Evening journal., 1888-10-25
ROBBED BY THREE MEN.
They Proposed TO Buy Twenty Acres of
Land and Robbed the owner Of ~. 900.
Bold OnlInwry by DaNIight.

purpose of buying land. These men
came to Guests place in two light carri.
ages each drawn by gray horse. Two
OF them were tall and the third a short
swar;hy, heavy set fellow, who wore q
derby and answers the description Of the
scoundrel who swindled James Lamborn
| Of Ashland out of 81 500 last summer, a fun
account of which was given ina the EVEN
| iNe JOURNAL at the time. One of the
! tall men weighed about POO pounds and
wore a dark suit under a light overeoat
and a high light hat The other big man
weighed probably 100 pounds. wore Il dark
gray suit aud affected to boz q Southerner
Q means They wanted to buva beauti-
'ui site for country home near the rail
road
Those same men, if appears had called
on Mr. Guest ON last Monday rhen they
called him out of the house and intro
duced themselves by handing him two
cards, one bearing the name DIR. A. G..
! WILDER and the other I'll NJ Nelson.
Attorney at-law, and in the lower
| left haud corner il said money TO
loan on Real Estate A number of
wealthy Philadephians have settled
In Mr. Guests neighborhood recently and
| have paid fancy prices for land and So
] 3
clusion that he had an opportunity to
make some money The men talked nicely
ana completely won Mr. Guests conf
dence by their good manners and their
total disregard Of the value Of money.
All they wanted WIS land and they wan
ted his land. They were willing
TO give him Dig price for it, in fact
would give $500 an acre. which was from
500 TO $50 more than it is worth After
tins little talk they left, promising 10 re.
turn yesterday and complete the bargain,
Mr. Guest has over 100 acres near River
dale, which he values as abou $3.50 au
acre. and the prospect Of making a clear
$4,000 proved toomuch FOR his judgment.
as this story will prove.
Mr. Guest. who is 53 years OF
age is IN comfortable circumstances. He
owns several small but valuable places
near his home. He has grown.up chill
dren and recently two of his sons left for
California bearing with them substantial
blessings from kind and thrifty father
The Duncan brothers of this city several
years ago bought a tract Of land from him
| lying on the new road which leads
from Edge Moor TO Bellevue. The Dun
cans have a fine summer residence there.
Alongside Of this estate Mr. Guest has
several fields and it was here that the
three strangers proposed TO build their
beautiful house. They looked the
| fields over and over and finally
after hours of haggling they agreed
TO take twenty acres at S400 each. or
! $4,000 for the purchase. They had not
that amount with them, but they had a
nice little pile of 50, 900 which they were
anxious to put up as forfeit for day
or two until they could get the balance
of $4,000 But they deemed il hardly fair
that they should put up so much money
until he did likewise. They were anxious
to get possession of the place. now that
the bargain was consummated. but IL
was only fair that he should give them
guarantee that he would not sell IL 10 a
third party while they were getting the
purchase money together Mr. Guest re.
garded their proposition as eminently fair.
Mr.. Guest told his visitors that he did
not have 1000 in ready cash, but that
it was only a matter Of going to Will
mington after II. One Of the party Of
fered to go along and it pleased Mr.
Guest TO take him. In a few minutes
they arrived at the Union National Bank
and Mr.. Guest went directly TO Mr.
Dandy, the cashier. and borrowed SO. 600
ON four days note. Mr. Guest appeared
to be very anxious for il and the cashier
accommodated him promptly. Mr. Guest
and his companion then left for the farm.
When they reached Gordon's woods,
about a mile and a quarter from the
Shellpot bridge they met the two
other men who We're coming down the
turnpike in their carriage They sug-
gested at once that il was unnecessary To
put this money into anybody's hands.
They were willing to trust him. All
that they wanted was to see his money
and the matter could be adjusted right
there in the road. Mr. Guest at once
agreed and the four jumped out Of their
wagons and went up into the woods. Mr..
Guest pulled Que his money and
showed it, He had no sooner
done so when one and f the party grab.
bed it. A scuiiie ensued and Mr. Guest
demanded his money They threw him q
package that looked like money jumped
into the carriages and drove rapidly
away. Mr. Guest picked up the package
and saw that it was nothing more than
pieces of New York Tribunes of April 90.
, 1883, with a $40 and s. bills on top and
two s bills ON the bottom. For mo.
, ment he was bewildered and did not know
what to do.
John w. Banks, milkman. who lives
on the adjoining farm, was driving
home about this time He had Just
passed the place where the robbery took
place, when hearing some one calling. hc
! turned and saw Mr.. Guest coming after
& him. He stopped and took him in.
! Guest was much excited and for nearly
an hour after was unable to tell what had
! happened beyond the fact that he had
{ lost a large sum of money Mr.
, Banks brought him to the
police station, where this story was told
/ TO the officers This morning Mr.. Guesi
came here again about 8 o'clock and asked
TO see the chief Of police. A consulta
ton was held in the chiefs office. and
{ after furnishing a correct description Of
the men, he made the following offer Of
reward, which was dictated by an EVEN
Y ING JOURNAL reporter;
+ II win give $500 reward for the arrest
I and conviction Of the men who robbed m,
s out Of $3, 600 on the afternoon Of Octo
Der % JAMES H. GUEST.
Guest was still very much worked W
4. by his loss and in a most vindictiv,
mood towards the thieves He prefers
their conviction to O return Of the cash
The three swindlers hired their teams
Of George Mahon, a Chester liveryman
They called ON him at Q o'clock yesterday
morning promising to return at p. m
They failed to do 50 when Mahon came {,
this city last evening He had no fear
. of losing his teams This morning h'
!. learned that both his horses We're a