St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-10-14
A CLEVER WOMAN CROOK WHO PRACTICED HYPNOTISM
BY Its Means She Swnded Influential Trustee of Nassau
Street Out Of Nearly Sixty Thousand Dollars
The Crime and Its Discovery.
DETECTIVE HOLTON'S STORY


Holton, "struck such brain-twisting
problem as the swludling of James d.
Lyon, the eccentric old broker and
banker in Nassau street. and hope I'll
never get mixed up in such case again.
The discovery that Mr.. Lyon had been
robbed came out In very unusual
way. Lyon was trustee for the Banker
estate. and he gave one OF the heirs
check for $1,000, on the Central Trust
company. The check was paid, and
several days later Mr.. Lyon received a
notice from the bank that his account
was overdrawn. This was very surpris-
ing TO Mr.. Lyon, as his books showed
that he mad on deposit in the bank
over $4,000. He usually kept that
amount in bank, and he sent back word
to the Trust company that there must
be some mistake, as he had no record of
checks except for small amounts. His
account was balanced and nine checks
were returned to him which made in
the aggregate $4,000. This was money
which had belonged to several estates,
but all of the checks were made payable
to the order of Lizzie Van Reipner, one
of the heirs of the Van Reipner estate.
Seely, who had cashsd the checks. Mr..
Lyon declared that lie did not have the
slightest recollection Of giving these
checks, and the matter assumed a per-
picking aspect.
"Mr. Lyon stood very high i'll the bus
mess world, and during his long man
agement of many important financial
affairs, in which he had been intrusted
with hundreds Of thousands Of dollars.
his accounts had been found to balance
to cent, and there had never been the
slightest question of his honesty. When
he said that he did not know anything
said that they had not been given to
her and she did net know any person
named Seely, Mr.. Lyons record made
it Imperative to accept his word; but
there were not few persons who had
some doubt as to its trustworthinesS.
"Alr. Lyon said that the checks were
forgeries. which maize the bank that
had paid the money on them response
BILE for the loss. and with the announce
ment of the forgery was sent to make
an Investigation. The book had several
of Mr.. Lyons genuine signatures, and
l compared them with each one of the
slightest evidence of forgery in any one
of them. They were identical in every
line. and Mr.. Lyons signature
was SO peculiar that no one not
familiar with it could tell what it was.
The bank, for its own protection, ell.
gagged noted handwriting expert; aud
Mr.. Lyon, feeling perfectly confident
that the forgery would be detected,
turned over to him all the questionable
checks and a sample of the ink used in
his Office. The expert enlarge the sig
natures by photography, tested the ink,
deciphered the habitual lines made bv
Mr.. Lyon in writing his name. and sent
in written report that every one of
the checks bore unmistakaOle evidence
of genuinenesS.
This did not suit Mr.. Lyon, and he go}
an expert of his own TO examine the
signatures, but The latter reached the
same conclusion as the first expert. If
there had been loophole for the sec
Ond expert to crawl out of he would
have found it for sure. as there was
big fee in it; but the expert showed that
he was honest and above being in
f1uenced by money.
"Mr. Lyon was in very much dis
turbed state Of mind when he had to
face the fact, from which there seemed
to be no way. of escape. that he had
signed the checks; but he persisted that
the signatures ON them were fOrgeries,
though ne could not offer any eXplana-
ton to subs:antiate the idea. He
obstinately refused to make good the
loss to his clients, and several of them
brought suit for an accounting. Mr..
Lyon offered his books for inspection to
all his clients. and everything appeared
to be perfectly straight with the single
exception of the check transaction.
II was good deal more worried
about the case than Mr.. Lyon seemed to
be, and thought it might be possible
hot hn 1,.,I 4,
forced to guard, and was putting up
bluff until he could make turn and
raise money enough to pay the losses. L
municipalities on this line, and learned
that Mr.. Lyon had been in the company
of a richly dressed woman late at night
for several weeks. and the same
woman had spent hours with him in
his office in the daytime. He had led
an exemplary life, so far as any of his
friends knew, and had been devoted to
his family. | thought, however. that l
had discovered the skeleton in his
household, and | believed that had
reached a solution of the mystery. 1t
seemed to me that Mr.. Lyon had been
caught by blackmailer and had paid
literally for his little slip FROM recti-
tude.
my belief that this was the real ex.
PLANTATION of the giving Of the checks
was STRENGTHENED when l spoke in as
delicate way as | could TO Mr.. Lyon
| about it, and he Indignantly denied that
he had ever been i'll the company of the
woman that l described or knew any
such person. l had certainly, thought,
caught Mr.. Lyon in a lie, aud l re-
membered what the lawyers say-false
reported to the bank officials what Il
had learned, and they believed as did.
Several of them who had been Mr..
Lyons friends for years told him if he
would acknowledge to them in conf
dence that he had been blackmailed
out of the money they would aid him in
every way to settle up without expos
ure, but he denied that he had been
duped, and became very angry at the
suggestion.
ait was limited by one of the bank
officials that MIR. Lyons mind was
affected. and l went to see DR.. Sands.
his family physician. l explained the
whole case to him, and after q few
moments deep thought he said he
would find the solution to the mystery.
lie did just that the same night. He
sent for Mr.. Lyon and got from his lips
the true story of the checks. and it was
marvellous tale. DR.. Sands knew that
Mr.. Lyon was subject who could be
easily Influenced by meSmerism, or
hypnOtism, as they call it now. The
doctor got friend who had the power
of influencing others by mesmerism
developed in a high degree,
and he tried his power on Mr.. Lyon.
He was mesmeriZed in few moments,
and while i'll that state he told about the
visit of a young woman to his ollie who
gave the name of Van Reipen, and he
gave her such checks as she asked for.
She had a friend with her named Seely,
MI. Lyon told where he metthe woman,
and said that at that time she signed her
name to letter in the postoffice which
was directed to Mrs. Ramsey. in Leeds,
England. He remembered every detail,
and the doctor wrote it down as he told
it. When Mr.. Lyon came out of the
mesmeric state, and was asked about
the checks his mind was perfect blank
as fO what he had told