The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-04-22
swrNDrING ENGLISH CAPITALISTS
Lands In virginia NaIued ut $4,000
Sold by N Nan Who pidnt
Own Them.
New York Tnbuuc.l

New York TIfbuncl
Abram Suydam. a lawyer hvIng at No. l49
Wayerlev Place. was arrested ut his home
ON THURSDAY evening by Detective Nc
Naurht. of Inspector Bvrnc's squad, and
locked IN 1T police headquarters. The
charge against him i that Of SwndlinC and
false representations in connection with
the hoeu. Solc and transfer of coo, 900 acres
of land in Virginia.
some time in the latter part OF lSS2 Mr..
Tuishouscn. a Nova Scotan, who was in
This CITY on business. made the acquaint-
ance Of James Madison flagg, OF Chicago.
Flacp rcprrsentcd TO the Nova ScOtian that
ne was The owner Of an immense tract OF
land LIVING i'm Washington and Buchanan
counties. I'm Virginia. lie described their
mineral and timber resources IN such tut
some terms that he got ElllshouSen inter-
csted. lie made Flagg M offer for the
lands. FINALLY. after much negotiation.
FHishou>cn and an EngliShman, Captain
Ebert Il. Cunningham. of Glasgow. struck
\ bargain by which they became pOSSeSSorS
OF the entire tract for the snug little sum
Of Sf50.Ooo. cunningham paid an install
mont Of $1,000 10 Flagg. and then win III
Usbouscn lc!t for the city Of Glasgow 10 IN
ducc capitalists i'm that city 10 interest them
selves in the wild mineral lands OF Nlr-
ginia. ~,
mary. They found no difficulty in en-
citing the favorable interest OF scotch cap
itoli>ts. but IL was thought Just rs we'll TO
have LAWYER examine the titles and alb
strocfs of die land i'm question before any
more money WIS paid on II. \ skiliul
LAWYER OF Edinburgh. u. Forbes Dallas, OF
the firm OF Warden. Pringle Dallas. told
the capitalists that itwould be necessary TO
examine the land records in that part OF
Virginia where the land was situated.
ACCOMPANIED by Captain Cunningham,
Marcus Robinson, Glasgow attorney, and
a Captain Dudgeon. Of London, Mr. Dan
las came 70 America and went TO Abing-
don. Va. the county-scat OF Washington,
wherein 100000 acres of the tract were
said 10 lie. reaching there on March Goth.
!. +. Lent. "a shreWd young attorney OF
Lebanon. Va. was retained 10 assist them
IN their LEGAL researches. II was almost
Immediately discovered that the copies Of
deeds and abstracts which had been
Given 10 Cunningham and ElliShouSen
by Flag were fraudulent The clerk
III the court Of Washington c0un-
tv. whose signature was on these ab-
stroct.. said he wa, disposed TO doubt the
commences of his signature. although he
would not positively deny it. The titles
70 part of the lands were Kept in Grundy,
fine counfv->cat OF Buchanan county, which
only reccntlv had been burned, and the
records had persisted in the flames. The
SIGNATURE OF Radcliffe. the clerk OF Buchau-
nm county. ON the abstracts furnished by
Flapo. was found 10 be false, and not even
an imitation. lie was not even clerk at
the time the abstract purpOrting TO have
been signed by him was made. In add
ton. the signature Of the judge who pro-
fcs>cd 10 certify TO the accuracy OF the ab-
stracts was the false signature OF gentle
man who resided 1t considerable distance
from the scene.
Here were two forged signatures, that Of
the clerk and that OF the judge. The seal
on the certificates however, was genuine.
In no case was the title OF any land found
TO be i'm Flag. Some part OF the land was
discovered but in every case 1t was held by
third parties I'm lawful seizure. The law
vers did not tarry to try and ferret out The
remaining 900 acres. but came back to
New York 70 hunt up Mr.. Flagg.
Flaec expressed great surprise ana as
toui,hment when told OF the failure to lind
the coo. 900 acres. He denied any criminal
intentions. and said that he had employed
Suvdam 10 investigate the titles TO the lands,
and to procure him legal abstracts ana
certificates. lie had implicit trust in suy-
dam. and thought he had secured 4 perfect
title. suydam was then called upon 10 eX-
plain. lie stated that personally, and as
counsel for Flagg. he had examined the IL
Ties and record, Of the Virginia courts, and
knew that the title, were perfect. a lar rs
the point where they went 10 FlaSg, win
this exception: that where membranes
existed on the land he had employed
Corey Gibson. "A Young man living ID IT.
ginia. 10 clear up the way to clean utIes.
Perhaps Gibson had deceived hun. lie
pretended not 10 know whether Gibson
was q lawyer. or where was his residence.
He made ont the abstracts from material
furnished him by Gibson. some OF the
material had been copied by Miss Dram,
whose address he wa, also in doubt about.
She lived i'm this city-he thought IN Sec
Ond avenue near Stuyyesant Park. euydam
was given a day in which TO produce either
the memoranda from which he compiled
his abstracts or else to find Miss Dram.
Failing 10 do either. the aid OF Inspector
Byrnes was invoked. Suydam was we'll
known 10 the police. having been arrested
twice before. both times iOf falsely swear
ing that he owned land which he did not.
Once he was arrested in Chicago. The IN
spector Immediately sent Detective Ne
Naught after Suydam. He i a married
man with a family. The Englshmen eN-
press great indignation at what they think
is the customary American attempt TO
swindle unSuspecting English capitalists.