, 1877-12-21

t.... ointment WAS composer ul uIdl-
uu, batter.
Tine ruruu, rmciir, and imposing
.-....Dr ui Nr. Henry Jackson iricSlStl-
u.. remind o., ut other and less pro,aic
G4,,. ahru the dispensers ut wonderful
D..u'a, Ia. ,Bms Nrrc wont % ply their
mystic profession uudi-turbci by the
miriuns of the law There are old pcu-
pie It'll living Who can remember a
gutiut old fellow, who called himself the
County Pahtinc.' who used to harangue
the crowd cloyueutly from box in Gov.
rut-Glrdcn Market, with u negro servant
arlaycd in gorgeous livery 10y his side,
staining ready 10 hand him the balsams
aud ciXir., which were eagerly demand
cd hy his Crcdulous auditors. The fame
of the celebrated Joseph Balsamo, inn
mortaizcd in the history Of the "Dia-
mond 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 undis-
turbed in London, was arrested in Rome,
not as a Quack, but for spiritrapping.
An impoSture of more romantic sort
was recently exposed in one Of the Lon
don courts. The perpetrator was an eld-
erly gentleman, aged seventy-five, with
glossy white hair and trim -whiskers,
very noble and patrician air, dressed
with the incest precision, and with a
courtly manner which almost compelled
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 Cavendish;
justice might take its choice. This pre-
possessing parsonage was charged with
inveigling foolish young women into
matrimony, and swindIiDg them out of
whatever money and jewelry of theirs he
could lay his hands on. Never was a
more remarkable careero of imposture and
pretense betrayed in court Of justice
than that of MIR. Seymour, alias Caven-
dish. He was, in trutI., very old fox
indeed but, as the English adage has it,
"tbe 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 limit to his tourberies
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 a short four years after Waterloo. He
seems to have carried on his operations
indiscriminately in all countries; for nine
years after he was sentenced to ten years
penal servitude in Brabant. While re-
siding in Belgium, where he had man
aged to procure 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 accom-
pished villain stood him in good stead ;
and, after being securely lodged in
French Jail, he induced the jailor to be-
leve that he was the Duke of Devon
shire, and bribed him to let him escape
from prison in a woman's attire. His
principle offenses seem to have been
swindling under high-sounding names,
varied by an occasional marriage, which
he affected with charming indifference
to the fact that he was very much mar
ried already. AT one time he gave himself
out as the son of the Duke of Wellington (;
aud here and there he represented him
self 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 ro-
nance; although, for the matter OF that,
his whole career has been long romance
of craft and crime. 1t appears that one
Anne Elizabeth Pugg advertized, very
inn0cently, for situation as "a lady's
companion" To this advertisement Mr..
Henry Seymour rendered a quick re-
sponse. He was gentlemen, he said, OF
wealth and aristocratic family, and was
desirous of engaging a house keeper to
preside over his rural villa in Italy. The
confdiug Miss Pugg easily swallowed
the bait. 1t was so much better an offer
than she could have hoped tor! 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 patri-
cianl 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 iresist.
ible an old gentlemanl 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 a younger man, and have
all his wealth TO enjoy with her sec.
ond 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
IA m Ia ttNA,., I.r H. hanl.I har