The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-04-17
SWINDLED FOR 500.


Last week Wednesday a rather
rusty looking chap, shabbily dressed,
about five feet five inches IN height,
with dark brown hair and moustache
and sun Drowned face. appeared at the
| Brooks house, registering as Nj. Ait
man, New York;. That afternoon he
ordered team and drove down TO
Hinsdale but if he worked any swindle
there the knowledge has not become
public. The next morning, however
! bright and early he got another team
| and drove out to Guilford. He went
to Archie Melen's and tried to sell Il
pair of spectacles, and perhaps 10
other places. But he did his days
work at Edwin Carpenters 10 whose
house he drove up, saying he was
great ucculist and had been sen. byDr.
Conland of BIattleboro to see Mr..
Carpenters sister Mrs. \. Moves. whom
the doctor believed to be suffering
from a serious eye trouble. 1t is
needless to say that DR.. Conand had
never seen the fellow ana had revei
known of any trouble with the lady
eyes and doesn't believe there was
any. But the fellow examined
her through a Tense heI
tense he had brought with him and
declared that she had a cataract. He
seemed TO have learned in some way
that two or three of her sisters had
had cataracts and one of them been
insane. and talking about the great
danger from the hing. he worked
them up to allow him, as famous
specialist to perform an operation.
He went through the motions with a
great flourish, put in cocaine to
deaden the nerve and final, took out |
something from the eye which Mr.. |
Carpenter says looked like:: the scale of
shad. In all probability It was some
thing that he dropped in.
His charge for the job was 800. |
When Carpenter demurred at the price
Altman said he should get only $50 of |
it. The other so he must pay to the
widow of DR.. Agnew of New York,
VINO invented the method of treatment
and who died poor SO that the widow
had to have a royalty on every case.
He got Mr.. Carpenter to give him s25
IN cash and give him check for S15,
insisting that the check should be
made payable to ''bearer, showing
himself in the talk reluctant to give
his name, and practically giving him
self away. This Mr.. Carpenter
realized as he came to think: 1T over. and
he came out the next day TO inquire
into it. But it was too late.
: altman drove back to Brattleburo.
cashed the check, indorsing it as IN.
A tim an and took the afternoon train
out of town.
Mr.. Carpenter, who has the reputa
ton of being an unusually shrewd and
careful business man, who has twice
been inthe Massachusetts, legis-
lature and seen something
IF the lworld and life and
succeeded in 1t is wondering how it
vas done. But it is fact that twice
nut of three times this is the kind of ,
men these swindlers succeed with.
The remarkable thing about the case {
md the one thing that naturally i'm
nan came from Conland was the know
edge he seemed to have of the family
md family history. He had thus
.Ioundwork(for the Job completely la
nut before he reached the house and
/ is not understood how he could
lave got SO much and so accurate in !
ormation in the time he was here or Z
1 the place were he went befor. q
eaching there. The theory is that be
must have had a confeC crate to help
am IN these points, either some one
ear about here and acquainted or
ome one who has been there. perhays
was "A spectacle peddler who was :.
Dund last fal. and who told at other :.
laces what Il long and pleasant witt =
e had at tn" Carpenters
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