Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-13 00:00:00

SWINDLING ON A. GRAND SCALE.

The Tribunal of Correctional Police, at Paris, on
Saturday, tried by default a married woman named
Duboys and her son, a young man 30 years of age, for
swindling. The circumstances were curious :—The
woman, it appears, is the wife of a superior employe of the
ponts-et chausees, a highly respectable man, and for some
years she lived happily with him. M. Duboys having
received an appointment in Martinique, went to that
island, leaving his wife and son at Paris. On his return,
after the lapse of a few years, he learned that the woman,
for whom he entertained a profound affection, had
assumed the title of Countess de la. Vigerie, to which she
had no right whatsoever, though La Vigerie was her
maiden name ; that she had run into debt, obtained done.
tions 'from the charitable on pretext of bringing up a
foundling, an Indian, whom she had adopted, and had com-
mitted other reprehensible acts, besides bringing up her
son in a way that no good mother would. Profoundly
afflicted, M. Duboys deemed it prudent to separate from
her, and he obtained a few years back an appointment in
Algeria. After his departure the mother and her son took
to swindling as their regular means of livelihood. They
established what they called a " Society of Progress and
General Welfare," the objects of which were rather vari-
ous-1. To moralise youth by gratuitous lessons in drawing,
music, and sculpture ; 2. To establish religious singing
associations ; 3. To relieve the widows and daughters of
functionaries in distress; 4. To supply pure milk to the
Parisian population by means of an office called the
" Laiterie Imperiale," with a capital of 600,000 f; and 5.
To get up a lottery of 400,000 f to relieve the distress
caused by high rents. This society, they pretended, was
not only under the special patronage of the',Ernperor and
the Empress, but had been formed by their Majesties, and
was started by funds generously contributed by them.
The subscription to it was 24f a year. The prisoners
took a splendidly furnished apartment in the Rue St.
Honore for its offices, and while the male prisoner attached
to himself a private secretary, and aide-de-camp (such was
the title given), and a number of inferior employes, his
mother, who called herself directress of the society, sur-
rounded herself with a number of females, to whom she
promised different places. The mother and son talked in the
most magnificent way of their intimacy with the Emperor
and Empress, showed presents which they said their
Majesties had made them, and often went to the Tuileries
to, as they alleged, see their Majesties. Not content with
the Emperor's friendship, the young man, besides, gave
himself out as a grand officer of the Legion of Honour and
as a Knight of the Garter. Notwithstanding all this,
subscriptions to the society came in but slowly, but foolish
tradesmen eagerly gave credit, and among them were a
horse dealer, a dressmaker, a confectioner, &c. The pri-
vate secretary and other employes were also persuaded to
make advances of money and to sign bills of exchange.
The accused, moreovar, attempted to swindle a tailor
out of a quantity of spleadid uniforms and liveries
for the " functionaries of the administration," and
for their servants ; but the tailor intimated that
he :could not give up his goods without being paid
first. The insolence with which the accused talked of
great personages was really remarkable ; they gave grand
parties, at which figured Russian princes and princesses
by the dozen—at least people calling themselves so—
and one day they pompously announced that Marshal
Magnan would not only visit them, but meant to lend them
the band of the Guides. Although they pretended to be
on very intimate terms with the Emperor, the man on
one occasion complained to a person whom he wanted to
dupe that his Majesty had not paid him a sum of 15,000 f.
which he had promised ; " but," said he. " at a review, I
went without ceremony up to the Emperor, and, taking
his horse by the bridle, said, Your Majesty must pay
me !' on which the Emperor gave a draught on the Public
Treasury for the money I" He also represented to his
dupes that the Emperor had directed him to hire the
Jardin d'Hives, in order to give a public explanation of
the objects of the Society of Progress and General Wel-
fare. At length tradesmen, not being paid, asked for
their money, on which the mother and son decamped to
Belgium, where they have since remained. The tribunal
condemned them severally,' to five years' imprisonment,
and I,ooof. fine.

A FRENCH BURGLARY.

