Evening star., 1923-06-03
BY STERLING HEILIG.
DApTo "ou

PARIS, May "a.
tn HE supposed leader of con-
fidence gang coming up from
Biarritz in his magnificent
las, franc touring car. was
found to have hid In 1t some 100000
francs in French money and 100000
francs In Spanish currency and
| jewelry.
He had drawn these small trifies
| out of Spanish bank accounts and
| safe-deposit boxes-to make the
/ pleasure trip for self and wife. to
"sweeten the pot" for his principal
| lieutenants In Paris and to salt down
| a few hundred thousands very pri-
vately!
Hum, hum! Think now! Is IT not
rather rich for the "con" game?
The confidence game is good. 1t
is a reliable bread -winner-in the
large way of palace hotels. lobster
restaurants, smart clothes and dia-
mond front-as understood by its
practitioners to be the real life.
Sometimes they go broke, backing
ponies or bucking the wheel with sew
I eral zeros and an eagle-bird. And,
then, by getting back to work, they
have their roll again. A large, wage
paying graft.
But can you see a confidence man
drawing 100000 francs from his
Monaco bankers-and paying 5000
francs bonus commission to receive
the sum in ready cash that after
| noon? Can you imagine him with
other bank accounts, in Spain, from
which to draw the 100000 francs
pesetas found hidden with the jewels
| in the touring car?
Why. the cars upholstery was fitted
everywhere with cunning hiding
pockets and ouriously concealed trays
in the carriage body-which had to
be measured, outside and inside. to
account for the space they occupied.
Why, those trays could stand frontier
examinations!
IyIyHAT were they for? Exchanging
w pocketbooks? No. Here is
glimpse:
The expensive touring cars were
not designed for the confidence
game-thongh they won confidence
of police and public. And the big
bank accounts in Spain. France,
Monaco were not exactly velvet from
exchanging pocketbooks with fuddled
tourists on the Boulevard or Avenue
Louise!
In these unprecedented riches of
do oil
of a sideline, rich beyond the dreams
of bunk, and secret, not denounced
even by its victims. kept quiet with
a cold determination by it's occasional
practitioners and protected. camou-
fiaged by interests-interests strong
enough to keep the story from the
public and remote enough to seem
indefinitely unconnected with the
"con" game. or the great, new secret
Robbing European museums and
churches.
The man who invented it as big
business was the prosperous pro-
prietor OF a big barrel factory at
clermont-Ferrand. Nobody dreamed
of suspecting the manufacturer in
his touring car.
He became famous. finally, by get
ting away with the 100000 franc
reliquary of Ambezac from the little
old church of which 1t had been the
historic treasure since the sack of
the Abbey of Grammont In the rev.
olution.
He sold the reliquary in England.
and it is supposed to be in America.
He was finally Jailed for robbing the
museum of Gueret-2500o0 francs
worth of selected objects. including
the jeweled gold-and ivory bust of
st. Pardoux and a lot of priceless
embroideries.
About that time Mr.. Morgan loaned
his Ascoii cope. with other precious
exhibits, to the South Kensington
Museum. There the cope was recog-
nized and denounced by a connoisseur
of textile art, and promptly restored
by Mr. Morgan to the Italian gov
! ernment, which had mourned its loss
for three years. The loss he pocketed
was $4,000. But 1t was never learned
from whom he had bought the cope.
These old thefts showed the way