A CLEVER SWINDLE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3144, 4 March 1889, Page 2

A CLEVER SWINDLE.

; The particulars of m/in)pudent and clever swindle liaVe, says the Dundee.People's Journal, just oome ■ to light. The victim is an accom- ' ; plislied lady, tlio Lead of ono of tlio scholastic establishments in the town, The modus operandi adopted is almost ; unique, and the story told. of an extraordinary and impudent' character. About 'three o'clook of the afternoon-of Tuesday week, a cab drove up tlio young ladies'school in question, from' which, a young and fashionably-dressed woman alighted, - " She proceeded to the front door, rang the bell, and handed her card to the servant., She wfts subsequently shown into thedrawing-room, 1 where she was interviewed by the ' head of the ■■ establishment. Slio >' ] gave her address as that of a woll- r < i known hall in Somersetshire, and proceeded to explain the object of her -•' visit. She was attired in a costly - sealskin jacket, a hat ' trimmediith - yellow feathers, and a silk appeared to be in every lespect a well educated and thoroughly domes'. " ' ticatedlady. She stated that Bhe„, ' > had two daughters, aged iesp°ctively~ cloven and oight yoaw, whom Jhg ' m wished to place tindei the c&ie'lft

1 =f ■iuitiou of ii thoroughly capable mid trustworthy lady, where they would recoivo a first-class education : with homo comforts, During the interview, which extended over two ; bote, she stated that tho girls would liavo to romain in tho school , for several years, as her husband was in very delicate health, and she -was about to accompany him to Algiers, where she hoped the warmer olimate would restore'him to convalescence, Sho then appeared to be much distressed at haviug to part from her" dear children'' for so long but was satisfied that in tho cure of the lady she was interviewing they ■would be woll looked afte?. Having inspected tho bedroom in which they ' were to sloop, Ifed expressed horself satisfied with Iho' arrangements, she proceoded with much sang fnml to give minute instructions as to their religious education, and said she was particularly anxious tliat it should be " Low Churoli," and that tlioy should . never go to a theatre. Sho pretended to have heard much of the educational .•.advantages of the school in question tho Bishop of Worcester and "roTßishop of Beverley, with whom she frequently dined; and said sho was related to Lady Howard, of • Malton Hall, who usually wintered in Clarendon-square Leamington. Attho "invitation of tho schoolmistress, she, with reluctance, stayed'to tea; and, everything having been satisfactorily settled, it was arranged that the head of tho educational establishment should go to ihe hnU on the following Saturday to fetch the two new pupils tho woman adding," I will send my carriage and pair to meet you at the raitway station," After a most affectionate farewell, during which kisses were exchanged, tho woman was about to leave when she put her hand into a sealskin satchel she was carrying, and discovered that sho had lost her purse, She appeared much dis tAed, and said sho could only [Mint for tho fact by something which'transpired at Bristol Station, where she arrived late, and sent her made to get her ticket. Tho maid must have forgotten to return the purso to her. The plausible story told appears to have thrown the completely off her guard, and fllie at once volunteered to help the "stranger out of her temporary difficulty. Tho woman laid stress upon the fact that it was absolutely necessary she should return home that evening to prepare her children for their new home- As sho had several purchases to make in Leamington, and her railway faro to pay to Wes-ton-super-Mare, for she had not taken a return ticket, it was essential that she should have the immediate use of several pounds. The schoolmistress thereupon, with the greatest confidence, fetched her all her available cash—a considerable sum —and, with another affectionate leave-taking, and many thanks for tho accommodation, with % promise ta-return a cheque for the amount ' j|tth6 next mail, tho woman departed, and drove to the railway station, where she paid the cabman in silver, which proved that sho must liavo had money in her possession before she received the gold from tho lady at the school. The postman has not arrived with tho anxiously-looked for cheque, and, aftor one or two posts had gone by, it suddenly dawned upon the lady that she had tho victim of a clever and -Wngenious swindle. Inquiries made ■/by the police go to corroborate this belief, and heads of educational establishments will do well to be on their guard.

A London Fog. London was visited by a great fog on New Year's Eve, wliicli occasioned more inconvenience than usual, owing to the increased traffic in the streets, t ell-known literary man supplied ersonal experience during the evening' to the' Pall Mall Gazette. He said:-' 1 1 suppose a thousand persons could tell a story similar to my own, and yet after travelling much on three continents, I cao safely aver that I never' was in a position of greater danger than that in which I was placed on Monday night, Leaving a club in Pall Mall about G o'clock, I was lucky enough to meat on the steps a certain learned judge, who is my near neighbor in South Kensington. We agreed to go home together, and commenced onr journey in a "four-wheeler. 1 At that time the fog was by no means bad in Pall Mall, and we had not the faintest notion of what lay before us. /, At the top of St. James 1 street, how<lfoever,j wo plunged into a mass of > dirty grey vapor, where men and horses were dimly visible struggling •opposite directions with the utmost iculty. Gradually the fog became more dense, until when opposite Devonshire house we saw that it was hopeless to attempt to proceed along Piccadilly. Already wo had been in collision with sundry cabs and onroi- ■ busses, and it was clear that our position was a dangerous one, Our driver was ordered to turn round, and take us to the Metropolitan station at Charing Cross. Turn round ho certainly did, but m the process, he evidently lost all senses as to his whereabouts, for by-and-by wo discovered that we were in the ' midst of some silent space. Nothing was visible but a lamp post: the -silence, however, told us that we could no longer bo in Piccadilly. A cry from our driver for information brought back from the depths a hollow voice, whioh announced that wo were in the middle ofßerkeley-square. Then our horse took fright, aud began to back quickly—Whithor n one knew. 1 Get to his hoad,' roared the cabman, 1 or we'll all be upset. some difficulty we got out of, cab, and, satisfied that it was j useless to pursue our journey in that' fashion, dismissed our driver. Then for.wjcarter of an hour we groped our waf northwards, hoping to find tilings better in Oxford street than they were in Piccadilly. It was liko ' walking along the gallery of a coal mine. Nothing could be seen save a few feet of the railinp and walls, which we were hugging, and the feeble glimmer of a single lamp. No one could have told whether we were iu a cavern, a street, or a squaro. Once, indeed, we did find ourselves in a stable yard, having taken a wrong turn. At last, wo emerged into a place which we know must be Oxford Btreet, by the tumult of noise which filled it. Hero the scone would have • filled anyone but a bom Londoner with terror. Close to us, made visible by the sickly lights from the shops; wore mon and women pushing mi-

wards with scared and bewildered

faces. Nothing could be seen in the roadway, for the fog seemed to be absolutely solid. But from that m black t,all emerged a babel of sound—the oaths of drivers, thq ' '.'shrieks of terrified men and women, ; the stumbling of liorses, and lW and then the heavy crash of a colli] §Bi,OQ between two of the yebiclos; evidently crowded the whole

streot, Arm in arm my friend imd I walked westwards. At last wo roached Park Lane, and by great good fortuno succeeded in crossing without meeting with an accidont. Wo had the Park railings besido us, and clinging to these wo wero enabled to advance with comparative ease. From Notting Hill wo made our way down to South Kensington, and so two hours or thereabouts after leaving Pall Mall, arrived at our homes in safety."