Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-14
FACED BY WIFE NO. 10,
CROOK FALLS DEAD
Man With Many Aliases and
Varied Criminal Talents
Succumbs in Jail

Samuel oakley Crawford. swndler
Of international reputation. better known
as REV. Arthur worthington," fell dead
In Jail yesterday when faced by his
tenth wife, Mrs Jennie A. Worthington.
OF Wilmington. Del, who he married in
July, 1916, under the name of Charles
Graham Boone.
The "Rev." Worthington, who was
seventy-two years old, was traced Ivy
detectives to the Jail at Newburg, y. V,
where he had been since January. and
held for court on the charge of swim
ding the Rev. Doctor Stanley. of New
Hamburg, out of several thousand dol
lars while member of the presbytery.
According to Mrs. Worthington, the
swindlep deserted her two months after
their marriage, taking with him her en-
tire savings, amounting to s25Oo.
The scene at the Newburg Jail was
most dramatic and brought to tragic
end career of crime aud marriage of
startling proportions. When he was
brought from the cell and came face
TO face with his victim, Crawford stared
at her for "a few seconds and, murmur-
ing incoherently, sank to the floor. lie
was dead before medical aid could bc
obtained.
Crawford'S career along the paths of
crime represent more than forty years
OF nomadic life, his wanderings taking
him around the world. New Zealand
was favored with n new religious cult
but 1t proved too much 4r the people
and he WAS driven out of the country
Tasmania also felt the touch Of his forg-
ing hand. 1t would seem from his his
tory, however, that IL was in the field of
wholesale matrimony that his star shonc
the brightest. Little wonder that he
was able to swindlc the MOrmUnS in Salt
Lake out of $4,000.
Up to tho time that he obtained the
pastorate of the New Hamburg church
he had posed as lawyer, banker, political
orator, litterateur, real estate operator,
Spiritualist, organizer, free-love expo
nent, Christian Science healer, insurance
agent, judge, captain, major colonel and
general in the regular army, Unitarian
minister, Mormon preacher, actor. pro-
hibition lecturer and member OF long
list of various cults.
Crawford never could blame his early
start in life or his bringing UP for his
criminal propensties. He was born in
Saugerties and as a boy enlisted in the
Civil War. After the war he studied law
at Columbia and graduated in the c.ass
of 1867.
In 1868 he married the first of the
women who have called him husband.
Two years later he deserted her and
departed with all the money he could
get from her and her friends. Then he
took to horse trading, but conducted it
in such a manner that he soon found
himself in the Albany penitentary.
After his release he confined most OF
his efforts to swindling women of their
savings by marriage and desertion. ON
the side. however, he forged begged and
borrowed. An actress, oife, deserted
after three years, returned to the stage
saved her money and paid all his debts
of which she knew.
In 1886 he appeared in Griffin, Ga,
where he met an hciress to 100000 and
married her. lie was then posing as
Judge John ID. Crawford" After Il
honeymoon trip to Europe Crawford
persuaded his bride to part with $4,000
with which he told her he would start a
banking business. Instead he deserted
her, going to Spokane, where he lived as
n high roller for year, spending most
of the sum he had stolen.
He bobbed up next in Providence as
General A. +. Ward and told how he was
wounded while serving in the Union
army. There he met Miss Emma Marie
Perry an heiress to $4,000, and mar
ried her. Soon afterward he disap
peared after inducing his bride to give
him most of her money.
1t was in 1911 that he appeared in
Poughkeepsie and told the local minis
ters that he was a graduate of oxford
and a minister, but had lost his papers in
shipwreck. He was soon assigned
to the New Hamburg church, but over
worked his practice OF borrowing money
until suspicious were aroused and his
career investigated.