DARING SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 31, 5 February 1910, Page 15

DARING SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.

BND OF MS ADVBNTUBBB'B ASTOUNDINO CAR.EBB. One of the most daring and accomplished adventurers In the world has Just died In Nevada, America. Convict, soldier of fortune, newspaper editor, naval officer, Ross Raymond, bad he chosen to go straight, might have made an enviable position for himself, for that he 'wag a man of remarkable ability there is no doubt He was known practically all orer the world. In England he had served ten years In Portland Prison for impersonating a nobleman. In Paris he is remembered for the teat of pretending that he was a courier of the Khedive, and In this character making off with a collection of the rarest gems. In India he travelled as a rajah with a retinue of over a hundred servants and many elephants. Raymond was employed in 1876 as a reporter on a Chicago paper (eaye the "Dally Mall"). He was a handsome young man, very intelligent, and did his work In a satisfactory way for a fow months. Than he resigned and disappeared. At the moment his salary account was somewhat over-dra-wn. "After meeting with som« tips and downs," said the newspaper manager who employed him, "I received a cable meseage one day from Cairo advising mc that a battle had been fought; that he, Raymond, had been an eye-witness, and asking If I desired a report. I replied at once that I did, and he sent mc an excellent description of the battle of Tel-el-Keblr—very truthful and very graphic. For this service he Tefused any compensation, pleading that he was my debtor, and was glad to do mc a eerviea. "He returned to America, and encountered In Chicago Mr Calhoun, who within the past few days has been appointed American Minister to China. Mr Calhoun Identified Raymond as a former acquaintance whose name was not Raymond. It seems that he was the son of a president of a university in Western Pennsylvania. POSED AS AN ORCHID FARMER. "On one occasion he appeared in Birmingham, called on Mr Joseph Chamberlain, and announced himself ac an orchid farmer of Avon, to which city Mr George W. Chllds, the American philanthropist, had given a public fountain. There he announced himself as a nephew of Mr Chllds, and, after inspecting the fountain with great care, passed a number of bogus cheques and obtained several hundred pounds.

"Subsequently he appeared to Paris, called at the Hotel Bristol, and described himself as the epurier of the Khedive of Egypt, who was to arrive that evening. He took an expensive snlte, told the manager that it was the Khedive's birthday, and that he desired to arrange a dinner in his Highness , honour. Elaborate preparations for a dinner of twenty-four covers were made .

" Finally Raymond announced that on the Khedive's birthday it was customary for each member of his suite to make him a small gift of Jewellery, and asked the manager to sond for an assortment of articles appropriate to the occasion. Jewels of considerable value were brought to his room. He selected a number, and asked that they might be deposited in the hotel safe.

" When he had established confidence he requested that the Jewels he sent to his room. This having been done, he gathered them together, walked out of the hotel, and took train for England. The Jewels were valued at £3000.

"In IS9O he again ventured Into Blrmlnghr.m, and palmed off a forged bill, ostensibly signed by George Augustus Sala. Ho wan traced to Lincolnshire and captured. Oα leaving gaol he returned to the United States nnd because of his extraordinary capacity was appointed editor ot a Philadelphia paper. In a few months, however, he was at Ills old tricks again. " I SHALL SEE HIM AS HE IS." " He appeared In Milwaukee and Wisconsin, described himself as a colonel in the British Army, and acted the , part to perfection. He was taken Into a leading club and feted for a week. Then it was discovered he had secured funds from almost all his newly-made acquaintances on forged cheques. He was arrested and Incarcerated for a month.

"A year or two later Ihe turned up In New York, and called upon the president of Columbia University, pretending to be the "professor of English literature from Oxford University.' After obtaining money he called upon the president of one of Che leadIng banks, impersonated a partner In a London banking house, talked most lntelllgentry upon economics, and secured more cash. As a result of his adventure be was taken into custody.

"I was appealed to by his friends to see him In gaol. I did so, and suggested tlhat the only possible plea for him was one of insanity. I believed then, nnd I 'believe now, thßt It would have been the proper one. To my amazement he arose, ana was about to strike mc. ' Never,' he said, 'will I leave a stlgmti of that kind upon my family.'

He was convicted and Imprisoned for another term, during which he served in most extraordinary fashion as the editor of the prison newspaper, writing editorial articles of astonishing worth. After he was liberated his health broke down, and he was finally sent to Nevada, where he died."

Raymond was attended on his death-befl by his--wife. Some months ago, the wife, in nn interview, said " Why have I clung, to Ross all these thirty years Because I love him. Some day, In another world, when all this Insanity of sin has passed away,. I shall soe him as he Is, a grand, big-hearted rnaij; of genius, now temporarily lost In darkness and shame."

Raymond always claimed that he was an Englishman, flnd the son of an Army officer living in Sussex, bat his real birthplace appenrs to have been Beaver, Pennsylvania.