SWINDLING EXTRAORDINARY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 232, 1 October 1877, Page 4

SWINDLING EXTRAORDINARY.

The Manchester Guardian says that one of the most accomplished swindlers of the day ia at present plying hia avocations with great success in South Lancashire and Yorkshire. He works without accomplices, which no doubt accounts for the fact that he has bren able to carry on hia career with impunity and without detection. He rejoices in many aliases (all wellkttown railway names), and represents himself to be the agent of " Brassey and Co.,', and "Brogdon and Son," of Quoenstreet, "Westminster. To these gentlemen be h«s been a great annoyance, ordering in their respective names "steam engines," " trucks of lime," " blocks of granite," " slabs of marble," &c, all to be forwarded to some railway station near some public works alleged to be in course of construction by one of the above firms. Printed order forms are produced by the fellow, and are filled up by the manufacturer or his agent, and countersigned in the name of " Brassey and Co." Just b - fore the departure of the train he di - covers that his cash has run short, and the unsuspected tradesman, delighed at having received so large an order from so important a firm, hastens to tender a loan of a few pounds. With modesty and great reluctance it is accepted, au IO U being given for the amount, and a promise made to send a cheque for the sum advanced immediately on arrival "at the office" A first-class ticket is taken by the fellow at the railway station, and he is seen no more. The orders given are in due course consigned to some distant railway station, after a timo to be returned to the consignor, who had thereby sustained a heavy loss. Property has been forwarded in this way to the extent of over 2000 tons. The swindler is of gentlemanly appearance, a native of Salford, sis feet high, and well acquainted with railway and engineering work. He is a returned convict. When he was last in custody he boasted to the police that he had a list of 311 persons whom he had victimised in one year. Some idea may be formed of the modus operandi when it is stated that he gave an order one day in Swansea for a steam engine, and was at Barnsley the next ordering machinery, and the following day appeared in Luton, Bebs, and gave an order for a quantity of barrels of Roman cement.