and presently the other went to see what had become of him. Neither returned. The police searched industriously, but they made a clean get-away. But the persons most badly “stung’’ often refuse to report the occurrence to the police.