REMARKABLE CANC OF COINERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81899, 8 December 1906, Page 4

REMARKABLE CANC OF COINERS.

(London "Daily Chronicle"). One of the most remarkable bands of coiners that has perhaps ever fallen into any police mesn has just been captured by the Paris detectives after month* of patient search and investigation. The organisation of the gang was admirable. Its ramifications >vere widespread. In all over forty arrests have been made, these including the actual coiners, their whole-al'J agents, and those who were engaged in distributing the false money broadcast over France. The social position of some of these handlers of counterfeit money has excited something akin to a sensation in Paris. Five-sixths are students, either attending the university or sfcme of th 4 higher-grade schools. Amongst the prisoners is the son of a deputy, wh-le another is the son of a prominent General. The corners 1 agents very cleverly got into touch with these students. As their paternal allowances were Bmall they apparently sought to supplement them by pacing spurious money. For many months past the cafes, brasseries, and restaurants of Paris, those of provincial France, and of such notable seaside resorts as Dieppe, Trouvil'.e, and Wimereux, have been swindled by counterfeit ten and twenty franc pieces. The workmansh p was excellent, and in consequence the fraud was very difficult to detect. For two months past the detectives have been seeking the head quarters of the gang and the manufactory where the coins were turned out. One day two young men, both students, were caught red-handed attempting to pass twenty franc pieces in one of the bu-.il-vaid cafes. They were arrc-tcd. lut nothing was allowed to le k out as to their capture. Within a wek four youths were arrested on similar charges, and what struck the. police as curious was that a'.! were students of good fam ly and attending courses at the Sorbonne. As the students refused to reveal their accomp ices a watch was kept in Lain Quarter, and one day the vigilance of the police was rewarded. In a quiet coiner of the Luxembourg Gardens they observed a group f students and two well-dressed men in conference. One of the detectives, attired as a student, m'xed with the gathering without exciting suspic on. The two strangers were dispos.ng if tea and tweniy franc pieces at the prices of zi. 50c. and 51. respectively, At a signal from the disguised detective his comrades in hiding ru-hed up and arrested the whole assembly. Th» capture was also kept secret. None of the men in custody would betray their associates or disclose the headquarters of the organisation, but a ioib letter found in the pocket of one of the wholesale agents was piec ed together, and found to refer to a man named Menage, bearing the sou-fc'-'quet of the ' Fly-catcher." For two day 3 the police searched for h.s abode, and then f?und it. Making a descent or) an unpretenllO 1 .! 1 hvu se at Alford, in on« of the Paris suburbs, Menage, a woman, and a second man, named Lebeguet, were caught busy al work manufalturing spurious money. The plant was an extensive one, and included the latest mechanical devices. Indeed, as one of the detectives remarked, the equipment would have done credit to the Mint itself. The authorities estimate that over ,68000 of fictitious ten and twenty franc pieces have been passed through th s agency during the past six months. Menage made a desperate resistance, and was only captured after being knocked on the head by the butt of a revolver. ,