A CLEVER SWINDLE.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXII, Issue 2791, 17 May 1911, Page 2

A CLEVER SWINDLE.

PHANTOM STATE SECRET.

The town of Marseilles has been victimised by a clever swindler to the tune of several hundred pounds. A welldressed and good-looking man, calling himself Maurice le Lorraine, arrived at one of the best hotels in x Marseilles.

There is no more patriotic town in France than Marseilles, and the recent arrest of the. president of the Lorraine Sporting Club at a gymnastic fete in Germany made the new arrival a popular hero. Le Lorraine was interviewed and his portrait appeared in all the local papers. He was wined and dined extensively, and gave several lectures on Alsace and Lorraine, which were largely attended. Then one day he told the police that his pocket-book and chequebook had been stolen in the street, and that he had received from the thief an anonymous letter, which he showed. The stealer of the pocket-book wrote to say that unless ,£2O was given to his messenger at once when he should send tor it he would hand over to Germany a document of great importance contained. in the pocket-book. Le Lorraine told nobody what the document was, but

excitement grew, as excitement can grow in Marseilles, when next day the newspapers published a second letter threatening Le Lorraine with death if he continued urging the claims of Alsace and Lorraine in Marseilles. Le Lorraine told his friends that he thought it wiser to go away fora few days. He left without paying his hotel bill, after borrowing £20 apiece from 36 or 40 difterent people to buy back "the important document." Inquiries have (says a cable from Marseilles) been made about him in Metz and at the Lorraine Sporting Club, He is not known there, and .it is extremely improbable that Marseilles will ever see

him again unless the police, who are looking tor him, succeed in finding him.