The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-08-17
Information wanted and Furnished
"a PreeIous Rascal
RosEvILLE, o., Aug Il, 81.

RosEvILLEi o., Aug Is, -.
E.inoTs InteQigeHeer
About the first of July, a man calling
himself n. L. Van Cleve came 10 our
village. pretending 10 teach ne" y
tenn OF couIrattion in some OF the iun1A
mental rules OF Arithmetic, and some
other rules He remained ldIe Hii tast
S .turdny, when he Left without setting
his bosFd bill amounting 10 twenty
seven dollars: also Other bills OF con-
adorable amount. As he spoEe oil DE
ing in Wheeling, and teaching some
four huBdr u pupils 81 Two dol!ats
each, aud also OF having business with
your Office, we wish 70 know if such q
man ever operated in your place, and II
50, what was his reputation.
As your paper is not taken here
plesse reply by letter, without delay.
Please also send me sample copy OF
Yours, very respectfully,
r 1. HIcKERsoS.
As calculated to tHrow some light on
The subject OF our suffering correspond
enI's inquiries, We reproduce the fOl
lowing which appeared in these col
umns July /, 1867:
LIGHrSISG CALcULATIoSs-rhe reg
tster OF Lne-SpHgE House-- somewhhl
over month ago, bad inscribed upon
its pages the distinguished name OF
Prsi. Van Clave, Lightning Calculator
I The Professor WIS AN In-iuuaunS gen
tletneu OF easy address. had good trsti'
moutais and sll that sort of thinE-Was
in short com pleteIy Irresistible. twas
no wonder thai he soon made hosts OF
friends II soon became known inst
be had served in the rebel army as a
Colonel. and that helped him along
The professor took pains 10 inform
49, ag,FNF ~ hi o. 4
tor The purpose Of teaching lightning
calculation TO all desiring TO learn, ana
thereby 10 earn an honest livelihood
He gave one or TWO lessons, having
been paid in advance. He TOOK ire
quent rides behind the best "steppers
our livery stables could furnish. be
played billiards, and ran up Il huge
DiII at the SprigR House bar
room for drinks. Never was seen
more liberal gentleman. He open
handed as the day. He was a perfect
prince in expenditure.
Thus passed the month for which he
had taken board and lodging at the
Sprigg. The ProL,s board OIL was que:
So was his bill at the bar. and that for
billiards. He had received pay for the
lessons in lightning calculation lie was
to teaCh. The Prof resolved upon /,
grand coup. He had Il Talise in his
room, fun of valuable clothing. No
body suspected the move he was about 1
10 make.
An incipient lightning calculator
drove him behind Two good steppers"
10 Ohio. Several hotels were stopped at
during the trip. The embryo caIcula-
tor settled the bills incurred. The
Prof would settle that for the horses.
Bat alas, the Prof. was ii biTd OF pas
sage. Before ibe next morning he had
disa ppeared, .'fiyiug South" The train
II IA no. kti IN
The Proi.'s valise was examined. Ii
contained old papers, and the victims
were LETT iamenting-particnlarly Ed
wards ~ Conant.
We may add that the initials given
by the prof" were those mentioned
by our correspondent-"H L.;'' and lie
Processes to hail from Knoxville, Ten
nessee. He had a class here of about
40 pupils instead of 400, (the extra ci-
pher being added by the''Pro 8" meth
cd OF computation From the cores
pcudence Of names and dates and from
the account given OF sir. V. C-'s opera
tons at ROseville, we have Ito doubt he
is the same individual. We can there
fore confidently answer that such
man" did Operate" in this place an!
that his "repuiatiou" is bad.
The last remark in our correspond
ent-s letter points moral which our
ROsevIlle friends may draw from their
mis- fortune. Had they been constant
readers of this excellent family news
paper, they would have been fore
warned against the rascal and would
nave saved many times the subscrip-
ton price for a year.