The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-19
. cosMoPoL1T AN ROGUE.
.,.-o,+,,res of the Rascal Who Sold
80 Mextcans Bogus Patti Tickets.

- himself TO be a foreign newspaper
s.osrondent had two interviews with
u.nrv E. Abbey, who was managing Nine
po,+i'. concert tour, and Marcus r. Mayer,
Mr. Abbev's agent, about their methods OF
49,, business for the famous prima donna.
" ",,.o weeks before Mr.. Mayer was ready to
wv for +be CITY Of Mexico to sell tickets
i ltl PATHS appearance there, the inter
lo3I.-ra, calling himself Marcus r. Mayer,
Ile -o,, in the CITY of Mexico a spurious adj
ue5% 49, sale of tickets, by which he raked
y; a'' 500. 400 Spectators were his
iTprncipal victims. he carried on
sale for several weeks
i me an announcement of it reaching
Mi lily He left in hurry, taking with
LUZ, slI9 SO 900 in paper money and leaving
ND Ii.t "a 800 in silver. The train he took
" n Paso was stopped at every station and
" 20 lossaugers were scrutiniZed, but the
lue ,5Ier had so altered his appearance that
," Nv used the ordeal without being recOg
nl4 r. weeks later he was back in New
WI He had sold his Mexican money
.broTlyh an accomplish i'll Baltimore and
pbiIadalphia receiving from 16c. to sue.
mon tGe dollar He remained III town
Tbder cover for some time and then went
10 Europe. he Stdyeu UHSA0 NAJ q iS"
Govs and came back.
uU iyns TlC Bvrnes had heard of the
.rn5ler before, and knew that he was well
i.nn,,.n IN Europe under the name of Henry
1a,eo,, Martin. Coster and Montgomery.
Iotslv the Inspector received, for the first
,in,e Benson's photograph and an alarm
S.om J Monroe, Scotland Yard, in which
ho was informed that Benson and Ker, two
rotorious criminals, whose apprehension
,roe souoht on new warrants, had recently
baan eypelled from Geneva for fraud, and
wore supposed to be concoctlng otlenses i'll
another part of Europe. The circular SAID
That Benson had also committed otfenses IN
America. aud asked for information The
letter added that Benson had forfeited the
Tcense he received when discharged from
nrison in Great Britain, and was a ticket
of-leave man.
In Geneva. Benson and Ker had obtained
money on bonds that had no value, taking
tbeir nav in checks to be paid III this city.
They we're arrested, but discharged upon a
,achnicalitv. and two months ago Benson
came TO New York for the purpose of suing
banl, here for refusing TO cash one # the
checks that he had sent from Switzerland
and presented at the bank through CORE
snondent He brought with him the court
record of his discharge in Switzerland and
engag d lawyer,
IN Thursday morning Detectives Adams,
Henley and Killilea arrested Benson at the
foot of the stairs leading to his lawyers
offca He was taken before Inspector
Bvrnes. and when confronted with his
n6otograph admitted his identity and con-
iessod that he sold the Patti tickets. Abbey
and MAYER fully identified him. Inspector
Byrnes telegraphed the news to Governor
General Cebanos, of Mexico, and received
word to hold the prisoner; that measures
would be taken for eXtradtiOn
Mexican Consul Navarro told the lnspec-
tor Yesterday that he was expecting nstruc-
tons from Washington. and would go with
the prisoner to jefferson Market Police
Court this morning Benson will be turned
over to the United States Commissioner.
Benson has told Inspector Byrnes what a
frst-class rogue he is. He says he is IL years
old, and native of England, although he
looks like an Alsatian. He speaks French,
Spanish. Italian and German. He says that
during the war between Germany and
France he was an editor of one of the lead
ing French papers. He got leave to cross
the Prussian lines and he remained at Tours
until the siege of Paris was over He re-
signed his place on the Paris paper with
money, but gambling ruined him and caused
him to be discarded by his family. He con-
NtNbi Iilt lLed Oh ROlIlP, 10 lApuNlOIA ItlS-
ing money Ostensbly for the Paris sufferers,
but really for himself He called on the
Lord Mayor of London, to whom he pic
tured the stitution of the Paris victims of
the siege and he received a personal sub
scription of 81 900 The Lord Mayor said
he was about to go out of office and could
not officially assist the young man IN his
charitable work, but he gave him letter
20 the Prince OF Wales. The Queen had led
off the subscription, when Benson was dis
covered to be a fraud, and was arrested.
The 81 900 given to him by the Lord Mayor
was taken from him, and he was sentenced
to prison for year. He saturated his
clothing with benzine aud set fire to himself
In his cell. He came very near losing his
life and suffered injuries that left him a
cripple and cause him pain to this day.
After serving his years sentence he an
kwered an advertisement in London paper
oracIerk at G5 a week. He wrote that he
was cripple, and he got a reply from a
man named ker, who said that he preferred
TO have a cripple work for him. Ker was
running newspaper purporting to give IN
SIDE news on turf matters After Benson
mad been in Ker's employ awhile he saw
mat her was a fraud. He noticed that
people sent letters to Ker, enclosing money
lot tips and that Ker did not answer the
-NO'Vlo' beISOl SenU Il leJU0f nlIlSeH, ana,
receiving no answer, spoke to Ker
ABOUT it, at the same time asking
MN for an increase of wages. Ker took
MN IN as partner. A foolish foreign coun-
Tess, living in Scotland, and devoted to turf
SPECULATION, fell into the hands Of Ker and
benson, and they got $4,000 of her money.
Ineh She came to London and swore out
warrants for their arrest, Offering a reward
VI &z,OOO for them. The big reward proved
a Dalt to some Scotland Yard detectives
yne yard was then in bad odor-and the
sascaS were arrested. They were astonished,
u tnley imagined themselves fully protected
~ scotland Yard Benson said that three
scotland ;. Yard men-Meiklejohn Dresco-
wv and Palmer-were in COLLISION with
b nem' The English authorities would not
,s Benson until he produced a series
VI let'eis, which clearly showed the detec-
s we completely in the race track swindlng
. sonelle' Beason and Kerr were each SEN
T TnCeu 10 fifteen years IMPRISONMENT.
5 invu employees got ten years each, and the
SSrs'ec5Iyes who were implicated in other
RR onOluulent Schemes, got fonr years apiece,
a yIius'h Sc we'd seven and a half years,
l elon 10 was discharged with a ticket of
,oI. e. IN 1856 he was arrested in Brus-
NOS. lof selling spurious news to the Euro
p p.'N press. He Yves discharged on nomi-
tba p Dall, and came to this city to develope