The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1905-02-25
A CLEVER SWlNDL Err
WILLIAM VANCE MINIS se,.
600 BY PURCHASING
GOLD BRICK.

& Shock-Albany Man Influence
ed by Confidence Men in
Spite of Attempts TO
Save Him.
Portland, Feb. 22.-WilliamI
Vance, the wealthy Albany man
who was swindled out of $6, 600
Sby The gold brick trick at Salem
last Thursday, lies very i'll at the
residence of his son-in-law, w. B.
Peacock, 214 Eleventh street, while
throughout the country detectives
are bending their energies TO cap
ture the confidence men who &C.
|complished the daring robbery.
Never in the historyof the North.
west, detectives declare, has rob-1
hery so daring and So successful
been brought tolight. Many Of its
features are 80 remarkable, they
state, that it seems almost incredi-s
bic that they can be true. Yet they
are verified IN every detail, as pub
|lsshed 10 The Oregonian yesterday.
Strange as is the accomplish
Ement of the crime, still more go.
does it become when it ia known
EtHat daughter Of Mr.. Vance used
every effort to persuade her aged
father to have nothing to do with
1.-THE man who called himself Will
Ham Dunn, and who operated In
Albany until he had won the entire
lconfdence of Mr.. Vance and took
him to Salem, where the $4,000
Icheck was cashed at Ladd & Bush's
Bank.
A danghter's love, her pleadings
and entreaties proved vain. The
father turned deaf ear toher. He
Made her cease berating the man he
Esaid would be his greatest benefac-
Etor. He persisted in following the
dictates Of !" Mr. Dnsa.. Ike as one
q aess rsn vixen
It's daughtsf stood ki1 he doorway
fof their home at Albany und saw
her gray-haired father start for the
depot with the confidence man. she
still attempted to save him from
the great mistake. She senta friend
to seq if he could not get her father
away from Dunn but the aged
man would not listen.
! AS last desperate resort, and to
block the steal, if it lay within her
power, the daughter telegraphed to
an attorney at Salem, friend OF
the family, to have him try his in
| fuenee. But when he tried to rea.
son with Mr.. Vance, be turned
away. He went with the confidence
man, "Mr. Dunn" to the Ladd &
Bush Bank, where he wrote out the
check, where it was cashed and the
coin pocketed by the swindler
This was after the gold brick had
been ''assay ed" at the fake Office ol
the second confidence man, to show
the great value Of the ore in the
Arizona mine the aged man was
made to believe he was buying.
"Dunn's" exceedingly clever ma.
nipulation of the swindle is said by
local detectives to be the smoothesl
ever recorded. They say that a
robbery SO daring aud SO fraugh1
with unusual details has NOT been
reported in this country for many
i years. They are utterly unable te
account for the persistence of the
] victim in plunging into the DIAL
after being warned, as he was, by
bis daughter and others. Who
dunn" really is, no detective seems
to know, but the local officers be
lieve they have clue that may
lead to his arrest, and possibly te
J the arrest of his partner, who work
ed the "assay-efhce' end of ths
swindle.
"To label tDunn" as a clever
conversationaliet, merely, is doing
him an injustice thedetectives state
for he not only worked the game
smoothly and without hitch, but
he told his aged victim that he fell
|. hurt to think Vance's daughter
should accuse him Of being ''crook
ed" He said, however, that hel
suspicious were probably due to hel
sex, as women, he said, were nat
urally suspicious of strangers. i
I would prove all right, he said, wher
the deal was made and her father
began coming nor ey from the mine
he was buying.
Mr.. Vance was overjoyed at th'
deal, Notwithstanding his daugh
ter's attempts to show him his mis-
take. Therefore, when he received
the letter from Dunn Saturday
saying he had swindled Vance, th,
latter for the first time realized tina