A Clever Cheat.

Manawatu Herald, 24 July 1902, Page 3

A Clever Cheat.

LAWYERS VICTIMISED.

Frederick John Ferris, who received a sentence of eight months’ imprisonment for false pretences, is a welldressed young man, aged 35, with a plausible tongue. If is said that in Napier, Palmerston North, Christchurch, Nelson, and Dunedin he has victimised clever people, including several lawyers. His gains in some cases ran Into three figures. The way he “ worked the oracle " was amusing. Two letters from a fictitions brother in England were written on paper deeply edged with black. They announced the death of an "uncle,” and a consequent legacy of mythical thousands and broad acres. The terms in which the letters were couched were cunningly convincing. The wandering brother in New Zealand was advised

of family changes, the giving away in _ marriage of a beloved sister, the birth of a nephew, and the selection of the uncle as godfather to the infant, and other events of sole and personal Interest to the absent one. Strangely enough—and it is a thing that the lawyers to whom the letters were shown must have observed with keen

professional satisfaction —the key-note of the letters announcing the legacy , was the repeated brotherly advice to “go and see a lawyer.” Regret was expressed that this had not been done on the first intimation of the legacy. The letter was apparently one from a person of limited education, for the orthography would have discredited a third standard boy.