The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-28
CONFESSION OF AN IMposToR.
Necessary Qualification of an Imitation
Nobleman in American Society.

bogus lord for several weeks, remarked
fair-haired young man, with an English
accent, fair, dropping mustache and very
gentlemanly exterior despite his clothes of
extravagant pattern. anyhow" he con-
tinued, II should never go into the bust
ness
''Whyg"
Wouldn't pay"
market overstockedF'
mo, not that; the demand for bogus
lords is always greater than the supply.
But the pecuniary reward is too small
What does bogus lord get for his pains'
A few invitations to dinner, a few loans and
much flattery from women. The game
isn't worth the candle"
Are its practitioners successfulW
Rarely. OF all the fraternity Lord Cor
don came the nearest to success. Who was
hel don't know. / fancy that nobody
knew. He took title which at that time
was in allegiance. There was no Lord Cor
don, though, of course. A peerage was full
of Gordons-the family and Others"
"What did he dor'
"Heset out to fool Jay Gould, and, strange
to say, he succeeded. He was in some
fraudulent railroad scheme; / forgot what
1t was. And when it failed he blew out his
brains. This was fifteen years ago.
"And since thenf
''Since then Lord Courtney is the
acknowledged head of the guild. He was
wise in his choice of title The real Lord
Courtney exists. He is the eldest son of the
Earl of Devon. In his youth at Oxford he
was in an escapade that got him banished
from England. l have met him on the
smaller racecourses of France, where he
still lives-a tall, stout, dark man, oiled
and curled like an Assyrian bull and not in
the least like his imitator."
MANNERS AND MUsTACHE INDISPENSABLE
"What are the requirements of bogus
lor dT
I Good manners and blonde mustache.n
Is the blonde mustache essentialF
II never heard of bogus lord without it.
You see the women who are to be fooled
have preconceived ideas of a lord. They
read Ouida, whose lords are always blonde
They study Du Maurier's cartoons in Punch.
Du Maurier's young noblemen are as fair as
Greek gods. The lord of real life is, of
course, quite as often like the little prig in
"The Henrietta" as he is like the ideal type
of fiction. But American women insist that
he must have blonde mustache. So to
blonde mustache we are all doomed"
And are good manners essentialr
absolutely. Women are wonderfully
quick judges of shoddy in manners. They
instantly detect cad in dress coat Unless
the bogus lord has grace of bearing he will
fall from the start A touch of supercil-
Indispensable
"How does he choose his title"
THAT is matter Of nice discrimination
Some prefer the extinct peerages. MANY a
title dies out of existence Political risings
like the Jacobite wars, have caused some of
the finest old families in Scotland to lose the
handles to their names. In that case any
body may with impunity pick up what
they have lost"
us it not punishableg'
''Not in the least Are not half the actors
and fair proportion of the literary guild
known by names other than their owns If
Dion Boucicault, about whose name the
biographical dictionaries are still disputing,
had chosen to call himself the Marquis Of
Barney and produce his plays under that
name, who could have denied him that priv
ilegel And isn't there to-day a writer of
servant girl fiction who styles herself The
DucheSsp"
Then why don't all bogus lords get their
titles from the extinct peerages~
Because their hosts can find out the
truth about them instantly. A glance at
Burke which has a fair sale even in
Chicago, refers the inquirer to the rear of
the book, where the dead titles lie sepul-
chered. You must always work with an eye
to Burke If you are a man of 80 and
Burke says you ought to be 10, good-by
to your chances Of success. l remember
about ten years ago young fellow who
used to swagger round Delmonico's in New
York as Lord Eksdaill Well, Lord Esk-
DAHL, grandson of the Duke of Buccleuch.
was at that time a boy in short jackets at
Eaton. 1t took the papers not more than a
week to find this out. My young friend dis
appeared"
THE BEST SORT OF TITLES.
"Then which are the best titles to as
sumef'
furnished titles Lord Courtney's was
ideal. Lord Ayleford was too we'll known,
otherwise he would have peopled America
with his doubles Lord Hinton and Lord
Savernake, having dropped out Of London
life, will be seen here sooner or later. and
Will defy you to tell whether they are copies
or originals. A man who has been once in
a scandal isn't going to make much fuss if
his bedraggled plumes are borrowed"
"And after furnished titles"
Titles of men who are far distant from
home Lord Lonsdale being now in the
Arctic we might expect a spring crop of
Lonsdales, if the notoriety of the peer did
not shiold him. But there are many young
noblemen who are stationed with their regi-
ments in India, or have political missions
in China and distant countries; many who,
wearied of the inspidity of society are ex-
ploring the Blue mountains of Thibet or
navigating the Amazon or following Stan
ley's footsteps on the Congo. These are the
natural prey of the bogus lord"
"And who are his American victimsn
"Ah, now you touch the root of the mat
ter. The victim must, of course, be rich.
He must have social ambition. And, above
all, he must hare a wife and daughters,
There is no recorded instance of a bachelor
hoaxed by bogus lord"
What was your own experiencep
81 met a wealthy banker on the City of
Rome. He left England when a boy, and
his love of lord, then undeveloped, came
to maturity in America. One of my trunks
had a coronet stamped upon it. Some
harum scarum French count whom met
at Monte Carlo had accidently changed
trunks with me. My banking friend noticed
it at once. He began to look at me with
respect. Then he examined the list of pas
sengers and found me booked as Mr..
Jennings' He looked at mo with more re-
spect than ever. Finally, when we were
smoking on deck one night, he said: Soon
fdentially. now, Mr. jennings, what is your
nameY Jennings said /. Come said
he, i know all about it. | won't betray
you What is your titleP Title cried
!, in establishment. Yes he replied, L
have learned the truth. You are lord
lord 'Thistledown' said i, with an
inspiration, meaning TO play joke with
him.
'Well, to my horror the banker re-
sponded: Lord Thistledown! thought so.
I GTox 70 NnIi