Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-07-17
THE GREAT CONSPIRACY
TO STEAL THE ESTATE OF LoRING
A. ROBERTSON.

| vThe New York Herald printed last Fri
day the full story or confession of Cassie
| Brooks, the young woman who was obtain
ed to personate the "widow' i'm the attempt
made last winter to steal the estate of Lor-
ing A. Robertson, the dead millionaire
case which has attracted much local inter
est. 1t will be remembered that Robert
son died bachelor as was supposed but
when a movement was made toward the
settlement and division of his estate a
widow appeared on the scene represent
ed by her counsel. Her lawyers were BY
ron w. Cohen, a man who had heretofore
borne good reputation, and John +. Ba-
ker an entirely reputable elderly man,
whom it was attempted to drag into the
case at a little later stage of the proceed
ings. The firm of Evarts, ChOate II Bea-
man were retained by the legitimate heirs
and very brief investigation convinced
them that the widow was a fraud, and
that she was simply put forward as tool
in one of the most remarkable plots of its
kind which has ever been unearthed in
this country. A few weeks work by de
tective proved the truth of their suspicious
and the principals in the plot were arrest
ed Cohen was held in very light bonds
considering the offence with which
he was charged, while the Brooks woman
was sent to Jail without bail, she being too
valuable a witness to he given any chance
to he spirited away. On Thursday of last
week the case against Cohen was called in
the court of general sessions i'm New York
city, when he failed to appear, as was gen
orally expected, and his bail was declared
forfeited A New York Herald reporter
saw Cassie Brooks in the Ludlow street
It'll IL, Ill l., Ill. e
the conspiracy. Her account is undoubt-
eddy a truthful one. and is substantially as
told in The Phoenix in April last.
ITO begin at the beginning the woman
said, II never heard Of Loring A. Robert
son or his millions until more than two
weeks after had gone into the scheme"
From this she went on to relate all the de
tails. She was living last November and
December in a certain house on Clinton
place, and was a frequenter of Tom Gould's
saloon and an intimate of Harry Belcher,
his bar-keeper. 1t was through Belcher
that she was introduced to Cohen and to
man named James w. Daskam of Siam
ford, Conn, who was also a principal in
the conspiracy. After two or three meet
ings had been held and the prelminaries
had been made Cassie Brooks was taken
down town to Cohen office. where she was
given certain papers to sign as Helen Rob
ertSon," and was instructed in the part
which she was to play. Briefly stated
this part was to keep out of sight, keep her
mouth shut and not to see or talk to any
newspaper reporters. When she asked how
much she was to get ont of the scheme she
was told. 80. from $4,000 to Slj0,OOO or
may be even more She was instructed
to wear plain black when coming to the
office, with a sealskin overgarment. and to
put on as much jewelry as possible so as to
look las much like a rich widow as she
could This is the story of what took
place at the interview when She finally
signed her widows papers in Cohen's Of
fee. The amusing thing is that Cohen
took for granted that the Robertson heirs
were lot of countrymen who would Toe
satisfied with whatever was given them
CoHEN's SCHEME AND THE COUNTRY
MEN" HEIRS.
" Its the easiest thing in the world
said Mr.. Cohen. TO get hold of this money.
You see this man Robertson came from
out in Pennsylvania in the tanning coun-
try. and all the relatives he has left are a
lot of country people-that is. all except
you. You are his widow. All you've got
to do is to sign petition to the surrogate
asking him To give you your dover right in
Mr.. Robertson's estate The only man
among the heirs who knows anything is a
lay Judge. \ man who is in this thing is
a bright young attorney from Pennsylvania
and the lay judges wife is very fond of
him. He will persuade her and she will in
tiuence the judge not to fight your claim.
SO the Judge will be willing to compromise
~ nj NJ htA pfr1fT will
take their cue from him. There wont be
any contest in the court. All I'll have to
do will be to file your petition and present
il to the surrogate. Most of Mr.. Robert
sons estate is personal property and under
the law his widow will get all of that.
Still there's enough left to satisfy those
cOuntrymen, because they are not used to
having money. Now. | want you to sign
this paper. | think Helen would he a
good name for you. Cassie is too light
and frivolous. | think Mr.. Robertson
would have been more apt to marry
woman named Helen. Let me see you
write Helen Robertson
Il took off my glove and wrote Helen
Robertson on piece of paper.
"'Why, that's backhanded, said Mr.. Co
hen.
"'Well, | can't write any other way
said, and that will have to do
"'You d better make it as plain and sim
pie as possible was Mr., Cohen's advice
Write it good many times. So that you
will get in the habit of signing it the same
way
so | sat there and wrote Helen Rob
ertsOn' over and over again until | was
tired of looking at il.
Then Mr.. Cohen said, Sign Helen Rob
ertson to this paper He did not explain
what the paper was, but told me it was my
petition to the surrogate and that il was all
right. | signed my name at the place he
pointed ont Oh the paper without having |
read anything that was typewriter there. |
Then Mr. Cohen told me | must 20 and /
swear to it. First he said he would show |
me the way to the notary's office Then |
he changed his mind and called in his Of !
flee boy, Julius, who led me down the hall |
way to the Office of Notary Max Moses, on |
the same floor
"The nOtarys Office was a dingy little I
place and there was only one gas jet in it. |
1t was very late in the afternoon and the |
little room was almost dark. Mr.. Moses /
mumbled and jumbled something al me |
about swearing to the truth, and | said |
Yes Then he stamped the petition with |
his seal and gave it to Julius, and Julius |
and went back to Mr.. Cohen's office.
+" Everything is settled now, said Mr.. !
Cohen. You go home and keep quiet. In .
a few days you will see something interest
ing in the papers. Then You must keep |
extra quiet because the papers will pub |