KOEPENICK OUTDONE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9677, 29 December 1909, Page 3

KOEPENICK OUTDONE.

AUDACIOUS COUP IN COURT. YOUTHS IMPERSONATE JUDGES AND FORGE WARRANTS. After bringing off a coup which compares in cool audacity with the historic Koepenick affair, three young Germans are now awaiting the pcriiiHy of their knavery. Their exploit consiste" in penetrating the pro-.-incta of the Berlin Civil Court, donning the judges gowns, and arming themselves with the means of extorting money out of people who had come within the jurisdiction of the courts. Thus they collected £2OO. The idea originated with Lcthar Ludke, a young man of about 21, who had been a dentist and a waiter For some time he was employed in a subordinate capacity in the large and handsome police presidancy which nouses the principal civil courts. He left this post to serve a senter.ee of nine months' imprisonment for theft, and appears, probably under the inspiration of Vogit, the "captain" of Koepenick fame, to have spent his solitude in thinking out some means of turning the engine of the lav/ to his own advantage.

Out of gaol he enlisted in his cause Willi Warnitzki, a cyclist, and Har.s Meyer, a cook. About the end of last month, just after the judges had risen about four o'clock one afternoon, the three all about the same age, mingled with the groups of witnesses and other people who were leftMn the public corridors. Presently they found themselves alone in fla stretch of passage, and then it was that Ludke's intimate acquaintance with the place came in useful to the trio. Unnoticed they opened the door of one of the judges' retiring rooms. It was unoccupied, and a row of black robes were hanging on pegs on the wall. In an instant they had taken down three of these and donned them, together with tne judicial oirettas. KOUTED THE CHAKwOMAN. This done, they sallied into tie corridors onve more, bound for one of the rooms where the preliminary examination of cases is gone into, and where there were cupboards full of papers giving all details. Their immunity from detection appears less remarkable when it is remembered that in these particular)law courts there are 350 judges, forty public prosecutors, and 84 commercial arbitrators, all of whom wear the same head dress and costumes. °™ln the first room, they came to charwomen who were busy cleaning ort, but before the majesty of the judicial rotes they beat a haaty retreat, leaving;the trio in full possession. They took out a few bundles of parers at random, and,Rrouped round the tabit 1 , were soon afasorbeJ in an examination of the various documents. Now and then an attendant dartad in unceremoniously, and seeing, as he though*, three judges still deeply engaged in unravelling some knotty kg' l ! point, stammered a confused apology for his intrusion, and retired. Within a short time they had possessed themselves of quite a number of papers showing the names of persons whose property was about to be distrained upon, and it did not take long to fill in blank distress warrants and endorse them with the court stamp. They also obtained a number of the forms on which c tbe courts are accustomed to deroa»id from litigants contributionsjtowards the judicial expenses already incurred in their suits. These were filled in with names and addreiases taken from the bundles of papers, and with sums varying from £lO to upwards of £SO, subscribed with imaginary signatures, an 1 impressea with tht official j scamp. USE OF THE OFFICIAL STAMP. On official paper and order was drawn up in official language conlernng on the bearer power to execute t<e warrants of the court, and that magic symbol, the official stamp, was imprinted also upon this. After five hours they threw off their gowns and strolled out. To give themselves the necessary professional appearance, which was advisable to account for their presence in the courts at that advanced hour, they carried away under their arm a number of valuable law tomes, which were disposed of at the nearest sec-ond-hand book shop. Provided with their forged official documents, they then proceeded to extort money from various victims, all of whom fell into the trap, and parted with substantial buni3 in the belief that they were paying public officials went to obtain the money. Their audacious fraud succeeded in thirty-one cases, and the total amount plundered was close on £2OO. Ludke was arrested a;t Vienna, and will be extradited His two accomplices had already been captured.