St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-23
HIS INHERITANCE.
A Family History Utilized in Work.
ing a Swindle.
a Member Of the Fraternity Of
Thieves and Swindlers Corre-
spends with Number Of
Expectant Heirs.I
New York SUM-

New York SUM-
At the window of high stoop house in
Blocker street near Mulberry, was care
fully dressed crook, or person connected with
the fraternity of thieves and swindlers,
seated in chair, twirling his mustache de-
jectedly with one hand, while the other hung
listlessly by his side. His feet were on a
common round center table and his hat was
cooked well back on his head.
"You seem to be under the weather." said
friend who entered.
The crook kicked chair around toward
the visitor, and then said:
eyes. Well, I'm not exactly under the
weather, but"
Here he stopped and drew roll of long
newspaper clippings from his coat pocket,
and smoothed them out. Handing them to
his visitor, he continued:
II am simply detected. One hates to be
beaten by amateurs, you know"
The clippings contained accounts of the
searches for the treasure alleged to have been
lost in He'll Gate on the British frigate Hus-
sar, with statements of the amounts of
money advanced to men who have conducted
the alleged search.
"In all my experience" said the crook, II
never evolved a scheme that could bring into
my hands anything like a quarter of such
sums but once"
The memory of that scheme frightened
him up, and having lighted fresh cigar, he
said:
"In 1872, when everything was apparently
booming in business, and people were just as
anxious to become suddenly rich at small ex-
pense as they are now, was one day rum
maging around the shelves of a secondhand
book store in Nassau street, in search of a
Greek lexicon. Economical? Yes, economy
is the road to wealth. l always buy second
hand books because it frequently becomes
necessary for me to change my headquarters
suddenly, and it would not do to leave a
valuable library behind me. AS was saying,
in that store / found in two large leather
bound volumes the history dwell, call it
the Hopkinson family, because that wasn't
the name With it came an inspiration.
Here was list of names and addresses run
ming into the tens of thousands"
'You could get addresses that were fresher
from the dealers in names"
eyes, yes. You don't see. Immediately
bought the books for 50, and had quantity
of letter-paper printed with lawyers
card at the head. For several days 1 was
very busy writing and mailing letters which
read something like this:
"RoE, SMITH & Brown, ATTORNEYS AND
CoUNsELLoRs, No. - BROADWAY, N. Y,
-, 1872. Mr.. JOHN j. HoPKINSoN, HER.
KIMER, HERKIMER COUNTY, N. Y.-DEAH
SIR: The estate of R. Edward Hopkinson,
formerly of Quackenwell, Dorsetshire, Eng
land, who died intestate at Valparaiso, S. A.,
Dec. 3, 1865, is now to be distributed. We
have been directed by Messrs Dodson & bod
son, of London, to look after the American
heirs. There is small sum, about 81 900, to
be paid to a Mr.. John j. Hopkinson, of Her
kimer county, U. S. A He is the great
grandson of L. Mayo Hopkinson, of Dorset
shire, England, cousin of the late R; Ed;
ward Hopkinson If you can furnish legal
proof that you are the man the money will
be ready for you when the proper papers are
prepared. We must have fee of $50 for
preparing the papers, AS we do not know
you, we are obliged to demand this in adj
vance. Respectfully yours,
"RoE, SMITH q BROWN, per g."
"It is needless to say that the books had
told me that the deceased had run away to
sea in 1874. and had never been heard of, al
though it was rumored that he owned large
estates in California, or some other place on
the Pacific coast, and that my correspondent
was the descendant Of the grandfather re-
ferred to-"
"Your letter was very short"
"And business-like. We weren't retained to
write an obituary of the deceased, but to dis
tribute his estate"
GLOW many Hopkinsons applied for thei1
sharesw
81 think won't tell you. did not con
fine myself to fee of $50 though When l
could find Hopkinson who was in either of
the commercial agencies as worth good deal
of money l ran the fee in at from 500 to
$500. Men Of that class would have been
suspicious of $50 fee. In fact, wouldn't
tell you this at all only 1 found it SO very
risky on account of the wrath of those who
were caught for large sums that do not
dare to work it again. found it necessary
to seek a change of air before had garnered
half the harvest