Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-05-06
ABosu. sh,pwrecked Man.

HOW he OBTAINS FRAUDULENT WRECK REPORTS.
The rather peculiar career OF an impostor has
come to light In the ONCE OF the general superin-
tendent OF the lfe-savng service. 1t is not known
who he is, but it Is supposed that he Is seafar
Ing man" He travels around the country with q
weli-concocted story OF shipwreck loss of all his
property, and injury to his person. As proof OF
his story he produces wreck report" made out
in regular form In some customs Office and it ap-
pears that he always has report to suit the local.
lily in which he is working the game, but they are
all fraudulent. According TO law the reports OF
all the wrecks that take place In our waters must
De sent 10 Mr. g. i. kimball, superintendent or the
lfe-saving service, and a complete record Is kept
from this record tt appears that the game OF this
same impostor was brought to light several years
ago. when The STAR published an account OF his
attempt 10 impose upon the people OF Alexandria,
with shipwrecked story, and also how he
applied for relief to the Masonic relief COM
mlttee-witn no success, however. His man.
ner OF proceeding is somewhat as follows:
He makes his appearance at a customs Office and
ASKS the officer 10 whom he can make statement
OF the wreck OF his vessel, which he represents to
have taken place only a few days previous. He
tells complete story OF how his vessel was struck
10y passing steamer and was sunk, and he and
his crew barely escaped with their lives. The
OFFICER hands him blank wreck report and tells
him TO fill it out. Tie man says that he is unable
to write, as his right hand or arm whichever
happens to be bandagedl was badly hurt at the
time OF the wreck, and will the officer be kind
enough to ill out the report from the story told,
which Is usually done, and the master and owner
:.
signs with cross (hs mark). Then he asks for a
copy OF the report Ii any questions are asked he
tells that he wants it souvenir or for identif1ca-
ton. His request is generally granted, and he
goes out armed with false credentials that will
likely have good deal OF weight with people
In the. neighbOrhood OF the customs
Office imposed upon, where the officer who
made out the report is probably well-known.
There have been placed on file recently three of
these fraudulent reports, which have so much
similarity, that without doubt they are the work
o. The same man. In one made out at Philadel-
phla February 18th, 1892, he claims to be the
owner of the schooner Mildred Lee, which was run
into and sunk by the steamer Roman, near Cape
Charles. In this report his name is w. o. john
son. Another report from the New York cOllec-
ton district, OF March 26th, 1882, shows that his
vessel was the Willard Lee which was run into
and sunk by the steamer Bristol Upon inveSti-
CATION 1T was found that at the time OF the sup
posed disaster the Bristol was lying at her dock.
Here his name is George Robinson. A third re-
port, made at Newark, N. j., states that the
schooner John III. Morgan registered at George
town, ID. e., collded with an unknown steamer
and was sunk. In this case his name is George
johnson. Upon thorough investigation Of the
supposed accidents 1t was found that there no
such wrecks By placing the three reports together
ltcan be readily seen that they come from the
same SOurce-there are such SimilaritieS in the
Names localities, tonnage, the manner in which
the accident happened, amount of insurance, &C.
IL could not be imagined at first what the object
OF the imposition was, but 1t was thought it could
be no other purpose than to obtain the report for
begging purposes. No one remembers having seen
the man, however. He is without doubt the same
aliases Of Richard Robinson and Richard f. Rob-
inSOQ.