SWINDLING AS A SPORT.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXII, Issue 9002, 15 November 1907, Page 4

SWINDLING AS A SPORT.

Pans, cieptfrater 35. Two Englishman, who gave their names as William‘ Spencer and William Cummins, have been. arrested here for swindling; Spencer rk~ chares that ho adopted the life of the “sharper” for love and not for money. He is thirty-nine years old, aid owns a pretty and luxuriously furnished flat in tho Rue Trouchot, near the Madeleine. He is believed to bo worth about £130,000, and declares that ho has taken to thieving not from necessity or from greed of gain, hut owing to his love of sport. At.about lunch time to-day Spencer and Cummins—a man of fifty-two, who lives in tho lino Mogador made the acquaintance of an American who was sitting at a table near them in a cafe close by the Opera. “My friend and I,” said Spencer, “are the representatives of an important pocket-book manufacturer in Vienna. If yon - have no objection I should like yon to look at this sample of our goods. You will see that the lock of it closes with such perfection, and the leather is,,so supple and so cleverly worked «p thao no- | body can touch, take out, or even | feel bank-notes inside it. ” . The

American expressed his astonishment, and Spencer, laughingly,said, “Well, put some notes into it and try and get them out again.” Tho American took a ; bundle of banknotes out of liia pocket-to the value of §3OO, and put them into the pocket-book. Cummins shut the book and handed it back to the American, saying, “Now take the - b ink-notes out again. ” The victim tried to get, the pocket-book open again, and the two, Englishmen suddenly remembered that they wanted to call up a friend on the telephone. Ten minutes later, as they did not return, the American began to feel qualms. lie broke the pocket-book open, and found that it couvaiued nothing but a shoot of white paper. By-a clever sleight of hand Cummins ■ had substituted this for tho banknotes while he was closing the pocket-book. The American rushed off to the nearest police station, and by a stroke of luck ran into the two thieves, who were laughing at thecase with whi h they had gob the money. When arrested, they gave their names, and Spencer made tho declaration with reference to Ids fortune and Ids life of crime.