Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-04-18
LoRD ARTurR CLINTON

"L0RD ARTnTR CLINTON
Tho inquiries made by the Birminc.
ham police into the charges Of fraud
brought against Mary Jane Furneaux.
the woman who has been passing in
England under the nams of Lord Ar
thur Clinton. have brought out some ex-
traordinary revelations and disclosed a
remarkable miscarriage of justice. In
addition to personafing Lord Arthur
Clinton she represented herself 20 bs a
great heiress and daughter of Lady
Butler, under the name of Fredsrica
Elliot de Furnieux. TO support her
pretensions she forged letters in the
name of the Queen, the Prince Of Wales.
Lord Coleridgo, Mr. Justice Denman
and Mr.. Justice Williams. In her
boxes more than four thousand letters
were found, which had been sccompa-
| MED by checks. bank notes or other re-
mittances- varying from 80 to elaO.
In over one hundred and fifty cases ahs
had forged the signature Of Lord Cosl-
ridge to her applications for money.
Under her various aliases she had OBJ
tanned money from ciergynen, money
lenders. trade5men and people of means.
Not only has one young lady whom
turneaux courtsd been driven mad on
discovering the deception, but the wife
OF one OF the victims, who advanc ed
100, has also been sent TO an asylum.
| Another pereon, under the belief that
| tho prisoner was Lord Arthur Clinton,
| parted with all his money and borrowed
| t1lo0 in addition.
| The most remarkable case brought to
| light is that of man named POWELL, q
| mechanical engineer, who had been i'm
| prIsoned and utterly ruined by Fur
| neaux's representations. He made her
acquaintance while working at his own
business in BirminghoIn in 1874 and
| lent her money. About the same time
his uncle died and left him an estate IN
Cheshire known AZ Harplow, on which
there was coll!ery. BY representing
herself a. an heiress, and producing the
forged letters from Lord Colsrilge, the
| Queen. the Prince of Wales and others.
| Furncaux obtained from him between
200 and 600 and he supported her, and
his wife waited upon her as servant.
In 1915 she offered to buy his property
and went to London. as she said, to con-
suit Sir John Holker and to sell out
stock TO raise the money. She got from
| Fowell various documents relating to
the property, and finally induced him
70 allow 1t to be sold by auction.
Though said TO be worth f1OO0, the es
tate was sold for t220O, and whom Fow-
ell came 10 London to receive the
money he was presented with bill
which showed him to be ga in debt.
lie was so irritated that he assaulted
the man Who presented tho account, and
was bound over to keep the peace. Miss
Furnsaux then disappeared, and FOwell
had To return to work as a jOurneyman.
Four years later he traced Furneaux to
Liverpool, and after vain efforts to re-
cover his money he wrote her a strongly
| wordcd letter, and was thereupOn ar
rested on tho charge Of using threats
and committed for trial. At the trial
a second letter of very violent charao-
ter was produced, all knowledge Of
which POWELL denied. He WAS convict
ed and sentenced to twelve months i'm
prisonmsnt aud was only liberated from
Jail recently. Including the time he was
awaiting trial he was in prison fifteen
months. 1t is stated that ct the trial
the Liverpool police were in possession
Of the particulars, supplied from Biz
| mingham, Of Furneaux's fraudulent ca
| reer and her conviction in that town,
matter. Foweii's case is, it is stated be-
ing taken up, and the particulars will be
laid beforg the Homo Secle tary.
oBLIaING ROYALTY.
The charge against the male prisoner
| will, il il said, be in all probability
| abandoned, the police believing the
| man to be the dnpe Of the ''nobleman,'
who will be charged with both fraud
| and forgery. Lord Chief Justice Cole
ridge will be the most material witness
in the case of the forgery, both MIR.
Beynon and Mr.. Screen having advano-
ed the money on the faith Of documents
bearing his lordship's forged signature
and seals. 1t is considered certain that
| the adventures must have had some
clever accomplices connected with the
postofiioe Mrs. Drew and Mrs. Ward,
two old ladies living at Aston. Birmin2-
| ham, who are said to have beon swlndled
by the woman, stated yesterday that
they had themselves frequently posted
letters at the suggestion OF the prisoner
to members of the royal family, and
afterwards received from the hands OF
the possman what purported to he ''s1ch
nice replies" Mis-. Ward added that
after the adventures stated owing to
DciuS uutDio " Ice eoAio snou0y SAo
had taken situation as attendant at
the Prsstwich Asylum, Manchester, she
Mrs. Ward) exclaimed, How could
YOU, a man, have accepted . situation
10 look after womeny" the adventures
replied, "Well. what is fellow to do
when he can't get any money! Mrs.
Ward and Mrs. Drew produced some
hundreds of letters and kilograms pur-
porting to have been written by Lord
Coleridgs, Lord ColIidgos clerk. q
fran of money lenders in Lombard
street. and numerous other persons. Mr..
Bcynon il in possession of a sealed doc
ument apparently signed by Lord Cole
ridge, setting forth that Lord Arthur
Pelham Clinton, "now Earl of Lanes
burch," would have restored to him
contiscated estates to the value OF BE-
tween t3OO,OO0 and c40O.O0O. The son
OF Gething, the male prisoner, states
that OH several occasions he was taken
by the adventures to Liverpool and
other places for days together, but she
| frequently wore her masculine clothes,
| but not until Wednesday, when she was
arrested. had he tho slightest suspicion
| that she was a woman. On one Occa-
sion he met her accidentally at Euston,
when, at her urgent request, he immedi-
ately returned, the adventures warn
| ing him that London is terrible
place for young men, as have found
ont"
The victims declare that but for the
letter Of Lord Colcridge to the Birm-
ingham police no arrests would have
been made. They themselves would
have ins.igated no prosecution, but, on
the other hand. would have advanced
more money had it been in their power,
SO certain were they that the young
gentleman was Lord A. Clinton. who
was supposed TO be dead. Since the
woman has been in custody Birming-
ing tradesman who, il Is alleged, has
been defraudsd Of over $1,000. has conf
planned to his fellow dupes OF the pros.
ecution, he still expressing his belief
that the woman is Lord A. Pelham,
Clinton. Nothing will satisfy HIM and
one or two others except the exhuna'
ton of the body OF the deceased noble
man. A letter purporting TO have osei
written hy the woman's mother. 81 NO
4 Gregson street. Liverpool. and bear
ing the Liverpool postlnark. has Jus
| 49,, ,..a,,-..S hr x.pA of the victims, j