THE DE GONCOURT FRAUD. 247 



of all ages : therefore although betting, as I have before said, 

 has ruined ten times the number of men that ever the keep- 

 ing of racehorses has done, it is perhaps useless to advise 

 people not to bet as a rule, but rather to recommend them to 

 keep a few horses and back them, and them only, on fitting 

 occasions. Gentlemen would thus combine pleasure with 

 genuine sport, in witnessing the running of their own horses, 

 and would be in the end richer men. 



No better example could be given of the methods in 

 which the tipster and his unscrupulous colleagues gull their 

 friends (}) the public than that of the notorious case of 

 Madame de Goncourt,^ and it may be added that thousands 

 of similar scandalous robberies, most of them on a smaller 

 scale no doubt, take place. This instance is one lesson 

 salutary enough to cause on the part of all sensible men, 

 avoidance of the tipsters ; for it is very clear that men 

 who for years had done their duty as officers of the police, 

 fell when brought into contact with their contaminating 

 influence. 



I should not omit to mention certain bettors who, as a 



^ In this case William Kurr, F. Kurr, and Benson, contrived to defraud a 

 French lady (then living in France) of ^10, 000 in an incredibly short space of time. 

 The extent to which they may have robbed other people does not appear, but 

 ^100,000 is possibly not too high an estimate of the total. Madame de Goncourt 

 M'as fortunate enough to have the greater portion of her money restored, as it was 

 traced to the men and given up to the authorities. In this case the swindlers' 

 avariciousness defeated their own ends. The ;^io,ooo might have been secured, 

 had they not endeavoured to obtain a further sum of no less than ;i^30,ooo, which 

 it was shown the confiding lady was willing to send them, but, fortunately for 

 herself, she had to apply to her bankers or solicitors before doing so, and thus in- 

 quiry was made and suspicion aroused. The trial exposed the wide ramifications 

 of the evil ; for Mr. Froggatt, a solicitor, and others high in authority in the police 

 force were found to be implicated as accessories, and were subsequently, on the 

 evidence of the thieves them elves fully corroborated in the chief points, convicted, 

 and sent to hard labour. 



