A GOLD-STEALER'S CONFESSIONS.

NZ Truth, Issue 75, 24 November 1906, Page 8

A GOLD-STEALER'S CONFESSIONS.

REMARKABLE REVELATIONS.

Fortunes Filched from Mines and Mills.

Racing is always responsible for a Jiot of swindling, and when it is stolen money with which the game is Splayed there must necessarily be even more of the, take-down business about 5t than would otherwise be the case. For tie most part, the cronk Work has to be quietly endured, for the reason that the victim, having himself stolen the gold of which he has "been bereft, cannot expose the person who has got the better of him.;,'

As might be expected, therefore, ithere have been some dealings m connection with the Towers pony tracks, schemed and suffered m silence^ of a highly "interesting character. ; L would like to give you at least one example of this. When the sport was booming, between 12 and 18 months ago, a yoimg fellow* working m one of the mills, took it into his head to

GET A PONJ: : /.i-, For "simplicity's salce r shall call this individual "Smith." As it. would not do for him to be known as the owner of' iV because if he were ■ it. • would prqbably cost him -his billet, he arranged with a : mate— rfirst, to go to Brisbane and buy it for him, and afterward? to allow his name -t0. 3« used as the owner of it. TJie receipt was, therefore, niade ' put m the buyer's name. , ; -vv- .;,, ; < ,-, • -

By the time, it .was" landed at the trowerSjthe'i.; horse must have cost Smith something like £IQO. It waa rathe?: a mysterious, animal, for the reason that 1 the buyer, .took. .all- sorts of .care not,: to ' letvJan/bpdy know where it had been running, what it had done, or anything" else respecting it. As a -result of it all— the unknown ownership. of the animal, and the secrecy observed regarding its performances— . '

SENSATIONAL COMPLICATIONS eventually v ensued. The first time it started was at Stockholm. Those behind it bad got excellent trials from it, and they knew that m the company it wasKineeting they had a very sure thingr-if, of' course X they cared to spin it. Smith was advised of everything:, with the result that he arranged that m this instance it was to be spun for ■all.', it was worth, with a view to getting a gqpd win, he put about £50 on it. The horse ran nowhere. Smith was told all sorts of fchiness m. explanation of the animal's failur-e-^'very thing, m fact, except the real -reason,' which was that those who were handling it had stiffened it. The next time it ran it won m remarkably fast time. Bat, m this instance , r it carried"

NOT A PENNY , of Smith's coin, because of the fact that he had been assured that it ha-dn't the ghost of a show. Of course the- others jhad I}heir money on it. Smith was now beginning to. see Ihinjcs, so much so that he lost his tempt' v on the course, told the others straight out that they bad taken him down, and there and then bashed into

the person" he' had entrusted with" "the purchase of the horse: ...

'■■ The best of the fun, however, was yet t« come. A protest was lodged against the prize going to the horse, on .the 'ground that it was .not correctly nominated, and, to the bitter disappointment of the very cunning crowd behind the animal, the race was awarded to the second horse. The la- ; mentations of the biters who had thus been - bitten themselves were

SOMETHING : TOO PATHETIC. They loudly .protested their innocence of all evil-doing, and declared that a club capable of giving; such a decision did not deserve to live a day. The person who did the buying for Smith, however, stuck to the horse, a thing he had very little difficulty m doing,; since the receipt was m his name; After this Smith gave up. pony racing for a bad job.

His short and stormy try at it must haVe cost him fully £250. He - also lost his billet at the mill through it; which must have been a much more serious matter to' him still. But he had used his opportunities to such advantage while working there that he had still enough money to open a little shop m one of the principal streets and to

RUN TWO WOMEN at the same time. Eventually, he got rid of his athop, left the place with one of his female friends, and has never since returned there. The horse at the bottom of all his trouble is :still on the Towers. Of a very different character— in its surroundings, for the basis of it is practically i the same— is, the story that is related of a certain mill-manager and. his amalgamator. -*• - :

The amalgamators have the. best of all chances of. getting away with the treasure. They look after the platejs, clean up the ibatteries, and take charge of the gold when the stampers are hung up. The amalgamator m the present instance. had a very complacent wife, so much so that she did. not offer the least objection to the husband's suggestion that she might •allow the 'manager to have

A SHARE OF THOSE FAVORS which most married men wish to reserve exclusively to themselves, and to her doing this, too, .m such a way 1 that the two of them might 'turn the manager's visits , to their joint pecuniary advantage. The amalgamator's house was not very . far away ,from the. mill. Finally, the arrangement come to between rthe husband and. wife was that the manager was to be encouraged to put m half an hour or so with the woman when the amalgamator was on 'the afternoon shift, that she was to signal bis presence there by turning 'the light on to one of the windows m a particular portion of the house, and that the amalgamator, sure of having everything at the mill ' to himself, was then to make the very

best of his time m appropriating all the gold he could lay his hands on. It was a beautiful GAME OF PRETENCE all round. Just as the amalgamator pretended entire ignorance of the manager's participation m his wife's embraces, of which he knew everything, so the manager pretended entire ignorance of the gold the amalgamator was using this as a means of getting away with, of which he also knew everything. The thing seemed to norrow itself down to a question as to which of the two would get tired first.

