Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-10-13
AFTER MANY YEARS.
AN OLD SACRAMENTO SWINDLER
AGAIN TURNS UP.
This Time He Victimizes Australian
Banks of Big Sums-His Opera
tions Here in 1856.

of tie Melbourne papers received by tht
| last Australian steamer:
man named Sydney Lanshut arrived from
| Mauritius in June last, and since then has beer
perpetrating series of clever frauds to the ex
| tent of about 6, 200 He took quarters at the
! White Heart Hotel, leaving it for richly fur
| nlshed house at st. Kilda. at a rental of f26 De
week He engaged an office in Collins street
| representing himself as a Director of the Indo
Australian Trading Company. On the strength
| OF papers from Blyth Il Co. the banks agents at
| Mauritius, he obtained an overdraft OF G, ,0OC
| from the Union Bank, and succeeded in obtain
| ing money and goods from business men and
| Others. He disappeared about August 18th Ian
| smut IS about IS years OF age, apparently Ger
man jew \ warrant has been issued for the ar
rest of Lanshut, who gave valueless check fol
! tl2 to McCarron, Bird & Co.
The name of the swindler and the pecul-
Jar smoothness that characterizes his opera
tions. recalls the adventures of young
villain who operated in Sacramento some
thirteen years ago, and whose name then
was Sydney s. Landeshutt. He came here
with young wife and infant from San
Francisco, where he married under the
pretense, ii was afIerward said, of being
heir to handsome fortune in England.
He was a dapper little fellow, with curly
blonde hair and beard dressed with excel
lent taste and was as fastidious land almost
as feminine IN manDer) as a society belle
At that time the stock boom was still on,
and he secured desk in the office of broker
Agard on J street, about where Stevens
saloon now is, aud commenced to "op-
crate"
In the meantime he had taken rooms
and board with Mrs. Belle Crowley, an es-
Unable little lady. whose husband Ia sales
man with George W Chesley) had died
shortly before, and who was striving to
support herself and her two children bv
keeping few boarders.
HOW HE OPERATED.
Laudeshutt had remarkable faculty of
worlning himself into the condolences of
people, and succeeded in getting sums of
money from various parties to be invested
In stocks. His plan was to secure orders.
II possible, for purchases on margins, as in
'bat way he had only to deliver to his
dupes receipts tor the money intrusted to
him, with statements of account showing
the laIeged) purchase of so many shares of
stock. The money, of course, never got
beyond Len.ieshutt's pockets-ihat is, not
until after oiIice hours and the faro games
had opened up. According to his story,
ne had travelled in India, and it was prob
ably in the jungles of that country that he
formed that warm attachment for the tiger
which was shown by later DEVELOPMENTS
in his Sacramento career.
Judged by his appearance, the dainty
little broker with the large, soft blue eyes,
pink-and-white girlish complexion, flaxen
beard and fashionable dress was prosper
Gus. He was always full of business,
never mixed with 'the common herd"
end f,,ra hill, Ill
he came in contact with the belief that he
was the soul of honor, uprightness and in
dustry. Among others who was thus i'm
pressed was his landlady, for whose help
less condition he seemed to be extremely
soilc1tous, and he managed, in as delicate a
manner as possible to assure her that he
was anxious TO aid her in her hard struggle
with the world. His interest in her vel
fare increased greatly when he learned
through his wife that the widow had
thousand dollars in the bank cher late
husbands life insurance. which she was
saving to keep her babes from want should
misfortune overtake her.
SETTING HIS TRAP.
One evening. when the rain was falling
hard upon the roof and the harsh Decem-
Der winds shrieked among the leafiess
boughs of the trees, and the three friends
Landeshutt, his wife and the landlady-
were exchanging condolences before
bright, warm fire, the smooth -tongued
fraud unfolded to his hostess a plan that
he had been evolving in his mind for some
weeks to enable her to double or treble her
little capital. He told a lofty story of his
confidential relations with brokers in San
Francisco who were ION the inside" of all
the great stock deals, and how
the time was just ripe for those
with little ready money to
get IN" No such thing as disaster could
possibly occur to anyone who placed money
and confidence in his hands. He was kept
apprised by telegraph of the hourly condi-
ton of the market, and he was absolutely
certain that Ophir, il purchased al once,
would return profit of 100 or 200 per cent.
to the investor within two weeks.
The idea of touching her little store in
the bank so shocked the landlady, howe er.
that the subject was dropped for the time.
But the alleged friend of the fatheress was
not dismayed. He apUlogized for even sug-
gesting such thing, while inwardly gloat-
ing over what he knew to be a successful
beginning in his thieving designs. The
picture he had painted of riches that could
be had simply for the taking he believed
could not be easily dispelled from the
mind of his intended victim, whose love
for her children and desire to place them
above want he knew would soon overcome
her repugnance to the proposition he had
advanced.
THE POISON WORKS.
And so it was. He was not long in re-
suming the attack, and the LADY went to
the Odd Fellows Bank and drew several
hundred dollars and placed it in his hands
to invest for her, taking simply his receipt
therefor. In few days he reported to her
that she was a couple of hundred ahead"
and a few days later that her investment
had nearly doubled, and he would soon be
able to return her thousand dollars. The
poor woman rejoiced to think that she
could soon add so much to the children's
bank account, but she had so often declared
to her friends that nothing short of starya-
rion would ever induce her to make draft
upon her deposit that she was forced to
keep her supposed good fortune locked
within her breast.
MARGINS TO BE COVERED.
But there came sudden check 10 her
lightness of heart. Her good friend in
formed her when he came home to dinner
one day that there had been a sudden
and unexpected reaction in the market,
and that il would require $3.50 to cover her
margins and save what she had already in
vested. In response to her tears and
lamentations he replied that it was only
temporary matter-thst the stock would
&C up again in day or two, and all would
be well. With pang in her heart and sn
inward reproach for having taken the first
step, she went to the bank and drew the
money. Again her spirits were revived by
reading bogus kilograms to the effect that
her investment was doubling up. But she
had still little money left in the bank,
and the heartless villain must have it. So
there was a repetition of the shrinkage
story, more tears and heart-aches, and-an-
other and final draft on the nearly-ex-
hausted bank account. Again the market
reacted, as before, and the daily recital of
hundreds OF dollars made was whispered
into the ears of the victim or read to her
from dispatches prepared by Landeshutt
himself. Finally, the day on which he had
promised his hostess the stock would be
sold and her money and profits returned to
her was almost at hand.
THE DENoUEMENr.
One pleasant afternoon Landeshutt re-
tnrned to his boarding house little before
the dinner hour, as usual, but he was not
alone. A policeman waited for him at the
gate while he went in and explained to his
wife that he might possibly be detained
over night. That was on Thursday, the
10th of February, 1876. On the Tuesday
preceding he had dropped into Samuel