The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-10-29 00:00:00

SWINDLING & CREDULITY EXTRAORDINARY

The pension board of Chelsea Hospital have lately been
made acquainted with a singularly ingenious fraud which has
been practised under the following circumstances :—A man
passing under the name of Beresford, but whose real name is
John Conwa), a pensioner of the hospital, and who had served
under his ;race the Duke of Wellington, at the battles of Vit-
toria and Waterloo, in the latter of which he lost one of his
hands, has been the principal actor in this fraud, in co-opera-
tion with a person named Middleton, who is understood to be
very respectably connected. The dupe in the present instance
is a Mr. Langley, a retired tradesman, now staying in London,
but formerly resident in Liverpool, where, by assiduity, and
perseverance in his business for a number of years, he accumu-
lated a very comfortable independence. About four months
ago, Mr. Langley, intending to make a tour of England for the
benefit of the impaired health of his wife, was proceeding, ac-
companied by her, by the Holyhead mail to Chester, and fell
in with Beresford, who was a fellow-passenger, but who was,
until that time, an entire stranger. He possessed some con-
siderable conversational powers and beguiled the tediousness
of the journey by relating his exploits in arms, "moving ac-
cidents by flood and field " incidental to a military life, and
hinted that had he but a few hundred pounds, he could realise
a fortune, as he and a comrade had secreted among some
ruins in Vittoria, a treasure consisting of gold coin, Spanish
dollars, and jewellery to the amount of upwards of £lO,OOO.
His comrade was shot at the battle of Vittoria, and the secret
was confined to his knowledge alone. Mr. Langley readily
took the bait, and after many skilful misrepresentations on
the part of Beresf md, it was ultimately agreed that the three,
accompanied by Middleton, whom Beresford had introduced
to his dupes as a person whose services were indispensibly
necessary, from his knowledge of continental strategems, to
secure the safe transit of the treasure, to this country, should
forthwith proceed to Vittoria, Mr. Langley undertaking to
advance the necessary expenses, and in the meantime feasting
the cheats, in the most liberal manner. The projected tour
of England was abandoned for that of a visit to the continent,
and they proceeded direct to Falmouth, where they embarked
for Lisbon, and arrived after a pleasant voyage. Here Beres-
ford played upon the timidity of Mr. Langley and his wife, by
representing that the country was in such an unsettled state
as to render their proceeding any further extremely dangerous,
and it was finally agreed upon that Mr. and Mrs. Langley
should return to Falmouth, while Beresford and his com-
panion prosecuted the attainment of the object of their jour-
ney ; the former having induced Mr. Langley to place in his
hands the sum of £l5O to defray expenses. Beresford then
purchased fire-arms, &c. and made every show of prepara-
tion for the journey ; and Mr. and Mrs. Langley retraced
their way back to Falmouth, were Beresford promised to re-
join them on the earliest opportunity. This he did in about
two months, and stated that they had been only partially suc-
cessful, as they had been obliged to use great caution to pre-
vent observation, but that the greater portion of the treasure
had been lodged in the hands of a Spanish embassy, who pro-
mised to bring it over to England, and heat the time produced
a receipt purporting to be from such party guaranteeing to
deliver it in England on the payment of £3OO. Beresford
displayed several gold rings and a splendid gold chain, which
he asserted was part of the spoil, and after a time asked for
an advance of £5O more, which was refused by Mr. Langley,
who began to entertain suspicions that all was not right.
Beresford, who had been entertained by Langley at his house,
expressed himself indignant at his request not being complied
with, and withdrew himself. Middleton shortly after exposed
to Mr. Langley the manner in which he had been duped. He
was induced to this communication in consequence of Beres-
ford cheating him of his share. He stated that after the de-
parture of Mr. and Mrs. Langley neither himself nor Beres-
ford proceeded any further, but lived in a princely state, and
Beresford frequently drunk, in derision, the toast of " Lang-
ley and Vittoria." The rings, &c. had been bought by Beres-
for the sake of aiding the deception, and the chain he wore
was an exchange for an elegant and valuable one presented to
him by Mr. Langley. It turns out that this is the third
similar trick Beresford has practised, and Mr. Langley esti-
ma es his own loss in this treasure seeking affair to be up-
wards of £5OO in four months.—Morning Herald.