Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1865-08-24
A Gay Deceiver-A Swindler and
POIygamist Brought to Light.

The Southern rebellion, which has come to
such an inglorious termination, has furnished
q fine opportunity to sharpers, swindlers, and
rascals generally, for plying their vocation y
Nothing else conceivable could have occurred
that would have afforded so fine cloak for
crime as the war between the two sections. =
These gentlemen Of leisure whose business
it is to ingratiate themselves into the conf,
dence of the nnsuspecting fer the purpose OF
"Aeecing" them, have rarely had so fine a
field for the successful prosecution of their
nefarious business as in this country for the
last four years Il ,',' !,
1t is well known, that this class of persons
are always the most polished and gentleman
ly.appearing individuals to be found. They
dress WE'LL areiusually intelligent, andby their
urbahity of manners and gentlcmanly bear
ing are we'll calculated to entrnp into their
meshes those who measure worth by appear
ance alone. Since the, breaking out of the
rebellion, many of these gentlemen have made
their appearance invarious parts of the North.
ern States under the garb of refugees from
the South. Their usual story has been that
their Union sentiments had caused their ex-
pulson from their homes, and they had to
flee for their lives, leaving behind them, some
all, and others the greater portion, OF their
property. i'."1' '1', - ~
One of the most prominent characteristics
Of the human heart is that Of sympathy, and
especially for those WHO have suffered at the
hands of our enemies, andin a cause which
is dearto us all Those coming to us, there
fore, with a pitiful, and ate the same time
plausible story of their wrongs and sufferings,
would almost always touch d tender chord,
and would receive at our hands. the sympathy
and aid which they seemed to deserve Com
ing as they did, from across the lines, we
had no means of learning anything of their
antecedents, or of the truth of their story,
and were compelled to rely entirely upon our
knowledge of human nature to detect the
rascality, if it existed. When we failed to DO
this our confidence was complete, and their
interests became to- q certain extent, u part OF
ours The best illustration which we have
seen Of this has just come to light, and some
Of our citizens have been the victims" we
hasten to lay it before our readers. ,,p
Early inthe year 1858, there came to the
town Of Springfield, Ohio,a man calling him
self Benjamin Nv, ALLEN, and pretending to
be refugee from Mississippi! He came
there in an apparently destitute condition,
and was for, some time an, object Of charity
He claimed to have had considerable property
in the South, but was obliged to; leave it all
and flee for his life. Being q man of fine ap.
pearance, and his story bearing the semhlance
Of truth, considerable sums of money were
accordingly raised for him among the, good
people Of Springfield, and he was kept there
in fine style, boarding at the first hotelin the
place. After he had been there for some
time he left, but returned againisoon, bring
ing with him some six Or eight thousand dol
lars. which he said was the proceeds ,ofa por-
ton of his property in the South, Another
version of this was that the money had been
left him by his grandmother, who had just
died somewhere in the East. Which of these
reports was true, or. whether either was the,
correct one or not, we will not attempt TO say.
~ is enough for our purpose to know. that he
had the money, and with it started q broker s.
office, under the name of the Exchange
Bank Of Springfield" Everything passed off
pleasantly, and, so far as outsiders could see,
pro6tably, for the Exchange Bank Ihe
business gradually increased, and itisoon be-
came one of the important institutions of the
place. Mr.. Allen, theproprietor, whose good
looks and fine clothes, together. with his spark
ling jcwelry, made, quite futter in society,"
soon becameithe lion of the place, He was
courted by the mothers and aattered by their
daughters and it was ID continual contest
among the, elite Of the place each being anx-
ious to secure him as one Of their ''most init
mate friends" 4, -. g. = .Sah - =
iIe Time passed on, and it soon BECAME appa-
ro,t H. NJ llan Al non farad he afa ot,nrc