Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-05-03
CRIMINALS
5WlNDLERS WHO GAVE AWAY BIG
FORTUNES IN CHARITY.
Many Instances 81 Men who became
Outrageous Robbers For the Pur-
pose of Relieving Misery and Dis
tre.s with Their III Gotten Gains.

Two or three charitable institutes in
Italy owe their foundation to n famous
swindler named Rosclli whose whole
q m in life seems to have been to bene-
fit poor children who. like himself, were
crippes Originally possessed Of
small fortune. he practically beggared
himself with this most worthy object.
But there. of course. he should have
Stopped. Instead of doing SO, however.
he embarked on Il series Of gigantic
frauds. by which he became possessed
of many tens of thousands of pounds.
which he devoted to the cause of Grip
pies The disinteresteducsI of the mo- /
tive for his crimes is established l's the /
fact that he himself lived most frugal /
~ in quite humble circumstances while
he wns dispensing thousands Of pounds
in charity. every penny of his i'll gotten
gains going in this way. Hundreds OF
cripples and other suffering children
learned 10 bless his name. and II Is es-
tmated that ho gave away between
100000 AMI 200 COO TO relieve the SUI
ferngs and brighten the lives Of those
"whom God had not made straight
During his somewhat brief career
as n man of wealth. Rcdpath. the rail-
way clerk. who swindlod his employ
crs Of nearly quarter of million
hounds By means of forged stock Ger
tifcatee, dispensed very consider
able sum Of money in charity. Lend
ing n double life and. ont Of office
hours. posing as successful finnncler.
he was constantly applied to by his
acouaintances to assist charities IN
which they were interested. and he
| helped others as generously as ne had
heped himself. TO beggars he rarely
! gave loss than n sovereign, and time
upon time he went "slumming' in Or
| der to help cases of distress.
| But it cannot. Of course. he asserted
that his gigantic frauds were operated
BY him with the object OF being char
table. He was undoubtedly generous
and the total amount of money he gave
away in charity would have kept him
in luxury all his life. Palmer, the
daring burglar, it would seem. en-
parked on his wonderfully successful
career Of crime solely from perverted
nbjlanthropic motives. He lived humb!y
and gave away all he stole. Redpath
lived in such lordly style that one Won
ders that he should have managed n
escape detection for so long as ten
years.
Palmer was without doubt the most
successful burglar England has evo'
known. not only because his haul~
were generally rich, but because dur
E ing whole decade Of systematic
crime he never once fell into the hands
Of the police. 1t is estimated that III
"acnuippd' more than 100000 in the
course Of his career. and almost every
penny Of this was given away in char
itv. Norwich where he lived. owe
him n debt Of gratitude it is not likcl,
- quickly to forget for his herofaction
in that town alone ran into tens o
y thousands Of pounds. No local case o
o distress ever came under his notlc
q without receiving help from him. Tn
old and crippled particularly evoked
his charity, and it is said that he sp"n
upward of E5o,000 in establishing al
infirmary.
In no small measure was II due I
his charitable propensities that Nln
the famous bank clerk who robbie
the Bank Of Belgium of nearly mi
lion of money, drifted on his career
crime. 1t was his ambition to he
great philanthropiet. but as ban
II clerk he had not the means. and. hol
ing to get rich quickly. he went III tC
III rash spoculations Losing, he robbie
his employers 10 obtain III" none
- with which to pay his account anu
J make another attempt. He found
conparatively easy In get hold of lar!
sums of money III this way. ana
"" went on stealing not only 10 pay Il
losses, but also to obtain funds WI
which 10 be charitable while lie WI
,d waiting for great stroke of luck
it, make him rich and thus repay his be
rowings.
Luck. however. was against MI
and one day he awokc to the fact ID
ND he had in all robbed the bank of nef
" Fl 200. 600. which he could ncV
hope to repay. Discovery being
evitnbla. he fed, only, however, 10
NJ caught and sentenced to fifteen yea
Imprisonment.
10 Milreau. who was said to have no
connected with some OF the best far
lies in France and to have possess
considerable means until ruined
the Panama canal disaster, was on"
the best friends the hoGgars of Ia
ever had, and 10 obtain funds for he
ing them he became a systematic TN
m, lie used to frequent the tashona
= streets during the day and pick POI
cts. and by night dressed in rAgt
clothes. he dispensed the spoils to
first bcGgars h mot For years
les continued the practice without be
suspected. and it was by pure char
that he eventually did fall into
1g- hands Of the police. When his lodgi'
ION were searched sufficiently ON
purses We're found to fill large pa
ing case. and it was made clear that
had stolen hundreds of watches ;
'' scarfpins. while he had been pinch
=. and contriying to live rcspcctu
man on few francs week 81
or. from the ruin Of his fortunc.-Lon
TtBits.
HHrd Woods.
The hardest known wood Is 60
= wood. II is much used in the manu-
turc of flutes clarinetS and other