The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-10-04 00:00:00

FEMALE SWINDLER EXTRAORDINARY.

• Hereford appears to have rare attractions for the swindling
tribe; we have this week to record the adventures of a lady,
who appears to be on a swindling tour. In June last a respect-
able inhabitant, resident without one of our gates, was standing
at her door in the evening, when she was accosted by a well-
dressed woman of genteel appearance. The stranger addressed
her by stating that she was looking for some respectable lodg-
ings for a few days, as she had come to Hereford to transact
important business with an attorney. The lady of the house
tindiug, by further conversation, that the inquirer was an 'edu-
cated woman, and her manners those of a gentlewoman, rather
incautiously proposed to accommodate her with apartments,
and the proposal was instantly accepted. Here she remained,
comfortably lodged, for about three weeks, when the mistress
of the house introduced her to a dress-maker, thinking, of
course, that she was doing au act of kindn'iss, by introducing
a good customer to her friend. The lady gave her orders
liberally, though with apparent prudence, and her orders were
executed by the dress-maker to the amount of about five pounds.
However, a month or six weeks rolled away, and the lady made
no signs of paying her lodgings, which she was expected to do
weekly: The master of the house now suggested to his lodger
that a little money would be acceptable, in which suggestion
she most politely acquiesced, promising to pay. on the next
day ; that day and the fourteen following days passsed,
and still the lodger was dumb respecting the payment.—
Her.landlord again summoned courage, and pressed for the
moar:---= • at the same time he hinted that he had heard of her
,
being under a feigned name. She replied, to his request for
payment by pleading a disappointment, but that she would, in
two or three days, visit an aunt of hers, and return with suffi-
cient money to discharge the whole of his demand. The aunt
is a lady of most respectable family, residing about six mile
from Hereford, and such was the air of sincerity in which this
proposal was made, that the landlord had not the slightest
doubt of his lodger's veracity, especially as she also assured
him that, after she had paid him, she would explain most sa-
tisfactorily the reason of her having assumed a feigned name.
The day for her appointed visit to her aunt arrived, and accord-
ingly she left her lodgings in the morning of the 23d August,
and promised to return the next day; she took with her, as a
travelling companion, an excellent shawl belonging to the
landlady. Several days passed, but her lodgings still remained
unoccupied; after a lapse of a week, the landlady received a
letter from a friend at Brecon, who, among other news, men•
tioned that she had been introduced to a lady from Hereford;
that the stranger &Wing she was intimate with her friends at
Hereford, had pressed her to accommodate her with apartments, ,1
as she was desirous of remaining in Brecon far a few days,
in order to see the delightful scenery of that picturesque
neighbourhood. The landlord in Hereford lost no time,
but immediately consulted with his attorney, by whose ad-
vice he started from Hereford the following day. On his
arrival at Brecon, he found that the bird had flown, and her
flight was attributed to the lady of the house having hinted, on
the previous day, that the morrow being Brecon fair day, she
would, most probably, see some of her Hereford friends. The
landlord now made inquiry at the coach-offices, but could not
gain any intelligence of the lady; however, on further inquiry,
he learned from the Carmarthen coachman, that lie had, on the
day. preceding, taken up a lady answering the description of our
tourist about four miles from Brecon; that she had gut down at
Carmarthen, he, the coachman, of course expecting that so res-
pectable a passenger would walk into the office and pay the
clerk, but instead of which she had decamped, and he was there-
fore minus the lady's fare. Before she left Brecon, she succeed-
ed in obtaining, on credit, a dress from a respectable mercer,
who had an order from her for two more; the abruptness of the
lady's departure prevented the execution of the order, and saved
the mercer from any further loss. Since that time, this female
adventurer has preserved her incognito, but it is supposed that
she is still in the neighbourhood of Carmarthen. In -Hereford,
she passed under the feigned name of M`Mahon, but her real
name is Hooper. It may be well to put the good folks of Car-
marthen on their guard, 'by a short description of liss M`Ma-
hon's person. She is rather under the middle stature, stout in
person, featnres coarse and ordinary, complexion tanned, face
much freckled, eyes and hair dark, and teeth good; she pro-
fesses the Catholic religion. We have, within these few days,
ascertained that Miss M`Mahon has before honoured this city
with a swindling visit; one of our innkeepers now holds in his
possession a trunk, left about two years 867,0 by this lady as a
substitute fer money. Tewkesbury, Malvern, and Weobly,
halie also been the scenes of her pirformauCes, which the has
been enacting for several years.

A RUSSIAN PUBLIC DINNER, in Silt
No species of writing is more agreeable than that which ccen-
veys traits of manners noted on the spot whilst ,the impression
upon the mind is fresh and sharp. From it we derive both ni-
-1 formation and amusement; information in a knowledge of forms
of life, perhaps before unknown to us; and amusement, in con-
trasting the habits of other men with our own; whilst the ques-
tion of more or less refined is complacently left to our own
judgment. Of this agreeable description are the characteristic
notes made at Petersburgh somewhat above one hundred years
ago, which we subjoin. They show that at that time dinners
were not given there, in the intention, or after the manner of
Spartan repasts; and that the refinements in social intercourse
which prevailed amongst our neighbours under Louis XIV had
not been imported by the courtiers of Peter with the arts and
sciences which the Czar carried from • Holland and England.
We hope shortly to have an opportunity of contrasting them
with notes of the manners which prevail at the residence of the
present Autocrat.
The Dutch minister accredited by their high mightinesses to
Peter the Great, made the following note in his journal:—
" I was hardly arrived in this new residence of the Tzar,
when Admiral Apraxin gave a magnificent entertainment to
the whole court; and by his Tzarish-Majesty's order, caused
me also to be invited. Being come to the door, I acquainted,
the commanding officer who I was ; but instead of being ad-
mitted, I had foul language returned to me, and they kept me
out by putting- the halberds across the uoor. I alleged the
invitation, aud my character of minister; but these had so little
effect, that with the greatest rudeness they thrust me down
stairs. I forthiitli applied to a friend, who acqUainted the court
With the usage I had met with. Soon after the officer came to
me to conduCt sue in, begging my. excuse for what had. passed.
On this occasion a certain minister gave me the following
lesson :—That, seeing the Russians know nut hingas yet whence
I came, I run a great hazard of the like treatment unless I
changed mylplain dress' • and appeared all trimmed over with gold
and silver, with a couple of footmen walking before me, bawl-
ing out ' clear the way.' I was soon niade sensible I had a
great many- things besides this to learn. After having gulped
down at dinner .a dozen bumpers of Ilungary wine, I received
from the bands of the Vice-Tzar a full quart of brandy, and
being forced to empty it in two draughts, I Soon lost my senses ;
but not before I had the comfort to observe that the rest of the
guests, already asleep upon the floor, were in no condition to
make reflections on my little skill in drinking."