CONFIDENCE TRICK.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 24 April 1913, Page 7

CONFIDENCE TRICK.

I GERMAN VISITOR ROBBED. A BILLET IN NEW ZEALAND The confidence trick was worked n Sydney on Saturday afternoon a woek ago on a new arrival from Germany, Eugene Berger, who was to depa-rt for New Zealand by the stumer Warrimoo. He lost two Bank of England notes' for £5 each, and if* lamenting the fa-ct that the storj told him by. the eonjidence men and their engagement of him for a lucrative position in Wellington, New Zenland, are untrue. He unfolded his story at the Detective Office this morning, a.:id every effort will he made to-day to effect arrests on the good description of the men given by Berger. Berger arrived here on Friday, and booked his passage by the Wamino) for Auckland. He speaks English fairly well, and when accosted by a confidence man omi the deck of the vessel some hours before it sailed, ho entered into a conversation with the stranger. A walk round (the city was suggested, and he went with his newly-found friend for a stroll. The confidence man told Berger that he was a large manufacturer in New South Wales and New and that he owned several valuable builJings in the city. He pointed out the Queen Victoria Markets as one of his assets, .'and the German gazed i»i astonishment at the massive pile of buildings, and then at his companion He felt satisfied that he had met •» man of wealth, and, being himseif within a few pounds of poverty, he concluded that it would be a> goo < ,idea to follow the advice of his supposed opulent friend. As the pair were standing ir= front of the markets, after viewing them for some time, another man came along and familiarly greeted the confidence man. They commenced to talk earnestly on doings connectedwit'h the Stock Exchange, and their possibilities of making a good profit on shares that were to be marketed to-day. The trend of the conversation was -extremely interesting to the visitor - , and the man who met the German on. the steamer and induced him to go for a walk, broke off the conversation with his confederate and, turning to Berger, told him tha» his friend was his Wellington manager, and he would employ him when he arrived in the New Zealand capital. At his .request, the German handed over his money to him They wandered about the city for gome time, but when in Pitt street, the pair of confidence men slipped their victim and got away.