THE MATCHBOX TRICK.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1024, 20 April 1883, Page 2

THE MATCHBOX TRICK.

How theDhpesLosetheir -Money. ■ The evidence in the case against Sy turns who was committed for trial, at Dunedin, last week, for the matchbox trick, was somewhat interesting. The prosecutor, William Agnew, deposed :—“On April, 4, I was walking up Princes street, when I met a red-whiskered man whom I did not know. He spoke to me about the weather, and accompanied me in the direction . I was going. He asked me where I came from, and what my employment was. I told him, and he said he was going to buy a farm and that he was a stranger in Dunedin. He finally asked me to go into the Oriental Hotel to have a drink. I refused; but he insisted upon going into the hotel, as he wanted to write an address. He took me into a room off the bar, and I

had some ginger wine. He asked for pen and ink, and just then, accused came in and commenced to talk to my companion. Apparently, they were strangers. The accused told the red-whiskered man, in the course of the conversation, that he had been left property and money by his uncle, and that he had very large properties in Auckland. He produced what appeared to be a roll of notes as thick as my arm. The red-whiskered man asked how many notes were in the roll, and the accused replied, * Five hundred.’ Accused then showed what he said was a Maori coffin. The article was of wood, shaped like a heart, and two inches wide. He said he had the likeness of a half-caste girl in it, and he was taking it home as a curiosity; also, that there was a-large reward offered to any mechanic who could open it. He had been in company with Mr and Mrs Deniston, particular friends of his, and Mr Denniston had broken his nail trying to open it. The coffin was afterwards passed round, but was not opened. The red-whiskered man did not attempt to open it, and passed it to me, asking me- to, try and open, I refused, as I thought there no use my trying to do so, if Mr Denniston had failed,” The prosecutor went on to explain how he had been induced to try and open, and found he could do so easily; how accused, with his £SOO roll of notes, which was a bogus one, left the room : how the red-whiskered individual encouraged him to bet accused, when he came back, that he (prosecutor) could open the box, adding that he would himself wager £SO or £IOO on it; how the accused did come back, and they did wager, Agnew putting his £8 into a hat along with £8 frpmtho red-whiskered man, and two of what purported to be £SO notes from the accused; how the accused was to count fifteen whi’e Agnew tried to open the box; and how, failing to do so, he threw the box on the floor, and how the accused collared all the money in the hat. Agnew, however, went to see a solicitor with whom he made his way to;the police office, but on the road a black-whiskered individual accosted Agnew and took him to another hotel, where lie got his money back,' It was the first time, he said, he had beentricked, and it would be the last. He added that accused had told him that he got the box in Auckland from a Maori chief, andwas taking it to England, where a large reward was offered for the opening of it.