THE SPURIOUS GOLD SWINDLE.

Southland Times, Issue 1529, 26 January 1872, Page 3

THE SPURIOUS GOLD SWINDLE.

In the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, three Chinamen, named respectively Ab Hoon, Ah Kong, and Ah Chow, were charged on suspicion *of receiving moneys, a portion of the proceeds of the late spuriou3 gold swindle. InBpector Fox gave evidence as to their apprehension at the Railway station, particulars of which appeared in last issue. He also produced a telegram from the agent of the Bank at Riverton, giving the numbers of the notos paid by their gold buyers to tha Chinaman, Kee Ch.-.ng. On being compared with the money got in th' jumper, they were found to correspond. The In I Bpector stated that he had telegraphed for the ' Chinese interpreter, and until his arrival, and further inquiries into the matter, he asked for a remand. Eventually the remand was granted fceight days, on the understanding that if the police •were prepared to go on with their case in tho interim, the accused parties should be brought up. ESCAPE OP KEE CHANG. We regret to learn that Kee Chans has so far escaped detection that he is now understood to be on his way to Newcastle (N.S.W). The escape was well planned, and aided by a series of fortuitous circumstance*, has succeeded only too welL Vague rumors were received by the police that Kee Chang had left the neighborhood of the Puni Creek at midnight on Sunday. Acting upon these, a searching inquiry was made, # but it was not until midnight on Tuesday that. any reliable information waß obtained as to the whereabouts of the fugitive. When we take into account that Chang's movements were aided by his countrymen, and that there was no interpreter at hand, or in fact any one who could properly prosecute inquiries, it is only surprising that the police succeeded in getting any trace of their man at aIL It now appears that he embarked in a fisherman's boat at the lower pool, his destination being Stewart's Island. On Monday afternoon he reached Port William, where, luckily for him, the Mary Cumming, from Oamaru, bound for Newcastle, was lying wind-bound. Chang immediately proceeded on board that vessel, and succeeaed in negotiating a passage with the captain. It is reported that all the ready money he had about him at the time was £6, ar>d as this was insufficient to defray the expenses of the passage, he was compelled to deposit the letter of credit referred to in last issue with the master. On Wednesday morning, at 11 o'clock, the vessel set sail with a fair wind, and is now supposed to have got clear of the New Zealand coast. At daylight on Wednesday morning the police, acting on the information they had obtained, set out for Stewart's Island, arriving just in time to find that the vessel had got beyond all chance of being overtaken. To show the good fortune which has so far attended Chang, we may state that with the exception of the vessel named above, no foreign-going or intercolonial trader has visited Port William for upwards of three months.,