The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-03-05
A Swindjhr Arrested.

A Swindlbr Arrested.
About looclock last Sunday night Pc
liceinan Joseph havenmlgh Of Harrison
4 burg. with Policeman John Fretwell ol
Staunto.i, arrested on the street neal
the Staunton opera house Il middieaged
and rather coarse looking stranger who
! gave as his name Lord Alexander Love
grove Hope" son Of Il peer OF England
Policeman kavanaugh recognized nm,
having seen him several days before IN
4 Harrsonburg, and having been sent to
Staunton Saturday TO arrest him foi
stealing a suit of clothes and other artl-
cIes from the clothing store of Mayor
Switzer of Harrisonburg. The Stranger
was put in Jail to await removaft To Har-
risonburg next morning for trial on the
charge described.
But another and more serious offense
was soon to be charged and proved
against this noble lord of high degree.
/ Between and 3 O'Clock the sai.ie night
a young man named Gardiner, employed
on the farm Of John Thompson, at West
/ View. came to the jail with II warrant
ju.:f ohtailit,l from Justice s s. Sineitzef
for t!ls, arrest of ihe stranger Ode charge
of having stolen = 2s3.s! watch nj Soo III
money from his. Thompson. LATER M.
4 w Bucher. with the aiitiiorli Sof the
! new warrant, went ia 10 So rein le prs
oner, and found on his person he. mss
I ing watch and money. with visiting
! card and a silk handkerchief that had
I been living with the watch and money IN
! Mrs Thompson's portmonnae or shop
! ping bag Further and final proof OF the
mans guilt III the Thompson ease was
/ his possession, as part Of the $50, OF a
blackened $50 gold piece that Mr.. Tllomp-
SON bad kept as a souvenir OF the war
The coin was supposed TO have been
blaclzened by the burning of tie ear IN
which the money of the Central bank Of
Staunton was placed to be carried away
from General Hunters Federal army in
1864
The prisoner waived examination on
Monday morning when brought before
Mayor A. H. Fultz. and he was sent on
for Indictment by the county grand jury.
| George S. Lightiler appeared as counsel
for the defendant, and III. L. White in
his official capacity as commemorative
attorney. Policeman havcnaugh and
Mayor Switzer took the prisoner to Har-
risonburg Monday afternoon. After he
| has been dealt with there according to
his otfenses IN Rockingham. he will be
arrested again by the authorities OF that
county on warrant that they now hold
10 secure him for trial Oh his grand lar
..s,uy in the Thompson ease. As his
known oiTemses in Rockingham are not
grsAyar han petit larceny, his punish
mens there will probably he several
months III the Harrisonburls Jail. On
compile ting his sentence there, however,
he will have 10 meet i'll the Anguish
county court !, charge that will uldoubt-
eddy send him to lie penite.. ri;.r. =
There seems To le no possible Way for
him to avoid conviction for all that is
charged iii the Thompson ease.
This Lord Hope is evidently IL pro-
fessional crook whose real nanls. and
home address cannot now be deternin-
ed. In ali his transactions ia Rocl>ing-
ham and Augusta counties he has repre-
seAted himself to be an English lord $
son who has come to Virginia to buy
! farms for English people. He bought
{ two farms ut Harrisonburg and two at
/ Pleasant Valley, without amy cash pay
! inent Of course He escaped with the
| clothing from Mayor Switzars store on
! permission to go TO the bank to have
casllet an English draft that he showed.
He went to Mr.. Thompson house at
! West View on Friday, and gaining the
latters confidence without difficulty he
! made arrangements to board with him
| during the few days required for looking
up farms in the neighborhood. He
] bought Mr. Thompson farm, at 500 per
acre it is said, and talked asst he intend
ed to buy several adjoining farms and
establish an English colony upon them
4 On Sunday afternoon, just before Ieav-
4 ingona horse borrowed from Mr. Thomp-
son TO look over farms near Swoope's
3 Depot, the stranger remembered that he
had promised to give Mrs. Thompson a
/ remedy for neuralgia or some such CONS
mon complaint with which she was af-
flicted. Mrs. Thompson happened then
/ to be at the house of aneighbor. and the
sd ranger requested Mr.. Thompson to go
after her that the remedy might lie ex-
ssaained to her personally. In Mr.
! Ttompson's absence. there being 40
others in the house, the stranger stole
I the watch and money. On the return of
! Mr. and Mrs Thompson he explained the
: genedy and started COON afterward for
! the Swoope's Depot neighborhood to
/ look over farms.
When about TO retire fssr the night,
.s9r and Mrs. Thompson discovered that
zsae gold watch and money had been sto-
len Fortunately for them their hired
man. Mr.. Gardiner. came home that
night Fslongh he was not expected TO ar
rive ulisss next morning. He started i'm
mediateig IA pursuit of the thief, who,
lie discovered, had llitched the horse at
Swoope's Depot and had gone from there
on foot By !, Geographic request the
train due in STANTON from the west at
/ l:Ae "A. III. was stopped at Swoope's, and
I Mr. Gardiner came upon it TO Stanton
/ The thief had walked to Staunton early
i in the night. and had been arrested
about 10 o'clock us narrated above. Mr.
Gardiner. on arriving at Staunton, WAS
Informed by Il policeman that his man
was already safe in jail
Death of Col. j. A. English.
Col. } A. English died at his residence,
Waverly Place, Baltimore, on the even
ing Of the 9th OF Febrnarv. after an