The Daily Texarkanian., 1894-05-12
AN INFAMOUS sWINDLE.
Touching and Pathetic Story of How
An Aged Woman Was
SWindled.

Swindled.
A sad and touching story of mans
knavery and woman's trustfulness
is told by an eastern writer, the
truth of which is fully vouched for,
in the following terms:
with eyes brimful of happy an
ticlpation, an aged woman present
ed two ''kings" of bright metal to
the chief weigher at the mint. She
believed that the two Jumps of met
al were gold worth thirty thousand
dollars, and when she was informed
that they were but copper and
zinc, worth two or three dollars, she
turned away with heavy heart
and sought the train to bear her
back to her home in Jackson, Mich.
She had paid twelve thousand dol
lars for the stuff, and had journey
ed all the way east to realize upon
| it.
"The story of the unfortunate
woman's loss was told to the mint
officials. She was Mrs, Harriet
Morgan, who resides in Jackson,
and with her were her son-in7law,
Charles Helleg, and DR.. Blanchard,
the family physician, Some thir-
teen years ago Mrs. Morgan, who
is quite wealthy, had advanced to a
nephew six thousand dollars to start
in business. He was profuse in his
expressions of gratitude, and prom
ised that, as business prospered
him, he would return the loan with
ample interest. The nephew went
away and his aunt heard nothing
Of him until recently She had
about abandoned hope of securing
a return of her loan, when one day
a stranger came to her with the
announcement that he represented
her nephew The latter had pros
pered well in gold mining, and, as
an evidence of his success, had sent
her two gold bricks, or "kings.
These weighd fully eighty five pounds
and were worth thirty thousand
dollars. These the nephew desired
to present to his aunt in return for
her loan and another small pay
ment Mrs Morgan, delighted,
paid the stranger six thousand dol
lars and received the "kings, which
she guarded carefully. The trip to
the mint was planned, DR.. Blan-
chard and Mr.. Helleg accompany
ing her to carry and properly guard
the precious humps. The trio reach
ed the city on a Sunday, and await
ed with feverish impatience the
coming of the morning, when the
mint doors should open. Business
for the day had scarce begun when
they walked into the money-making
establishment with happy faces.
The metal was in conical form, and
throughout all the journey the two
men had guarded the satchels con-
tanning the "kings" with watchful
care and anxiety, never permitting
them out of their sight for mo-
ment. The "kings" we're passed
over to the chief weigher, and the
trio sat watching the result of his
examination, In "a few moments
he announced, in crushing tones;
"This is nothing but copper, mix
with zinc.
Mrs. Morgan eyed the weigher
skeptically, and turned to her COM
panions with pale face and dimming
eye. A painful silence of several
seconds followed, and the aged wo-
man walled;
"Is it possible that ] have lost all
that money!"
The men briefly told the story Of
the swindle, and the trio departed
to catch the western express for
their Michigan homes. They had
planned to 60 on toNew York after
spending a few days in the mint
city, but they quickly abandoned
the idea"