The Big Hole swindle

These days there are any number of opportunities that present themselves to people who don’t put any faith in the adage that if it looks or sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The black holes they disappear into come courtesy of the internet. In 1887 there was no internet but there was also no shortage of conmen looking for an opportunity to relieve the gullible of their hard earned. Back then the black hole that presented itself was actually a 100-metre-deep geological formation known as the Big Hole. Located in Deua National Park, east of Canberra, it is thought to have formed about 50 million years ago when the roof of a cave collapsed. The hole was quite legendary and the source of numerous fictional claims. Some said it was bottomless, others said it was haunted by the unfortunates who had intentionally or accidentally plunged to their deaths. Religious zealots declared it was the gateway to hell and the inebriated claimed there was untold pirate treasure buried at the bottom. In 1887 a sizeable crowd watched on as Sydney photographer, Alexander Fraser, descended to the bottom of the Big Hole. He disappeared from sight under an overhang, later emerging claiming to have found “a ready-made gold mine giving promise of great riches”.

Fraser began selling £1 shares into a mining operation at the Big Hole and a neighbouring mine he said was the source of the gold. The scheme attracted interest from Sydney’s wealthy elite: barristers, attorneys, and even a judge. To convince his investors and give the scheme credibility, Fraser invented characters, notably, a London-based mining investor and millionaire called Mr Stangor, and a German mining expert Gustave Von Dahl – who supported the project and confirmed via written correspondence that the rocks were likely rich in gold and diamonds.

The Big Hole in Deua National Park

“You have, at least, a very excellent gold mine and one of the sort that lasts forever,” Mr Stangor (aka Alexander Fraser) wrote in a letter dated the 8th of January, 1902. Fraser promised investors a £26,000 return on a £150 investment, at which point anyone with a modicum of intelligence would have asked why, if he already had a multi-millionaire backer in Mr Stangor, would he need to offer anyone else the opportunity of such a fantastic return on such a comparatively small outlay. But greed has a way of warping people’s judgement. Fraser then began crafting letters from Stangor explaining why the project had some delays and added to his duplicity by taking the letters to some of his investors and asking them to explain the more complex sections to him. As the delays dragged on, investors became more and more suspicious. When some of his more prominent investors demanded to meet Stangor, Fraser told them he was a recluse because he had a disease “from a fractured leg, which had developed into necrosis of the bone, causing an unpleasant smell.” Then the entire scheme unravelled because of a quirky typewriter. An investor noticed all the letters written from Stangor, regardless of where he purportedly was in the world, were written on the same typewriter – identifiable because the top of the letter ‘a’ was missing, and the N was out of alignment. The quirks all matched Fraser’s typewriter. After this revelation the whole scheme crumbled and Fraser was summarily arrested. We’ll let the Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal of Saturday the 6th of July, 1907, finish the story: At the Darlinghurst Sessions on Tuesday morning Judge Murray passed sentence on Alexander Fraser.

The prisoner had pleaded guilty to having at Sydney, on June 15, 1903, falsely pretended to William Hessel Linsley that Fraser had purchased certain land known as the Big Hole, situated at Little Plain, in New South Wales, and that the title deeds for the land were lodged in the Bank of New South Wales at Braidwood, by means of which false pretences Fraser obtained from Mr. Linsley the sum of £290. He also admitted he had obtained £100 from Anthony Weaver at Sydney on January 2, 1906, by means of a similar false pretence. Detective Gallagher said that he made inquiries, and he had ascertained that Fraser had obtained between £8,000 and £10,000 as a result of the Big Hole Swindle. The money went wholly to Fraser, as it could be proved be had cashed the cheques himself at business places in the city. He spent money freely. He gave dinners to his friends and acquaintances and thus made himself popular. Fraser has a wife and ten children.

In passing sentence, Judge Murray said: “This is one of the most extraordinary cases of persistent and deliberate fraud which in my opinion has ever come before the Court. I do not know if there ever was a man named Stanger (sic), but in my opinion there was not. The swindle had a small start, no doubt, but it appeared to have gone on like a snowball, and involved in its operation men of ability. Doctors had been induced to come into it, as also others who were ready to rush into anything savouring of mining speculation, but because there are some fools in the world that fact does not give knaves the right to exploit them. “Fraser is himself a man apparently of ability and considerable energy, and appeared to have led an honest life up to the time of starting the swindle. It seems clear that he did go once to the bottom of the Big Hole, but what be found there no one but himself knows. With his knowledge of mining, and the use of explosives, he managed to impose upon, and successfully rob a number of people of large sums of money.

“Great speculations in crime are very alluring unless those engaged in them have over their heads the fear of heavy punishment. A man who goes for a big stake must expect to suffer heavily if he goes down. I should be doing very wrong if I did not inflict a heavy sentence where a man has perpetrated such a big swindle as in this case, when he has at last been bowled out. Fraser certainly pleaded guilty, but only when the game was up. Therefore, under the circumstances, I really do not see what I can do but either pass the highest sentence or something very little short of the highest sentence the law provides. “The full term is five years’ penal servitude, and this is one of the offences where sentences amounting to something like a century or more could have been passed. There are two charges to which Fraser had pleaded guilty, but I shall take them as one offence. I cannot see how I can pass a sentence of less than five years’ penal servitude. That sentence I now pass on each charge, the terms to be concurrent. This I will say, that if it can be proved that some mastermind had controlled the prisoner, as has been stated, and that Fraser was not the leader, but only a tool – a dishonest tool – I shall then recommend that the sentence be cut down. I must, however, take it that he is the only criminal.” Fraser, who seemed dumbfounded at the sentence was ordered to be removed from the court.