The Court of Assizes of the Haute-Garonne has just
been occupied two days in trying eight then for burglary
and six women for complicity in the same. It appeared
that a very old gentleman, named Montauriol, resides
in a large house called Chateau de Bastards, in the
commune of Mongiscard, and has all his life been accus-
tomed to keep a large part of his fortune, which is in
specie and bank notes, in his house. The male priso
ners, all worthless characters, of the adjacent village o
Montesquieu, formed the project of breaking into tbef
house and stealing the money. Accordingly, in the
night of the 25th of September last, they went to
the chateau, carrying with them several sacks, which
they proposed to fill with the money, and also
taking a horse to carry their booty away. To effect an
entrance they began cutting a hole in the outer
wall, but the dogs barked so furiously that they deemed
it prudent to take to flight. Two or three nights after
tf,..3. rand:blow-1 tho ottompt, but for the Is aloe reason it
failed. At length, in the night of the Ist December, they
went to the house, and while some kept watch around it,
the others made a hole in the wall which enabled them to
undo the fastenings of a door. They then entered and
ascended to the room in which old M. Montauriol was
sleeping. His female servant, who was the only person in
the house besides himself, hearing a noise, came from her
room, but the men pushed her back into it, and fastened
the door. The eld man having been roused, uttered loud
cries, and one of the burglars, dragging him from the bed,
told him they were twenty in number, and would murder
lam if lie stirred ; but he continued to cry out, and
they beat him violently about the head until he was
silent. They then went into the room in which the
money was kept, and, breaking open a cupboard,
proceeded to fill their sacks with money. Mean-
while, the female servant, opening her window, gave
the alarm. Some farm labourers, in the service of Mon-
tauriol, hearing the cries hurried to the chateau ; and ou
their approach the burglars took to flight, carrying with
them the money which they had collected. They after-
wards divided the booty in different proportions according
to the share each had had in the burglary. As to the
women, who were wives of six of the men, they also
received portions of the stolen money. On some of the
burglars being arrested, one of them made full revelations
respecting the whole affair. The precise amount which
was stolen was not known by M. Montauriol, but the
prisoners themselves confessed that it was 35,835 f. The
jury acquitted the six women and one of the men, who
was very old, and convicted the other seven prisoners.
The court condemned them to periods of hard labour,
varying from six to 20 years. In the course of the trial
it was stated that the sum M. Montauriol was accustomed
to keep in his house was not less than 1,000,000 f, of which
about 100,000 f were in gold, 100,0001 in bank notes, and
the rest in silvan It was also stated that his total fortune
is about 2,00u,000f, and that he made it by speculations in
houses, land, and corn; but that, notwithstanding his
wealth, he lived in the most miserly manner, and was
stated for many years not to have eaten meat or game.
The old man, who was called as a witness, is perfectly
blind, but he proved to the court that he could by the mere
touch tell one bank note from another.—Galignani's
Messenger.

The Fife Journal reports a subterraneous fire ill the
Dysart coal seam. In the village, says the same authority,
" the walls are rending, the line is bursting at some places
off the walls, numbers of the doors will not shut, and
some of the floors are bursting asunder. The farmhouse
of Branaton is torn, and swayed, and propped to hold it
up."

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF TILE PRE3BYTERIAN CHURCH IN
IRELAND.—This court commenced its annual sittings on
Monday evening, in gay-street Presbyterian Church.
1 here was a very large attendance of ministers and elders,
and the public generally. The meeting was for the pur-
pose of electing a moderator for the ensuing year. There
were two candidates—Dr. Gu'ly and Mr. Johnston—the
former being chosen by a large majority.
POLICE LAW IN Dunreer.--The corporation, at its meet-
ing on Monday, resolved to petition parliament against a
most arbitrary and mischievous bill brought in by the Irish
Secretary (Mr. Herbert) and the Attorney-General. If it
pass, the police will supersede the functions of the local
magistracy—be at once the witnesses, judges, and execu-
tioners is all cases of misdemeanour, and be the best paid
body in the kingdom. It will then be an honour to be a
policeman. Of course, the area and amount of taxation
must be vastly extended to meet this arrant job.
A SCRUPLE OF CONSCIENCE.—111 the progress of a cause
in the Court of Exchequer, a gaunt figure entered
the Court, attired in the garb affected by the Society of
Friends, and wearing a conspicuous white hat, with a
prodigious brim. He had not prcceeded far when his
attention was drawn to his breach of decorum and
etiquette—to say the least of it—by a hint from the usher.
But he replied with a " friendly" shake of the head, and
marched stiffly and slowly to the further end of the
Court. At this point another usher, of rather dwarfish
stature, but more experience, approached, and told him to
" take off his hat" in a tone which drew the eyes of all
the Court on tho offender. He, however, did not remove
his hat, but gravely bowed his head, till the brim of his
hat came within reach of the usher; who, with equal
gravity, removed the hat, and Politely returned it to the
owner. Upon this, the Quaker took his seat, and all the
Court, following the example of the Chief Baron, laughed
selltrhuepyl e
might; for never was the cause of
at him,"conscientious as well
so exposed to ridicule.
TRH AUSTRALIAN MAIL: Little expectation is now
entertained that there will he any Australian mail arrival
this month to supply the gap occas'oned by the breaking
down of the Oneida. The agent of the company in Aus-
tralia contemplated despatching the Simla, supposing she
should arrive in time, lout there is hardly any prospect of
that arrangement having been found possible. It wan
only by this means, or from the despatch of an extra
steamer by the Bombay Government, that there could have
bden a chance of the receipt of later news from India,
pending the neat telegraphic accounts by the regular 4yer
land mail.