Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-08-12
The KING OF SWINDLERS.
He Came Very Near Securing Fortune o
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From the Philadelphia Times.
A few days ago a man, emaciated
and stoop-shouldered, walked out of
the Denver penitentiary. He nodded
goodbye to the gate-keeper, and
when he found himself out on the
pavement looked. up and down the
street, undecided which way to turn.
To the casual observer he was merely
convict who had served out his
term.
The man was James Addison Reavis,
the arch swindler of the country,
whose colossal ambition, patience and
skill were devoted for a quarter of a
century to building up 6cticious
claim to q territory worth S10O,OOO,-
900 only to find his fabric swept away
by trivial accident and himself sent
to prison.
More wonderful even than the i'm
pudence of the claim was the plausi.
bility with which Reavis enlisted on
his side the keenest lawyers and most
astute millionaires, who believed so
implicitly in the man that the lawyers
gave him their free services, while the
millionaires supplied funds to the
amount of 100000. Before Reavis
embarked on this monumental swindle
of the century he had been in turn
car conductor, dabbler in real estate
and a soldier. 1t was during his short
military career that he first tried his
prentice hand at forgery and his sue
cess stimulated him to higher flights of
crime. 1t was after he had left the
army that a DR.. George Willing, who
claimed to be the heir to an immense
territory in Arizona and New Mexico,
engaged Reavis to collect evidence for
him. 1t was quickly apparent that
the claim could not be sustained, and
DR.. Willing's death brought it to de-
finite conclusion.
1t was clear to Reavis that if DR..
Willing was not the heir, there ought
to be an heir somewhere. The bait
was a tempting one, consisting as 1t
did of 12,5O0,OO0 acres of the richest
lands in New Mexico and Arizona, on
which 100 fourishing towns had
sprung up.
This vast territory had been given
| by King Philip V. of Spain, in the
middle of the last century, to Baron
Miguel Peralta de la Cardova, in re-
turn for his services as crown commits
sioner to New Mexico, and it still be-
longed by right to Don Miguel's heir,
| if he could be found.
1t mattered little to Reavis that the
Spanish baron's family was extinct.
| If there was no heir, it was easy
enough to invent one, and he speedily
found suitable subject in beautiful
young Mexican girl who had been
adopted by a ranchero, and whose
origin was unknown.
She was a girl of surprising beauty,
with the dark eyes and black silken
hair of a Spaniard, exquisite in shape
and digniied in carriage, splendid
dancer and horsewoman, and, in short,
true daughter of long line Of
mobiles.
Having found his heiress, Reavis in
duced John w. Mackay, the million
aire, to make him an allowance Of
$500 a month, and he forthwith went
to Spain, professedly as journalist,
to prepare his evidence.
His first step was to produce suitable
ancestors for his beautiful Mexican
heiress, and these he found in two
miniatures of the last century he picked
up in curio shop in Madrid. He
then hunted up the records of the
Perdita family, married Don Miguel
by forged certificate to a non-existent
daughter of another obsolete Spanish
house, and thus had foundation to
work on.
By further certificates of marriages
and births, all carefully forged and in
serted among the records, be brought
down the descent to the father and
mother of the heiress, whom he
drowned, on manufactured evidence,
while at crossing of the Santa Anna
river, while making their way back to
Spain, leaving behind them the little
daughter, who was rescued as by a
miracle. This child was destined to
grow up to lovely woman, and to be
produced to the world as the heiress
to kingdom and twenty millions OF
money.
This long process of fabricating eVi,
dence, which has only been sketched
in the barest outline, occupied Reavis
many years; and at an early stage the
adventurer took care to marry his
protege so that he might share her
fortunes.
When at last the evidence was ready,
the case known to fame as the "Great
Peralta Claim" was brought before the
United States court of claims. Money
flowed into Reavis's Golfers like water
from the rich sympathizers, the most
famous counsel gave him their services
and everything pointed to a triumph
ant conclusion to the case.
At a critical stage, however, news
came that a United States official
while looking up records in Madrid,
had discovered that the original deed
of gift to Don Miguel was a forgery.