Morning journal and courier., 1881-09-15
Forty Years of Rascality.

''Pin'' White, the Notorious Confidence Man, Finally Convicted.
 I [From the New York Times, Sept. 14.l
 The trial of 'sPlin' White for obtaining money by false pretenses resulted in his con viction in the Court of General Sessions yes terday. Since 1841 White has been preying upon the community. He is known all over the United States and in Europe as the liking of the confidence men.' In 1850, when he went by the name of Frank Parker, he was ! intrusted by Major William l.. Hall, one of the proprietors of the old Lovejoy Hotel, | with $50, 900 to be invested in the Californi- an gold fields. ~Parkex disappeared with the | money, but was captured, brought back and ! lodged in Ludlow street jail. He was released, ! however, on promising to make restitution, I and left the city. Nothing was seen of hirl | until last spring, when he reappeared in this I city under the name of ''Plin''-an abbrevia- \ tion of Piny-and renewed acquaintance ! with his old friend, Major Hall who resides at No. East Tenth street. He expressed ! the utmost contrition for his former of ! lenses, said he had made a handsome for tune and had come to pay, with interest, the $50, 900 which he had carried off. He rep resented to Mr. and Mrs. Hall that he had just come from Paris, where he had been spending $G,00Osa month, that he had several millions on deposit in the Bank of England, owned 8 pint of diamonds and a trunk of gold watches, and had his body pasted over with Bank of England notes, and also his wife's petticoats lined with them. All this wealth, he explained, he compelled to conceal until after he had passed through bankruptcy It was also necessary, he add ed, that he should have some money in or der to complete the legal arrangements ne-
 cessary before he could realize on his rich
 possessions. Dazed by his plausible stories
 and believing that he was possessed of
 boundless wealth, MT. and Mrs. Hall ad-
 vanced him sums amounting to between
 o-o1 1o,4 IT.. r JoJI
 to let him have any more money except
 on security, whereupon, on June II last
 White deposited with him a sealed envelope
 purporting to contain $6 100 in securities.
 On the strength of these securities Major
 Hall made him another advance of $29O, but
 feeling uneasy about the transaction, told his
 wife. That lady's suspicious having become
 thoroughly aroused, she showed Inspector
 Byrnes the sealed envelope. The envelope
 was opened and found to contain one genu-
 inc ten dollar bill and number of worthless
 securities, and when White called at Halls
 residence next day, according to agreement
 to receive the remainder of the loan which
 Hall had promised to advance him, he was
 arrested.
 After his arrest White was released on
 ''straw" bail, but was recaptured and lodged
 in the Tombs. Since then the most persist
 ent efforts have been made to effect h1s re-
 lease on bail, but the officials in the District
 Attorneys office-warned by former exper-
 ience-would accept nobody unless per-
 fectly satisfied of his soIvency After numerous delays, White, who is an old man of venerable and rather pleasing appearance, was placed on trial be- fore Judge Cowing yesterday. Assistant Dis trlct Attorney Lyon prosecuted, and MT.
 Peter Mitchell conducted the defense. The accused contended that he had made no false representations to MT. Hall, who knew we'll that the envelope did not contain $6, 100;
 that the loans had been advanced him through friendship by Hall, who liked him. and that he intended paying them back, but
 had been prevented from doing so by his ar- rest In answer to Mir. Lyon's questions
 White admitted that he had been sent to State prison in Kansas for defrauding dry goods firm of ,000, and had engaged in business in various States of the Union. When asked whether it was not true that he known all over this country and in Europe as ''the prince of swindlers ;" that he had been arrested over one hundred times that he had swindled James R. Whiting of $17O,OOO James Ben sel of $40,O00, Cyrus w. Schofeld of $4,- 900, and various other persons of large sums; that he had by his villainy caused the death of one of his victims named Hynes in lunatic asylum, and that he had swindled his former partners and other business men, he volunteered no reply and Mir. Lyon with drew the questions. The jury after short deliberation, found White guilty of obtaining money by false pretenses, the maximum pun ishment for which is three years' imprison- ment and the payment of three times the amount frequently obtained White seemed surprised at his conviction and inquired what his punishment would be. This is the sec- ond time only in his forty years career of villainy that he has been convicted. Judge
 Cowing will sentence him to morrow.