New-York tribune., 1882-04-24
LOCAL MISCELLANY.
FOUND AFTER A YEARS SEARCH.

Detectives Rogers and Doyle arrested yesterday
morning In Broome-st.. near EIlzabeth-st; man
who gave his name as James Zee On tno I'LL,
obtaining money under false pretences.. since July,
1881. a man representing himself asa Custom House
officer has been collecting money on goods Wnlcn
arrived nj the Custom House. His plan was hrst 10
sccnre blank bills of ading. lie would then 90 to
the pier after the arrival of vessel ana 0D'aih me
addresses of packages consigned to individuals. lie
would next fill out the blanks with these
addresses and sign fictitious names, and pre-
sent himself with the papers at the
places to which the articles were
ing himself Us Custom House collector. lhe Dlls
he presented were nearly always paid The man
followed this plan for SCme time IN this city, utll
his frequent presence began TO be noticed at the
piers Fearing detection, he transferred his opera
tIons to other cities lie carried on his swindIing
in philadelphia, Baltimore, Brooklyn Chicago and
elsewhere Lee was sentenced in November, 1879,
TO the State Prison for two years by Judge Moore,
in Brooklyn, for the same offence. lie was dis
charged July l6, 1851. AS the Complaints
against the swinder began to come In shortly after
that time, Lee suspected to De the
man. The sums of money he secured were
small in each case, ranging from 80 9s TO $l4 VS.
The number of complaints at Ponce HeadquarteIs
amounted 10 about fifty. Among those swindIed IN
this city were Commodore GarrIsOn's family and
Agnes Robertson (Alrs. Dion Bouccaultl. one
morning Lee presented himself at the house OF Com
mOdOre Garrison. lie showed u bill OF ladlng lOr
some pieces of statuary. The amount due on THESE,
80 9S was paid by the women of the family. :, he
fraud was discovered the next day. Agnes kODert-
son was likewise deceived on a bill OF ladIngpn
Celtic. ,.
When Lee began to apprehend detectives at the
pier he used to go to Cooper Institute ana
ascertain from the foreign exchanges the
names of New-Yorkers registered abroad.
lie would thus fill out the bills to them
here Inspector Bynes detailed Detectives Doyle
and Rogers on the case n year ago. They had no
photograph of the man. and their sole means OF recOg-
nizing him were the descriptions OF him gwen by
the persons swindled. Yesterday the detectives
met a man in BrOOme-st. who they believed was
the one for whom they were looking Detective
Doyle stepped up to him and said: " Hello! How
you ~
Well" was the reply. you have the advantage
of me-"
"Yes, rather. We have been looking for you for
a year, and we are very glad TO see YOU"
The man was arrested and locked up at Ponce
Headquarters. He gave his name as James Lee,
and said That he t0ry-twO years old and was
was single, aud fused to give his resi-
dence. tic is five feet, ten inches in height,
of light complexion, with blonde m0ustache Is
Byrnes says that his real name is not Lee. lie VIII
be- identified in Court to-day by large number of
persons vino have been swindled by him. Among
the most eager is Commodore Garrison. Among
the other persons swindl ed by Lee were Fredcnck X
Gor1ng, No. % Wllliam-st.; Miss Jane Child, No.
- East Fitty-iour,h-si.; +. H.. kclnhardt, No.
10 East lwent y-c gilthst.; Mrs. Iellma Reinhold,
No. 52- Last seventy ty-nlnth-st.; Lorenzo SchaII,
West Ncw-BrightOn dwaGd T.. Huber No. lJl
Last One-hundrco-and-iiity ty y-fOurth-st; Rosa Mar
culicz, No. 2O4 East Scycnti"th-st.; Mrs. Imam
Mark No. I3J West Fiftv-cIghti.-,t., and NInc. De
kuunuu, No. 233 West Fitteeuth-st.