A CLEVER ROGUE. How the Public are Victimised.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 291, 18 August 1888, Page 6

A CLEVER ROGUE. How the Public are Victimised.

Johann Abmhim. nu old man with ;m intelligent lace, and evidently ut Eastern e.\tiaction, was bmu^liti up un remand at the Cential Com t, charged with obtaining money by moan 6 : of false lcprosontationjr. The man lupiChcnLod hun^olt an a Unman Catholic L'eiMun pi icst who had come over to Au&luiliii to collect moneys toi the election oi u church in the ou> inah distiict ot Potbia, where the ChiK-.ti.ins had sultei cd gie.it piiv.it'on.-. and oppression!-.. The evidence adduced lovuded a cuiioii!-. btoiy ol manifest cunning and fiaud. When taken to the watch-house, thcic was found on the old man Cl 4 in }?old and noto, 6> 111 silvei, 13 Ko4<i coin», two Ucy.-, a w.iU-h and chain, a pui.se and a book which showed that ht had luccivec!, in hiinill bums uuiLrinu 1 honi 6d to Cl, Li.c rum ot over C6OO. Tlic book, which wah pioduced, \vas> a umwib octavo vtilunic. Tno (iist nine oi ten pages purported to be a number ot testimonials or auLhoi idles written in lOngli^h, Fiench, S[)anibh, J'eihian and Chinese, in which Ueoi'^e Auj^ustino l>ia/, Boinan Catholic Archbishop ut Halma, in J-'ersia, testilicd that (tie bcditii was. a Catholic Chaldean priubt of tlie dioeo.-o ot Ournuih, who was? authorise.! io collect subscriptions lot 1 the relict ot the Christians iti that portion of L'eifaia, who had been cruelly pei .scouted by .Sheik Abdulla, the head ot a tribe ot sava^o» m the Clalina Mountains, and who desired to build a chinch. The letteis, which bore c\idcnt signs of being 1 gonuino, were dated February 16th, 1887. The witness stated that he had that morning received from Darlinglmrot Gaol niom-y in to the value ot over ,C5OO, including 372 so\erei^n«, 34 half sovereigns, 133 French gold pioccs and 75 francs, v hich had been found in a leathern bay; tied round the waibt uf fcho prifboner. The Bench altered the charge and sentenced prisoner to mix months' hard labour as a rogue and a vagabond. The money — over £500 — found on tho prisoner wan ordered to bo distributed equally between Sydney Intinnary, the Prince Allied Ilo&piutl and iSt. Vincent's Hospital.