MOST AUDACIOUS SWINDLER IN EUROPE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 276, 18 May 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

MOST AUDACIOUS SWINDLER IN EUROPE

INNKEEPER'S SON'S AMAZING CAREER. It was nerve which kept .this phenomenal rascal skating gracefully over the thinnest kind of ice. And his nerve has not deserted him now that the ice has broken under him and 'lie. lias sunk overhead in Hie muddy waters of trouble. Helmut his prison bars lie seems, indeed—like most clever criminals—to take a. sort of professional pride in his achievements. When lie realised that denial was henceforth fillile he, shrugged his shoulders and said: "''J congratulate the Roman police. I have travelled all over the world, and got away with many hundreds of thousands of lire. I have always succeeded in evading the police, and in two days I should have left Rome. My ability is so great that once when I was arrested in France under the name of the Prince di Belmonte a lawyer wanted to defend me. for nothing, and the Public Prosecutor said to me. "You are the most intelligent man I have ever known.' "However, that which I stole I stole from the rich. I never trimmed anyone for less than 1(10.(100 lire ( £4000). What a pity that the law must punish me. I have helped an infinite number of poor priests. To-day I had an appointment with another prelate; instead, I am in gaol. What a pity!" This unique scoundrel posed as a priest, and lie wore purple at his throat and a purple girdle, which indicated that he was a monsignor of the Church, and his visiting cards always had "Monsign-i or" prefixed to the name. This latter varied. It was changed frequently, but it always sounded noble and was generally the patronymic of some family famous in the councils of the Church. He had no right to wear even a cassock, much less the purple of a prelate. He is just plain Giovanni JJattista Gindri, <on of a respectable Turin hotel keeper, lie obtained his familiarity with Church affairs while receiving his education in an ecclesiastical seminary. Ilis father probably hoped that he would become a priest. But the youth found his vocation along very different lines. lie is now 27 years old. Eight years ago, in 11)04. he was arrested and sentenced to six months in prison for swindling Father lileagevilla. a French missionary. But. later lie had comparatively easy sailing, although he has had to be careful, as warrants for his arrest had been issued in Turin. Milan, Novara, Saluzzo and other cities, and the police of all Italy, France. Germany and Austria were looking for him. Only by his supreme coolness did he elude tliem. Ilis name changed like the colors of a chameleon. Here he was .Mgr. the Abbe .lean ile Sevignc, there the Right Rev. Marquis de Saint-Mars, elsewhere the Right Rev. Prince Granito di Belmonte, in some place he was Mgr. •lean Honi de Gallier lies Marquis de Yillarmoir: again he posed as the Rev. Mgr. Edoardo Lan/.etti. In one of his swindling games he was "private secretary to the Archbishop of Paris." At his boardinghouse in Rome he was simply Edoardo di Santo Stefano, theological student. It was only by such lightning changes of name and residence that he succeeded in keeping the fradulent game going with impunity for so many years. It is believed that he lias got away with several million francs in all. The greater number of his victims have made no formal complaint against him, but it is known that among the sufferers are cardinals, archbishops, abbots of monasteries, mother superiors and abbesses of convents, and noblemen and women who are charitably disposed. He forged letters of introduction froiro one'bishop to another. He ingratiated himself here and there by conspicuous acts of charity and piety, and so got genuine letters of introduction from prelates and nobles. Among those upon whom lie imposed was the Dowager Duchess of Genoa, the mother of Queen Margherita of Italy, in whose private chapel at Novara he said mass, and from whom he received a present. When caught in Rome he was about to go to St. Peter's to say mass, the authorisation so to do being signed by Cardinal Respighi. which signature is declared to be a forgery. At the Pontifical Academy called "Dei Xobili Eoelesiastici," in the Piazza dclla Minerva, letters addressed to him had been piling up for several days. They were all directed to "The Rev. Granito di Belmonte." a name he was using in certain quarters where lie had posed as a nephew of Cardinal Granito di Belmonte. Many oi these letters were in feminine hands and daintily perfumed. They were a puzzle, to Mgr. Francesco Sogaro, Archbishop of Armida. the President of the college, until he heard of Gindri's arrest' and read the list of names the fellow had used. Then he sent all the letters to the police. They are said to throw a brilliant light on Gindri's methods. The police were astonished when they searched the trunks in Gindri's room in the Pensian La Bella, in the Via del Babuino. His trunks and valises were of the finest leather, with gold-plated mountings. They wen; full of sacerdotal garments of the finest broadcloth lined with silk and satin; laymen's suits •made by the .most, fashionable tailors in Europe: canes and umbrellas with gold handle*; the collars and cuffs were in a box of carved ivory: there were a few ecclesiastical vestments of rich damask, a collection of richly illuminated and artistically-bound breviaries; boxes containing stationery with embossed monograms. crests, coats of arms, and coronets; two antique reliquaries, an ivory statue of the Virgin Mary, a gold watch and chain, and many photographs of famous personages bearing their autographs. and some of tliem affectionate messages. The police of Rome have not yet discovered what lie was scheming when they caught him. He had been there only two days. having come from Turin, lie had called upon an engraver and ordered two hundred visiting cards bearing the high-sounding name of '"'Monsignor Jean I'oni de Gallier des Marques de Villarmoir." half of them with '"Tours" as his residence. half with "Rome." He had paid four lire deposit on them, and had given as his address '"No. 42, Via di S:inta Chiara.'' which is that of the French ecclesiastical seminary. The following day lie had visited the slinlio of the Cavalicre Felice, official photographer of the Vatican, and expressed a desire to buy the photographs of some cardinals. At his case in a big arm chair the bogus prelate turned the pages of a big album, from which he selected pictures of Cardinal Merry del Val. Cardinal Rampolla. and Cardinal (iranilo di Belmonte. which he took and paid for. A high personage at the Vatican d«>i vibes the advent urcr I bus: "lie seemed an a tractive person both in face and in manners, although rather affected ami slightly too unctions. There was a certain indescribable something about him that made one hesitate to tru-f him fully. From the few sentences I exchanged with him I formed the impression that, his culture was a lavcr of plate covering base metal." 11 was easy for liini to penetrate the seminaries and {lie monasteries. Every one of these has a weak spot somewhere, and he, had but to discover this.

Gindri's methods were. as various as his names, and depended always upon tlio character of tin; man lies was planning' to entrap. lie, solicited aid for charitable or philanthropic objects, more often real than imaginary: lie offered reinvestments of capital at higher rates of interest; here and there, when he had an ambitious and not .too scrupulous man to deal with, lie propounded schemes for this man's) promotion by means of bribes placed in the right quarters. (letting forged cheques cashed was another and very simple method of obtaining money. When searched Gindri had in his pocket a cheque book on the. Credit Lyonais, which has branches all over Europe. The stubs in the book showed that cheques had been cashed for hint by ecclesiastical dignitaries, aL though the only deposit lie had made was one of 500 francs. In his pockets were also a solid silver purse containing over CSO ill foreign money, several diamond rings, and a gold watch set with, diamonds. ' This extraordinary young scoundrel is tall, slender, with a hooked nose, black eyes and black hair. He speaks Italian, French, German, English, Latin and Greek. He is to be sent .successively to each of the cities where he is "wanted"; in each of tlie.m lie will be tried and, if convicted, will be sentenced. So he has the prospect of four or five prison tqrms, one after another, in different parts of Italy.