The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-21 00:00:00

ENORMOUS FRAUD IN THE CITY.

The Lord Mayor has issued a warrant for the apprehen-
sion of a foreigner named Sigismund Dietrichstein, who
stands charged with having absconded, and taking with him
no kiss a sum than £lO,OOO in Bank of England notes, which
had been obtained by means of fraud and conspiracy.
It appears that the fugitive is by birth a Hungarian, and
that he has resided for several years in England, and carried
on ostensibly the business of a merchant in the City of
London, where he had offices, and he had also a residence
at the West. end of the town, There appears to be no doubt,
however, that his circumstances were not all prosperous,
and although ho appears to have two banking accounts, one
with Messrs. Drummond and another at the City Bank, it
has been ascertained since his f3i rht that the ammunt of
money deposited was very small, and his object was evi-
dently to create confidence in his resources, with a view to
assist him in carrying out his ulterior objects. The mode
in which the money was obtained was this :—lt appears
that for several months the fugitive, in addition to his ordi-
nary occupation of a merchant, has been carrying on some
extensive engagements in time bargains, in foreign stock,
upon the Exchange, and from all that has transpired there
is every reason to believe that he has been backed up in these
proceedings by one or two other foreigners, who are no doubt
parties to the ultimate fraud, and they provided Dietrich.
stein with funds whenever they were required, to pay the
differences that arose upon any account, and this was always
regularly done, so that the brokers were induced to place
reliance upon the resources of the fugitive. Dietrichstein
appeared to have purchased very largely for the account
ending August 29, which happened to be on Saturday, and
the arrangements of the Confederates were all completed by
that day. According to the custom of the Stock Exchange,
when foreign bonds or other securities are taken up by
the parties who purchase them, a cheque is given when
they are handed over, and when the stock purchased by
Dietrichstein, which consisted of Egyptian and Brazilian
Bonds, and which are a description of security as readily
negotiable as Bank of England notes, was handed to him,
ho paid for each security by a cheque upon Messrs. Drum-
mond. The public is aware that the banks close at 2 o'clock
on Saturdays, and the cheques were not given until after
that, this being, no doubt, a part of the plan of Die trich-
stein and his confederates to give them more time, as under
ordinary circumstances the fact that there were no assets
to meet the cheques would not have been known until the
following Monday, and thus 24 hours' more delay would
have been obtained. This part of the scheme, however,
failed from the following circumstance. The parties to
whom the cheques were given, knowing that Dietrichstein
also kept an account at the City Bank, paid the cheques
into that establishment and through their clerk the cheques
upon Drummonds' were sent to the clearin?
•-house ; but it
would seem that the large sum for which they were drawn,
taken in connection with the state of Dietrichstein's ac-
count at the City Bank, created some suspicion, and this
and other circumstances were considered sufficient to justify
an application being made by a confidential party to Messrs.
Drummond, to know whether there were any assets suffi-
cient to meet the two cheques that had been drawn upon
them by Dietrichstein, and this led to a discovery of the
astounding fact that there were only about £25, or at all
events some very small sum, standing to his credit. The
i fraud being thus discovered, steps were of course mine-
diately taken to endeavour to regain possession of the pro-
perty, but it was too late. It was ascertained that im-
mediately the bonds had been obtained they were taken
to two of the City
banks either by Dietrichstein or by
some one on his behalf, i where they were deposited
as security for theadvance of nearly £lO,OOO.
The value of the stock was over £ll,OOO, but a small
margin, as
usual, was kept for the protection of
the bankers making the advance against any fluctuation
that might take place in the market. The money was all
obtained in bank-notes—namely, two of £5OO, six of £2OO,
32 of £lOO, 39 of £5O, and 51 of £2O each; and, no doubt,
the moment it was received Dietrichstein decamped, and he
has not since been heard of. No clue has hitherto been ob-
tained to the bulk of the moneys, a small porta, n only
having been traced to one person, who states that he re-
ceived the notes from Dietrichstein in the ordinary course
of his business, and there are no means of contradicting
this statement.

