Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1867-07-26

A BoLp SwIyDLE.-Ne copy the ioi:ow<
ing account OF the operations o! All accom-
piished villain from the 81. Paul Pioneer
We regre. that he Is still At large. and that
innocent: parties are in danger Of being vic
timized by him:
One Of the beldsst and most successful
swindless and confidence men that ever
visited this region has been carving on
operations here OF late, and his csfees Of
viilainy has suddenly been terminated by
arrest few days ago. He gave his name
as c. A. Bakeslee, and ieprese. ted here
that he was merchant At Sauk Centre. At
the latter place and at st. Cloud and other
points in that region he represented that he
was agent of . wagon manufacturing firm
at Racine Wisconsin. By means Of these
repre- sentations he managed to swindle
number of persons. His plan Of operations
was to purchase groceries and other goods
to the extent of sig hundred or eight nuo>
drsd dollars Of such merchants as he could
obtain credit Of, and taking the goods TO
Sauk Centre and St Cloud, either sell them
for cash, OF notes, which notes he would
get cashed by bankers in this city and
Minneapolis. BY these maneuvcrs severa
merchants of this city were dome for
various amounts grocery house, a hard>
ware dealer, rnd tne or two dry goods men.
B.akeslee's operations at Sauk Centre were
more bold. lie represented himself as agent
of q wagon factory, and sold numbers Of
them 10 farmers and others, agreeing tt. de
hSer them At certain date. tie took
rom these notes in advance pays
ment. Theee notes he got cashed by
bankers here and at st. Cloud. He also
boughtlthe hotel at SAuk Centre, giving some
Of the notes he he'd received IN payment,
and taking bill of sale. He At 0ace re.
sold the hotel, taking n note from the pur
chaser. This note amounting 10 $4,000
we beleve) he got discounted in this city.
BY the means Of these bold swindling op-
erations, Biskeslee must have made several
thousand dollars. He WAS finally detected
IN his swindii.g game, and arrested by the
marshal at St Anthony. He managed to
swindle this individual into the belief tha
he was innocent and basely misrepresented
end obtained the privilege to step over tc
Minneapolis. and he would show that the
matter Was all right lie was allowed to go
and thus managed to escape. Going &C
s'itbs CnpOtio 0c uItu = tcdui, Comc " ~
Paul, where his " fe ard child were stop,
ping at hotel, and ut o'clock. A. NJ. start
ed for Huntington. He got on the morning
down train, and the telegraph not being il
operation, reached Oxatonns without bein.
interrupted. He left the cars at that place
and has not been heard from sine Blakes,
lee is undoubtedly playing his swindlin,
game somewhere at present. 1t would b,
well for officers to watch out for him ant
endesvor to spot the rascal. He is gentle
manly looking fellow. and Of fine address
and like good counterfeit bill, wall cal
custed to deceive"
Messrs. Sanger & Leal, of the Davenpor
Steam Bag Mauufactory, were swindled b,
Blakes.ee TO the amount Of 5000. parties il
Chicago to the amount Of about g., 900, and
it is estimated that citizens Of Iowa At Va
r,ous points were loses through his rascal
lies to the extent Of 81 900 or more. De,
Moines men also, az we learn from the Reg
lster, received several ugly scratches from
this emphatic scoundrel, who we hope vii
be speedily baggei.