“Kid-Glove Crooks”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 556, 8 January 1929, Page 7

“Kid-Glove Crooks”

SCOUNDRELS OF THE RIVIERA Sinister Life in Gay Cote d’Azur SCOUNDRELS of noble birth -who each winter prey upon idle, extravagant women in the fashionable gaming resorts on the Riviera will soon be making their annual exodus to the warm South, says the “Sunday Chronicle.” Continuing his reminiscences, Mr. Beach Chester, the famous gambler, for the first time lifts the veil on this sinister side of life on the gay Cote d’Azur, where countless women have been ruined by “professional lovers.”

Crocks, like certain birds, flock South for the winter. From Christmas to Easter the Cote d’Azur —Monte Carlo. Nice and Cannes —is alive with them. But as the majority look for their victims among women they operate singly and leave each other alone. Not a few bear titles by legal right. I know a tall-blonde young man with one of the oldest names in Belgium. He is a baron, and his title is perfectly authentic. I took the trouble to verify this point,, through having my doubts aroused by the way he took his soup in a smart restaurant.

ally at Monte Carlo. Whatever vestige of intelligence he may possess is purely criminal. His only thought is to devise fresh schemes for obtaining money from women. He wails to them of ’"-ess and misery until they give him -what he does not take. I often think his feeble face is his greatest asset. A demimondaine, whom he picked up at a tea dance the othe ’-""-ted with 6,000 francs in 48 hours. He nearly got a diamond ring as well -worth £SOO. At present the baron seems to be known to everyone except the police as an extremely adroit crook. All money that he can beg, borrow, or steal goes ou the gambling tables. The only commercial enterprise he lias ever shown has been in connection with the white slave trade r>f the French capital. Preying on Women Many unprotected women soon find that the warmth of the Cote d'Azur is uot exclusively climatic. There are legions of professional lovers who ouly see beauty in women with the birthmark of the pound or dollar. Even the hotel dancers are an everpresent potential menace to idle feminine visitors. With a little address these men can often bring about the downfall of their patronesses who. in the first place, employ them quite innocently. _ « There was a scandal at one of the principal Nice hotels last winter when one of these parasites brutally attacked a woman in her bedroom a few days after they had met at a te The nt< onlv well-born professional dancer to come under my personal observation, a worthless young fellow —the grandson of a Royal duke managed to get a wealthy Washington Sri under his influence, though he was known by most people to be “The affair lasted for a season, for the victim was of full age and Had the Of -in independent income. Ser her' father nor her mother could restrain her. She simply beCa Women° who* venture alone into the

The last time I saw him he was chafing in Paris, waiting to pounce upon the right woman to take him South. He knew she would turn up sooner or later. She always does. When, according to his habit, he has spent all her money and sold all her jewels he shrugs his shoulders and runs away. If the parting takes place at Cannes he may only go over to Nice or Monte Carlo. Whatever be does he soon finds another woman. Before the season ends bis dupes can be counted by the dozen.

Married to Escape This Continental lord has uot yet been charged with crime. That will come inevitably. So far his victims bare remained silent. Not long ago be had a narrow escape at Biarritz. After worming £I,OOO out of a middleaged woman he succeeded in stealing ber jewellery. The atmosphere then became very sultry. When his liberty was threatened, be wept about love and married her. The baroness now lives her life as before, for they never meet. This noble crook is 34 years o. 7 . 'ague-looking, of very youthful aspect and with rather a foolish He s Peaks several ’mguages. though oQ ly moderately well: beyond this be is devoid of ability. His intellect, if not originally deficient, has been drained by dissipation. To-day be a moral imbecile, lacking all power °t concentration. One sees this in his shifty little blue eyes. Hfe real vice is gambling. In his *>lder or more desperate moments lie Heals money from the tables, especi-

gambling rooms or the cabarets are exposed to the gravest dangers. Chance acquaintanceships struck up at the baccarat, the roulette, or the trente-et-quarante tables may lead to a worse fate than financial ruin. Ignorance of the game generally supplies the excuse for a stranger to start conversation. .The conversation may turn out to be the second step on the road to hell. The first was to enter the place. I know an ex-gambler who led a desperate life for years until he met and eloped with the daughter of a very wealthy Englishwoman.

The victim of this affair had eloped before ou several occasions from her first husband, a peer, then from her lover, and afterwards from another lover, and wdth an Army captain whom she married. Growing tired of the captain, it was this fellow’s fate to capture her. He himself has now been abandoned, divorced, and compensated. A born adventurer, but one who has always put safety first, this man never bothers his head about gambling in these days. A substantial revenue from his ex-wife's mother is altogether more satisfying. Married Her Mother Although 99 times out of 100 in sex cases the man is the victor and the woman vanquished, instances occur occasionally where the woman beats the man. A rather weak but pleasant acquaintance of mine, a man who has a villa near Cannes, was pursuing the daughter of a very notorious woman some years ago. To his horror one morning he “came to,” to use his own words, to find himself in church In the act of marrying the mother. “I left her immediately afterwards and went to South Africa,” he told me. “She was 20 years my senior.” One successful adventurer, a major who generally turns up at Cannes or Monte Carlo, often on board the yacht of an American millionaire, lives entirely on love. When I add that he is over GO, lovemaking seems a curious profession. Still, countless wealthy American women of a certain age regard him tenderly. As he has quite a variety of them in tow, all in different stage's of emotion, his difficulty Is to make each one believe that she stands alone in his affections. I first heard about him through an Englishwoman, a young widow, who had foolishly provided him w-ith the necessities of life for some time. He cost her several thousands of pounds. Another successful lover, also nominally a major, but of excellent family, and quite a different type of man, lives on the substantial ' allowance he receives from a woman he once loved and nearly married. £5 Loan Fraud He fell into disgrace in Loudon years ago. Once, when he was very hard up. he concocted an eloquent appeal, addressed it to a dozen friends asking each for £5 by return of post. He explained that he would he thrown

out of his club if he failed to receive the money immediately. Ten of the recipients carried out his request. When, however, ultimately discovered that he had raked in £SO, instead of the single fiver each had sent, the major was regarded as a cheat. His life-long love affair once took an amusing turn. While his fiancee was in France he sent her a wire in his brother’s name announcing his own death. He then hurried across Channel expecting to find the lady overwhelmed by grief. Instead she was dancing at the Casino. She afterwards married a man worth £50,000 a year. Nowadays she keeps her former lover, who is often at Cannes in the winter.