Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1891-03-12
LIKE FATHER LIKE SON.
Prisoner Parafs Parent Was
the King Of Swindlers.
A STRANGE STORY or HEREDITY

his Notorious Sire Cheyalier Pnraf.
NEw YORK, March 12. A stranger story
never crept into print than that Of young
Alfred paraf the grandson OF the well
known lawyer, Bainbridge Smith, who Of
his own free choice leaves his home in
Fifth avenue and seeks by preference life
among the slums near Five Points In the
one place he is surrounded by every Luxury
and comfort that his grand parents can
secure for their only grandson Ia the
other he consorts with thieves; he lives d
hand-to-mouth existence lay day and creeps
into low, III smelling lodging houses by
night
The SON Of the Father.
II the advocates Of theory Of horedity-
Of the transmission Of the sins Of the par
enta upon the children even unto the thin
and fourth generation-sti seek BY cx.
ample to suppress their argument, the,
may seek FAR and wide and never find
better than that contained ia young paraf'.
life story. Until last Friday the boy hao
been only reckless unmanageable youth
but now he is a criminal, and must suffer
as other criminals Yet he is but Is years
Of age That Is strangely young for even
child Of the slums 10 be hauled befor.
justice as a felon, But for one reared As
Alfred Paraf has been his depravity can
be accounted for upon the theory OF
heredity
Charged with burglary.
Young Paraf, charged with rohbing hi.
erandiather's country residence at Bergen
Point Of 5000 worth of iewelry is still IN
the Tombs prison awaiting examination
Parai is a bright, handsome fellow, al
though he shows the effects Of dissipation
lie Is ready taiker, aud was very willing
yesterday 60 tell the story Of his crime. In
fact, be seemed rather proud Of his achieve.
ment and the notoriety il had brought
him. ParM is the only grandson OF O.
cambridge Smith, the aged law, Of 81
Liberty street
From Sire to SON.
The father OF this l5.year-old monstrosi
ty OF criminal inclination was another
Alfred Parif whose criminal propensity
was as largely marked as the boys aud
whose career as an adventurer and sw windiei
stands out as one Of the most auaacions
ever known In America. Like father, like
SON. becomes an adage Of terrible force
when the boy begins so early and so cold
hloodedly to respond 70 the criminal in.
stinets plainly inherited from the sire.
Many New Yorker, many Parisian, and
hundreds Of persons on our Pacific coast,
and still other hundreds in South America,
viii remember the "king Of Swindlers, 2
this boy prodigys father, who some ten ui
q dozen years ago dezzled and defrauded
one community after another.
The King Of SwindIers. NasyHf9,
Alfred Paraf, the elder appeared first IN
New York in June, 1877. The Cheyalier
Alfred Paraf, he called himself, sometimes
varying the spelling Of his name by the
more frenchifed style OF Alfred d'paraffe
The chevalier was a native Of Alsace hand.
some, polished, well educated and fascin.
ating. While travelling in Scotland in
1865 he suddenly found himself penniless
Calls upon his father, who had been a
wealthy Partisan, met with no response,
and the young man soon learned that the
elder Paraf had been swept under in a
financial panic.
In these straits the Young man went 10
Glasgow, and established himself in ele
CANT quarters. He put touse a knowledge
of chemistry by selling 20 wealthy firm
of cloth manufacturers the alleged secret
of new and cheap dye. He worked in
the laboratory Of the establishment and
received e4,OOO in gold from the firm
The $4,000 was soon dissipated, and young
Paraf knowing that detection of the
fraud by which he had produced the dye
must soon follow, disappeared and re.
turned TO Paris, where he sold to his
uncle Of Paraf, laval & Co, Rue de
Sautier, the same bogus dye secret foI
$4,000 francs,
He RivaIed Coal Oil" johnny.
Taking this money he came to New York
and for a time rivaled the lavishness OF
Goal ON johnny Steele One of his
habits was 10 force loans Of A 900 to &, ,OO0
on his friends about town, refusing to ac
cept even an a. o. U.n He had rooms AZ
the Everett House, for which he paid si2s
a week. Baths with $40 TO $50 worth Of
peffumery in them were another OF his
fads. Dinners at Delmonico's, theatre
parties and similar entertainments, an in
sumptuous style, were daily and nightly
events in his life
This pace soon exhausted his 5O, 900 francs
and Paraf turned trick " as the detect
ives say, TO replenish his purse. 1t was his
first criminal venture in America. HI
went 10 New England and sold to manu-
facturers there an "aniline black dye foi
100000
He Brought Over Oleomargarine.
He returned to New York and began t.
live as eXtravagantly as before Mean
time he had been introduced through Bredi
4 Co. TO Professor Chandler Of Columbis
college, and had gained access to the col
lege laboratory, where he conducted ex
periments on a process which he claimed
to have discovered for making butter out
of animal fat without using milk
This was really the introduction Of cleo
margarine in America, the process which
had been discovered By Frenchman sev
eral years before and which Paraf had OF
course stolen.
Professor Chandler, Professor Doremus
and Others were charmed with the results
of Paraf's experiments" and a stocl
company, with James Mckenzie as tn,
principal organizer, was formed, with
capital of $500,000.
Governor Sprague Duped.
His money getting low Paraf visited
Rhode Island ana showed Governor
Sprague a wonderful 'madder dye, . which |
the daring adventurer claimed to have in
vented. Governor Sprague paid s25, 600 foi
the exclusive" right to the secret. AS had
been the case with all Paraf's other mar
velous dye discoveries, it subsequently
came out that the dyes were patented il
this country and Europe by foreigners
and Paraf had simply sold rights that h,
did not own. These revelations were not
made until after the SOD C99 9oleomargarins
company, with Paraf as president, hac
been established on a flourishing basis
But the ''malder dyen bubble burst at
last and then the oleomargarine swindle !
came to Light. and the A american, counnanv