Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-01-14
REED AT HOME.
How the Famous Bunco Man
Lived in Plainf1eld.
His Manner Was Considered lIweproach-
able, and He Was Thought to 30
a Financier.

New York, jan 1S.-The Journal
prints the following description of the
home life Of George Spencer, or Reedi
In Plainfeld George Spencer, the too
clever man whose arrest has made that
pretty New Jersey town shuddeP was a
respectable man.
He paid his bills promptly he was
never in arrears of rent, his manner
was irreproachable. The tradesmen OBJ
served that he was not inclined to dis
pute about prices. the neighbors OBJ
served that he was not fond Of society
Tall, neatly dressed, having in his
large steely eyes an expression of kind
ness tempered by learning, which comes
| only to men who have suffered without
| bitterness, he captivated generation.
Boys took off their caps to him. old
people bowed and smiled when he
passed In his road wagon, brown, with
red wheels, drawn by a well-fed horse
as dignifled as it's owner
He was usually accompanied in his
| drives by his wife, tall, strong, with a
wealth Of blond hair and eyes even
more serene than his, and the gossips
said Mr., Spencer and his wife were cyl
IDENTIFY very happy.
nue., with wide veranda, peaked roof
and pointed windows, the brilliant panes
| of which were covered with delicate
lace curtains, gave THE impression of
little palace occupied by a retired fnan-
cier in love with nature, or a scholar
anxious to study his books or his aleln-
bics in quiet.
Neighbors, as the custom is in New
Jersey country towns, called on his wife,
and she received them affably, but she
did not return their visits, In all Plain
fields Indignation at the fact that the
Spencers came into its most exquisite
district there is a sort of saving graft
tude at the thought that they did not
invade it's hearths.
They came to Plainfeld in October,
and they called on nobody there except
the Ludlums, who live in Putnam ave-
nue. in large gray house among tall
trees The Ludlums were strangers all
SO, and as exclusive as they.
louis Ludlum, his wife, and her sister,
Mrs. Jabina Kerr, with her two sons,
came to Plainfield in September, 1896
Z They cared not to make acquaintances;
they did not return the visits Of neigh
bors, but Mrs. Kerr went to the Park
Avenue Baptist Church and made
friends. She received and returned
Ludlum to them. Mrs. Kerr left Plain
field suddenly last fall, with her two
sons, without telling why. They went
back to Phillipsburg.
The Ludluns remained. Mrs. Ludlunl
small 1.-THE, delicate, with large. black
: onyx eyes, drove every day through the
villages in gowns of the most recent
fashion, that the dressmalkers looked at
with great interest.
Her husband tall, athletic, ford, with
sandy mustache and hair Mrs. Spen-
! Ger, or a Skye terrier, accompanied her
Mr.. Spencer and Mr.. Ludlum were out
of town often, and the gossips wondered
why, but they had not earned the priv
ilege to ask questions. When the trades
men asked, with the heedlessness of
! tradesmen, Mrs Spencer or Mrs. Lud-
lum replied, "He is travelling on bust
ness"
Really the tradesmen did not care.
When Mr. Spencer or Mr.. Ludlum re-
turned from his periodical absence he
had a roll Of bills so thick that to ask
, him where he had been would have been
sheer impertinence.
When ne was out of Plainfeld, George
: Spencer was still the retired financier
OF scholar in appearance. His face had
Il not to be made up, but he was a very
different parsonage.
He was a brigand out of his village, a
modern brigand using craft instead of
| strength. He went through the eastern
states, among the farmers, offering to
buy land and proposing three-eard
: monte games in the intervals Of bar
gains, offering to SELL gold bricks, steal
! ing satchels, robbing the weak, the
clever and the ,uawary.
He liked the game as much as the
money which he stole by 1t, calculating
the chances of 1t as soldier studies
strategy, attacking the most prominent
, farms in a county, the most eminent
, business man in capital.
He was prince among the criminals
of his class, displaying his money
, among them as at Plainf1eld and spend
ing 1t as generously. He would appear
in the liquor shops where bunco steerers
assemble and In their acclamations buy
for them wines, cigars, hats, clothes,
anything they would accept.
In the Tenderloin, as George Spencer,
on Reed, or Greenhalge, for all the
aliases that he used were given to him
elsewhere than in Plainfield, he spent
$4,000 one evening recently in tri1es.
He was seen in Plainfle1d for the last
time Saturday, In Ludlurn's company,
going into a trolley car to Netherwood.
They were fleeing then from the detec-
tives, warned from Massachusetts.
where SpenceTs most recent swindle
occurred.
The fortune he must have placed in
safety somewhere, despite his extra
vagance, is estimated at 100000 at the
least He is In prison in Philadelphia.
His associate, IIudlum, has escaped.
What did you think was your hus-
bands business?' was asked of Mrs.
! Ludlum yesterday by Plainfelds chief
of police.
IT thought he was a gambler" she
) replied without grief
Mrs. Spencer is native of Phillips
burg, where Mrs Lrdlum's sister, Mrs.
, Kern, lives. In Mrs. Spencer's house
yesterday was a tall mulatress with
lashless eyes, who replied mo to all
questions about Mrs. Spencer. There
was also a young man who chivalTously
had come to offer his services to Mrs.
Il Spencer.
}, He is of an old Plainfield family. well
known and highly esteemed. He said:
Il could not believe evidence against
the Spencers," with an righteousness
that was enchanting, He is disabused
now.
CHARL TON.
Nelson McIntire has gone to New