Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-06-03

In the wilderness, and that very little OF
" would keep person alive many DAYS
For box of this Dickett gladly paid
FOL. An analysis having been made OF
this costly and biblical food, it was found
TO consist of about six pennyworths OF
citrate OF magnesia; the "elixir of life'
turned out to be simply so much colored
water; while the precious ointment
was composed of ordinary butter!
The curious remedies and imposing
presence of MIR. Henry jackson irresisti-
bly, reminds US of other and less prosaic
days when the dispensers of wonderful
oriental balsams were wont to ply their
mystic profession undisturbed by the
mlnions of the law. There are old peo-
pie still living who can remember
a quaint old fellow who called him
self the County Palatine," who used
to harangue the crowd eloquently
from box in Covent- Garden Mar
ket, with negro servant arrayed
In gorgeous livery by his side, standing
ready to hand him the balsams and elk
lrs, which were eagerly demanded by his
credulous auditors. The fame of the
celebrated Joseph Balsamo, immortal
lied in the history of the Diamond
Necklace" and as Cagliostro in Dumas
Diary OF Physician" is not yet dim.
he had gloomy rooms in Knightsbridge,
and there dispensed to thousands of the
Mayfair fashionables "the Egyptian pill
OF life" 1t is curious that Balsamo, who
piled his trade undisturbed in London,
was arrested in Rome, not as quack, but
for spiritrapping.
An imposture of more romantic sor.
was recently exposed in one of the Lon,
don courts. The perpetrator was an
elderly gentleman, aged seventy-fve, with
| glossy white hair and trim side-whis-
kers, very noble and patrician air,
| dressed with the incest precision and with
courtly manner which almost com
| PEELED respect. He claimed aristocracy
of birth; and, although he had aliases,
| they were high-sounding ones. His name
might be Seymour or it might be Caven-
dish; justice might take its choice. This
| prepossessing parsonage was charged
with lnveigling foolish young women into
matrimony and swindling them out of
whatever money and jewelry of theirs he
| could lay his hands on. Never was
more remarkable career of imposture
| and pretense betrayed in a court of JUS
| tice than that of Mr. Seymour, alias Cav
| endish. He was in truth very old fox
| indeed; but as the English adage has it,
| "The old fox gets fat upon geese, but he
comes to the skinner at last" and the
venerable swindler of no less than fifty
six years found a limit to his tourbertes
at last within the walls of Dartmoor
| prison.
1t transpired that this patrician-look.
| ing person was convicted of fraud in
| France as long ago as the year 1919,
when Louis XVIII was reigning, and
but short four years after Waterloo He
| seems to have carried on his operations
Unfortunately in all countries for nine
years after he was sentenced to ten years
penal servitude in Brabant. While resid-
ing in Belgium, where he had managed
| toprocure the professorship of languages,
| in Jesuit college, demand for his
| extradition came from France, and he
was sentenced to fifteen years more. But
| the assurance of the accomplished viii
| lain stood him in good Stead and, after
| being securely lodged in French Jail,
! he induced the iailer to believe that he
was the Duke of Devonshire, and bribed
| him to let him escape from prison in a
woman's attire. HIS principal offenses
seem to have been swindling under high
sounding names, varied by an occasional
marriage, which he effected with charm
ing indifference to the fact that he was
very much married already. AT one
time he gave himself out as a son of the
Duke OF Wellington; and here and there
he represented himself as the scion of
divers noble families. Twice within the
past five years he has been convicted in
Belgium, once for swindling and once for
defrauding the proprietor of Brussels
hotel by forged letters of credit.
His latest exploit was of piece
with the rest, only rather more
favored by romance; although, for
the matter of that, his whole career
has been a long romance of craft and
crime. 1t appears that one Anne Eliza
beth Pugg advertised, very innocently,
| for a situation as "a lady's companion"
To this advertisement Mr.. Henry Sey-
mour rendered a quick response. He
was gentleman, he said, of wealth and
aristocratic family, and was DESTROYS Of
engaging housekeeper to preside over
his rural villa In Italy. The conflding
Miss Pugg easily swallowed the bait. 1T
| was so much better an offer than she
could have hoped fort She could live in
ease, and on good salary, beneath the
sunny skies and in the balmy breezes of
the fair Southern land! She met Mr..
Seymour, and was delighted with him.
He was so gracious, so patricianl The
| old rascal lavished all his arts upon
the trustful young woman; and anon
began to touch upon the tenderest OF
| subjects. Miss Pugg was comely, and
knew it; after all, Mr.. Seymour had
good taste, and was SO delightful, so
| Irresistible an old gentleman! He told
her that he could lay a splendid
fortune at her feet, and that, as he
would not probably live long, at his
death she might make a marriage with
Younger man and have all his wealth to
enjoy with her second spouse. With
Miss Pugg's maiden aunt he was not less
successful. He was prodigal OF his
Establishments on this lady, and begged
her to be the trustee of the magnificent
settlement he intended to make upon
her niece. He handed her package OF
papers purporting TO be trust-deeds;
they were afterward examined and found
to be bundle of old copies OF the Lon,
don Times. After months brief and
ardent courtship Anne Elizabeth prom
ised blushingly to be his; and soon after
thew were married, the happy bride
| a, 4 M ua1f on the rpplatpr as