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 uscless 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 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 
1 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 
was lucky enough to have the greater portion of her money restored, as it 
was traced to the men and given up to the authorities; for the swindlers’ 
avariciousness defeated their own ends. The £10,000 miyht have been secured, 
had they not endeavoured to obtain a further sum of no less than £30,000, 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 themselves fully corroborated in the chief points, convicted, 
and sent to hard labour. 
