Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-09-07

/
is zeooszpzishsd Phiiadeiphis Young
| Ladies 11bbed. "A. =
| One i lie zsass remarkable ezszs Of swiadliag
wi,iot. has hesn perpcfrated for long time canse
| ~ light In New York on Wednesday evening In
which II appsars that alleged. fifteen young In
| dies OF Philadelphia we're dupsd by person na-
med johnson. alias Williams. VIM under the pre-
| ,en.e of hiring Them NJ teachers OF music IN
| Southern families managed 10 get them to New
Ymk and then iera,aped with abont hundred and
ffv liars II their money 40 much ut their bag
gage amounting in value 10 between four and i've
thti and dollars. The Tribune has the following
history Of this extraordinary swindle;
About week or two az, Williams inserted or
caused t 10 Inserted in the Philadelphia papers
mn advertisement calling FIR fifteen young ladies
10 60 S,uth. nn there engage In private families
fur the purpose III giving Instructions On the pr
ano-frte None were to apply unless good mnsi-
clans. and able To bring the bFt recom mend,-
tiops high salary was Ola red. and the adyer-
tiser seemed DESTROYS of obtaining those only
whose character was beyond repr,aeh Ills rooms
at the hotel were literally besieged, and several
days were occupied in making Selections from the
various applicants Of those whom he deemed best
qualified to fill the positions At last the fifteen
Young ladies were selected. and were instructed
by Williams tn make immediate preparations for
their departure southwark. Ii Is nee jless to re-
count with what haste the chosen few set nbout
preparing to leave hume and enter upon new
sphere of usefulness. Trunks were packed. and
pnintinps, drawings and other works Of art were
pa.kel up to 10 exhibited To their new patrons in
accordance with the instructions Of Williams.
At length all WAS ready and on Tuesday utter
noon the party, who had by this time become
auain,ed with each other, stated for New York.
under escort of Wiliians whom they looked upon
as n beneact1r. They reached here in the even
ing, and were disposed of by Williams mt the
various hotels. Eight were conducted to the How
ard House, two to the Astor House, but where the
remainder were taken has not yet tianspirei.-
The young Indies were told that they would not
need their trunks, and Williams took charge If
all the baggage, sending it to the Stevens lause,
where he himself put up, registering his name as
II. j. johnson. Yesterday morning Williams visit
cd tho eight young ladies ut the Howard House,
and told them to be in readiness to start by steam
or at o'clock p. NJ. lie said that he should not
be able To see them again until they started Us he
had 10 arrange his bank account, and rec to the
fixing up Of some private papers. Upon first set
ing off he made them pay their own fare on the
cars, but told them he should pay half thar fire
on the steamer From those ut the Howard he
collected SIS from each, which he said was half
the fare, and then left then telling them To be
sure and be ready. AT the appointed time the
eight ladies were all ready. but still Williams did
not make his appearance, nor have they seen any
thing of him since. At dark they became alarm
ed, and told the proprietor of the house. of their
case. Search was made for their trunks but they
could not he found and then word sent tn
tho Howard and after obtaining Ill the particulars
possible went in search Of Williams, but met with
no success. The two young Indies who went To
the Astor House could not be found. Upon fur
Their search Slowey found thirteen trunks at the
Stevens House, which were identified by some of
those nj tho Howard House as their property.
Two trunks containing dresses aud other proper
ty to the amount Of 81 100 were gone
The whereabouts IF the other young ladies'
could not DO ascertained by the officer. and no
trace of the mean swindler could be got nt John
son, alias Williams is man of pleasing address
i.et 6 inches in height. light complexion, brown
hair, mousache and whiskers, and has m efem-
nate manner Of speaking.
The girls mt the Howard were last night in high
glcc, aud nearly all of them thought they had got
If cheap. The proprietor of the Howard, upon
learning the state of the case, told the young la
dies that the house ut their command for two
or three days. and he furthermore told them that
hc would try and have them sent home, the
demands of the swinjler had depleted their purses
johnson represented that he owned large plan.
tation in Alabama and over one hundred slaves.
1t was announced in the Geographic department
Of Saturdays paper, thar the scamp was arrest
ed at Washington on Friday last. lie deserves 10
serve out the balance of his days ut Sing Sing.