I This proved to be the manager, who, addressing the amalgamator one day, said, "I thjnk you ought to leave now, and make room for somebody else. At the rate you have been going it, you must have enough to last you .the rest of your life." The manager, who was a pretty elderly individual, is not now on the Towers. The amalgamator, however, is still there. . For years he has attended

A CERTAIN CHURCH with clock-like regularity, and, m the •light of these discourses, it will be readily admitted that he is a hypocrite of the most sordid description. Just after leaving: the mill the amalgamator paid a short visit to Sydney and Melbourne. Some of the cunnins crowd got to hear of the good thing he had on at the mill, and the conclusion they came to— a correct conclusion, by the way— was that his principal object m going south was to get his amalgam treated • there. As a result they 'discussed the possibility of quietly taking passages with him, and relieving him, some night, of a portion of the treasure they knew he must have with him. They knew that if they could only get it out of his possession he would have to

SING MUM, for the oieason that if he opened his mouth to complain he would simply put himself away. The idea had a good deal m it. But I do not think anything came of it, or if it did I never heard of it. Of course, those who get away with the amalgam are m all forms. There was, for example, a young amalgamator named -.'

He was a very quiet sort of fellow.

You' would not think that butter would melt m Ms mouth. One day, however, he got married to a flighty, well-known Towers girl, left the following day for South Africa, and m doing so he let it be clearly understood—through the vanity of the girl, it is believed— that he was worth £3000 . Then there was another fellow at a different mill. He did a good deal of cycling, had the

FLASHEST PONY AND TRAP on the field, and played up the coin generally. The story he used to spin was that some relatives m Germany had left him a legacy of £2000. and an income of £6 a week for the rest of his life. He went down to seethe Melbourne Cup, and when he returned he found, very much to his surprise; that his job was no longer there for him.

The manageir had at length begun to suspect something, and he had got rid of him. accordingly. Asa matter of facf-it is surprising to me how he succeeded m fooling the; people of the place as long as he did. I believe he is at present working m one -of the mines for £2 a week. Naturally enough he is sometimes, asked by some of . '

THE MORE SPORTFUL of his mates as to what has become of his legacy of £6 a week. The cessation of it with his dismissal from the mill was altogether too remarkable for. him to hope to escape without even a little gig of this kind. Watchmen have also lined their pockets whenever they had the opportunity to do so. I know of one case of this order, the circumstances surrounding which are' too good to be passed over.

The watchman referred to must have cat away with anything from £800 to £1000 worth— for the whole of the time lie' was at the game, of course. He was married. But he was alao sticking up to a barmaid at a Gillstreet hotel, and wanted to take a trip: with her 'to' Sydne- The wife, who pretended to know nothing of the barmaid business, agreed; to the trip. .She considered, however, that from £50 to £100 would do for him, and suggested that for safety's sake he ought 1o make, over the rest of ' .

THE MONEY JN THE BANK to her. The watchman saw nothing wrong m doing this. The banking account was altered accordingly, and he left for the south with £100. The barmaid, of course, went with him. At Brisbane he made the pace such a cracker that, before he was there a week, he had to give up the' idea of visiting Sydney at all. He had a return ticket to the Towers for himself and his holiday companion.

For the journey home, however, something; m the way of incidental evpenses was required.^ anxl he telervaphed to his wife accordingly— in the sure and certain hope that it would be immediately forthcoming. Uutjt wasn't. He than discovered 'that y his. wife had also left the Towers. Further inquiries revealed the Tact lhat she, too, had

! A CLANDESTINE LOVER ; iliat with this individual she had flidkcn the dust of the field from her ■ r zuii and that the re-arranp;ement of 1 the banlo'ne; account had therefore u.v.ounted to his handing over to her and her "fancy" tlie whole of his -..oncv. Of course, it also followed that, having no further Tunds to draw upon, Ihr> adoriii" 1 creature vho had bwn • mittinc m her time with him 'had ahsolui^lv no further use for him, &nd slum ted him like the plague. The watchman is on the Towers to-day, a noor and sorrowing; man, while the .wife is running a very successful little business, started with the money she diddled him out of, v/Hhhi a few mile?) of Brisbane. Whether the individual she .took to her heart m her husband's absence is still with her Is quitn another matter. So far, Tdo noli think I have piven you a cape where a manager himself h'ns hecn known to do exceed inirlv well by sicnlln'r. There are, however, numbers of these. M; a certain v^rv

WELL-KNOWN MILL, '■he na/tnc, of which, for obvious reasons, I could not give you. the man-