It ..t is, of course, almost unnecessary to say that not the
slightest blame is attachable to the bankers with reference
to the advance of the money upon the deposit of the stock,
as this is a proceeding of every-day occurrence, many firms
of the highest position frequently finding it necessary to ob-
tain temporary accommodation under similar circumstances,
and consequently the persons who will be the sufferers by
this fraud will be the brokers who delivered the stock.
The fugitive is described as being 33 years of age, sallow
complexion, and wearing small moustache and small
whiskers. His hands and feet are described as being Very
delicate, like those of a woman. He is supposed to be ac-
companied by his wife, a very good-looking woman,2l years
of age, and a son three years old. A reward of £l,OOO has
been cffured for his apprehension.
--

The Murder and Atteinpted Suicide in the
Xarylebone-road.

Mitchell, otherwisTeheeheahpapr:
Basmoilfyno occupation, and residing at
was brought to the Marylebone
by Inspectors Sims and Burrows,
:enamopnths, by
agedplfioB , i ne
/19e I-liray Saturdayniredtb describedOi 13 . eaSarrcoi Sarah
,
and wilfully murdering- her
co hn i
ith:e attendedssahrbeaeyht hertai iiii nurseagflo:r isA rda
.eniTidn
i :m d 3d
feloniously*i
tc
Mitchell,
ha
el
: s ti gentleman.
pe rai
gnet
de n
lad
for examination, but the worthy
her
yr up
q. iddy that she attempting to
ent of the D
stabbing her in the breast with a dagger, on the 31st July
further charged with
ablysocutting her throat with a razor.
commit suicide
hsueiicviadse
div-Uispicionn,thbrisoucghhart
magistrate declined to take cognisance of the case,as she was
already committed on the coronet's warrant. Mr. Mans-
had been in the
Mans-
field thought the proceedings altogether unnecessary; but
custody of the police before the coroner's warrant had been
it was represented
issued, and no attempt had as yet been made, owing to the
extremely feeble state in which she was, to apprehend her
upon it. Great consideration was consequently shown for
her by the officers in charge.
Mr. Sleigh, instructed by Mr. Stopher, Freeston, and
leman-street,
Co., solicitors, 3G, Co appeared for the accused.
After much discussion as to the best course to be taken
under the circumstances,
Mr. Sleigh suggested that the beet plan would be ti have
the prisoner brought in and take the slightest amount of
evidenc9.
It was then arranged that she should be brought in, but
on her reaching the Passage leading to the court, she was
evidently very weak and agitated and gave a shriek.
Eventually it was arranged that Bayles, the coroner's offi-
cer, should take her to Newgate on his warrant, as she
was now certified to be in a fit state for removal, and that
the magistrate should mark the charge sheet to explain the
cause of the case not being heard by him.
Mr. Mansfield accordingly
marked the charge sheet as
follows :

" Before the prisoner was brought before me she was
taken into custody by the coroner's beadle, in virtue of a
warrant for her commilraent for trial on the charge of
murder. "JOHN SMITH MANSFIELD."
Prisoner was then Conveyed in a cab to Newgate. Thus
virtually the police are to longer in the case.

Loss of Another Liverpool Steamer,

LIVERPOOL, S turday.
Another Linrpool serow-steamer has been lost
on the coast of Nova Scotia, but whether by the
prevalence of a storm, foggy weather, and the action
of currents, or
negligence on the part of those in
charge of the ship, we are at present uninformed,
as the telegram announcing the disaster was brought
by the Persia from Cape Race, From other sources,
however, we learn that the Pactolus, under Capt.
Johnson, having on board a large and valuable
cargo, sailed for llalifax and St. John's, New Bruns-
wick, on the 22d of August last, and in due course
reached Halifax, where a portion of the cargo was
discharged, the vessel afterwards proceeding on her
voyage to St. John's. She was not destined, how-
ever, to reach that port, for she struck on a place
called Liverpool, in the neighbourhood of Nova
Scotia, and became a total wreck, little hopes being
expressed of any portion of the cargo being saved.
How the vessel e.itne to get on shore where she did
is at present unknown here, as, by a reference to a
map of that part of the Atlantic, it will be seen that
Liverpool is a long way out of the course generally
taken by vessels sailing from Halifax to St. John's.
The Pactolus was a ship of 653 tons burden, and
was chartered for the voyage to Halifax and St.
NT
John's by
Messrs. Lampert and Holt, of this town.
She was until recently engaged in the trade between
this port and Constantinople, and her career while
in the trade Was a series of mishaps, as she was
never out of " lumber," The telegram makes no
allusion to the fate of the crew.

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