Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-06-01
AN INGENIOUS SCHEME.
The Original Methods Pursued by
Connecticut Blackmailer.
How a Swinder Discovered Defaea-
tons and Pf,6;ed by Them-A
Trust Fund for Dishonest
Bank Officers.

Trust Fund for Dishonest
Bank Officers.
Isaac II. Lockwood was arraigned
before the grand jury of the United
States District Court at Hartford, yes
tefday, charged with using the mails
for fraudulent purposes. After q rather
checkered business career Lockwood
went to StepRey, Conn, where he had
an aunt, an aged lady named Beers,
who gave him home and money. At
one time she advanced him $40 on
diamonds valued at $500. He was very
busy at this time, writing all the time
and taking great many letters to the
postoffice Finally, Lockwood wanted
his diamonds back and would not pay
the $40 in lieu of which they were
held. His aunt refused to deliver them
and he thereupon caused her arrest, al
though she was sick, on q charge Of
theft. Judge Beers, of Bridgeport, was
sent for and adjusted the differences,
but Mrs. Beers brought a suit for
malicious prosecution, which is still
pending, awaiting the termination of
the action instituted in the United
states Court by the District Attorney.
Lockwood had devised one of the
most
Ingenious Confidence Games
ever known in this country, and was
reaping the proceeds of his cleverness
while at Stepney last winter. He mail
Ell to addresses in every section of the
country many circulars headed "a
Practical Philanthropy! S7S0,000, the
Request of a Banker for the Benefit of
the Banking Fraternity of the United
States" The circular calls attention
to an alleged bequest by retired
banker of $4,000 for an original and
ostentatious charity. The retired bank
er, it is explained, was, when Il young
man, employed in Boston bank. He
was fond of society, and, possessing ex-
trayagant tastes, he was drawn by slow
degrees into q rate of expenditures far
in excess of his income. AT last
he stood upon the brink of
ruin, q defaulter in the sum Of
5000. In despair he appealed to a
very
Wealthy and Eccentric FRIEND
for counsel. The latter gave him 49,
900 in cash, to save him 'to life of
usefuln, S." Two conditions only, ac-
companied the gift. The first was, that
an account should be kept DALI of all
personal expenses, and one-third OF
the young mans means should be
saved in cash and the account balanced
quarterly. The second condition was
that in after life the money thus saved
would be used to save some other per-
son from ruin and disgrace. The re-
cipient Of this strange legacy is said to
have grown rich, but he died without
an opportunity to help any person as he
had been helped. He, therefore, con-
ceived the idea of leaving STSO,0O0 as a
sort of trust fund for the benefit of
bank officers who have defaulted. The
circular it's announced, waSsent to every
bank in the United States, and the fol-
lowing paragraph appears in 1t: PEI
sons who do not stand in need and with
in the design of this assistance will he
too honorable to seek any advantage
by pretending to, and they will see that
this circular does not fall into improper
hands," The recipient otthe circular is
Invited to n Personal Interview
with the executor, under whose sigma
ture at the bottom of the circular is the
address: Postoffice box No. 1S5 Step
ney depot, Conn.
Loo kwood procured the names and
addresses of bank officers and en-
ployes and sent them copy of this or
a similar circular. After his arrest a
manuscript story in the same line en-
titled IA Bankers Life, by Himself"
was found among his effects. He sent
out 3, 900 or more of the circulars, and
in order to do this was obliged to find
a postoffice where his operations would
be winked at. 1t Is believed by the
authorities that George Page, the post
master at Stepney, knew Of his scheme
and was partner in it. Page was ar
rested, bat escaped, and is now believed
to be in Dakota.
Answers to the circulars were re-
ceived in considerable numbers. They
came from bankers and bankers em-
ployes, from children whose fathers
had been dishonest, and wives whose
husbands were defaulterS. Among the
writers, whose confessions and appeals
for help are in the hands of the author
tiles, were a Lieutenant in the Royal
Engineers, stationed at Guernsey,
ruined Irish gentleman, an attache OF
the British Wesleyan body, poor
Glasgow woman writing in behalfot
Her Dishosest Husband,
| and a host of persons in this country,
| including treasurers of benevolent asso-
Citations, bank clerks, one delinquent
| LAWYER, and one editor in Boston news
paper office. The letters present pitiful
| stories of dishonesty and pecuniary
need. I.ockwoOd's game, after he re-
ceived these letters and became CONVEX
SAINT with the affairs of the writers, was
to black-mail them by threatening to
| report them to the financial Institution
or finn from which they had stolen &C
eording to their own confessions. While
the Government has obtained posses
sion Of copies of the circulars sent out,
and many replies received at Stepney,
II has none of the threatening letters
! which Lockwood wrote in reply, and
by which he made his collections. The
publication Of the facts may bring
some of them to light. Nor does the
Cove rnment know how much he real
! lied i'm this way, but the officers know
that he has received great many reg
istered letters. When the cashier OF
| the Fourth National Bank OF New
York received oneof the circulars some
time ago, he wrote at once 70 the post
master at Stepney, asking him what
kind of a scheme was being carried on
| there. Under the circumstances il was
| not strange that the now missing post