The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-17
AMAZING CAREER
Of RED ADAMS
Is Safe in Prison at Last After
a Long Life of
Crime.
BEEN TRACKED BY MANY
cREDULoUs AND CRAFTY ARE
EASILY FOOLED.
BEEN TRACKED BY MANY


ana stern one. and the first generation
VI CROOK catchers that started on his trail
hao TO give the task over to the second
senSIauon- But the second generation
4lnaiiy landed him. and TO-DAY ne is a
guest or Uncle Sam at his select prison in
Atlanta, Ga, the same at which Charles
w. morse and Lupo, the eounterfeiter and
olners OF greater or less note ar invol-
untary guests.
However, do not waste any pity or sym-
patny on him. At least, il you have any
such sentiments don't let the government
oIIicer or any Of Adams victims of the
past four decades know how you feel In
stead or four and a half years, they all
WISH that he had been sent away f.r 400
years-and then some mora.
Because, of all the gentlemanly smooth.
clever, diabolically shrewd, slippery, oily,
insinuating human beings who ever
proved the truth of the adage that
there's a sucker born every minute"
lied ADAMS YVES just about the king Of
What the authorities believe they know
about him may be summed up In a few
words 1t Is practically certain his name
is not Red Adams or Charles W. Adams,
although the latter is the cognomen under
which he was convicted in the federal
court Ia New York recently.
Had Many Aliases.
There are some who have known him
as Cameron Bostetter, and II Is generally
believed this is his real name, or at
least very early alias, as he travelled
under Il some twenty-five or thirty years
ago. when he first began to figure prom
tnenty as dangerous character, He has
alSC been known as William H. Stout
Stevenson and Adamson. And as James
Thomas Southwick. And II was under
December % last
II was just q case Of bad luck that
landed him this last time, and nothing
more. Year after year Red Adams had
frlA
up finally; year after year he had, with
the assistance Of few confederates,
taken things as he found them, in one
way or another, and year after year the
authorities OF this country and England
had pursued him with unremitting en-
ergy, only to have 20 acknowledge them
selves. time after time, beaten.
The chase began away back q little
after the civil war. when the farmers
out through Ohio and the middle west
commenced to make frequent reports of
being gulled out OF their money by q
smooth stranger giving the name of
Henry Eurd, in some caESs. William II.
Stout in others. His practice was 10 ar
rive at the farm IN question and an
nounce that he wanted TO buy Il for his
sSe Tine pTs Sd SsaH aE. s sSs H HUI and
cores to see how thsy were looking. In
ap out Of the way place they would meet
with a stranger. who wore a woebesone
fsEs and told STORY Sf being robbed ey
through card game.
Farmer Would Be FIeeced.
BY a strange coincidence he would have
the cards with him-their number was
generally three-and would shcw the far
mer and the sympathetic Hurd Just how
the trick was done. Then Hurd would
try Il with the stranger, and would win
come of the unfortunate mans money.
Mr.. Farmer, being not averse to getting
some easy cash the same way, would try
his hand at 1t, with the result that the
stranger would win.
Sometimes the farmer got wise" at this
stage CT the game, and also angry, Then
Hurd would go away, satisfied with what
he and the stranger (WhO was, of course,
his eonfederate) had won. Sometimes the
farmer would still be game, and IN such
a case the prospective purchaser OF the
farm and he would continue en- their way
to the bank In town, where certain for
mality was to be gone through with. The
farmer, as an instance of good faith, was
to draw $500 and place 1t in a satchel
with the same amount from Hurd. This
5000 was to act as guarantee Of the
intentions OF both parties TO the sale of
the farm.
OF course, the farmer would produce
his 5000, and ostensibly Mr.. Hurd would
do likewise. Then sometimes the farmer
would grow suspicious. In this case a
quarrel would ensue, and Hurd would
throw the farmer and the satchel out of
the buggy and drive away.
But the greatest of all schemes which
Adams ever worked was one which finally
brought him, at the age of "a, to book
and at length landed him in the federal
prison.
The Old Spanish swindIe.
has heard of the Spanish prisoner
swindle Adams worked that, of course;
In fact ii is generally supposed that he
was one of its originators. You, for IN
I-4S,
full young cousin in Spain of whom you
had never heard. Or it might be a nice
old padre in some village. At any rate.
the letter was about an old friend OF
yours OF a distant relative who had died
in a Spanish prison, leaving a letter In
which 1t was expressly directed that his
fortune which was hidden In an old
trunk somewhere, was TO 60 to YOU
Now, all you had to do was to send few
hundred dollars over to Spain, to the old
padre or The beautiful young cousin, to
take the old trunk ''Out of pawn" or TO
pay certain expenses, and the fortune
would be forwarded to you.
Does il seem possible that any one
would bite" at such bait? No2 Well.
many man did. The best proof is that
Adams and his friends became rich
through it and the governments Of both
Spain and the United States issued cir
cular warnings time and again as a
necessity toward stopping the wide prao-
tice of the swindle.
out a better one than this. and for the
past ten or fifteen years he has been
working a swindle that is perfectly beau
tiful in its simplicity and in all its ele-
ments. 1t was this:
When people In England die, the pro-
batting OF their wills is done in Somerset
House, London, the equivalent OF our pro-
bate court. 1t is easy enough to get all
necessary information as to a man 8
heirs, the approximate amount of his
estate, etc, at Somerset House, and il is
a simple matter to look up his past life
a little All this information can then be
forwarded to the United States TO be used
for the furtheranca OF the scheme.
Adams worked this end, having a confed-
crate in England On receiving the in
formation required he would write a nice
letter 70 the dead man in England. tell
ing that the gold mine" which they had
staked together some thirty or forty
years previously or had taken control of
in some way. had PANIED out wonder
fully, and ne thought it would be a good
plan to buy up the adjoining property
before its owners could discover its rich
ness.
Played on Greed Of Heirs.
The writer would also state that
mutual friend" of his and the dead man
had sent a package containing about $40
900 worth of gold-the cleanup of the
last few months-which was to be divided
between them, and would ask that a rep
raSautatfVa come over and get his share