EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF AN IMPOSTER.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue XVII, 24 May 1879, Page 1

EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF AN IMPOSTER.

Referring to the extraordinary charge of fraud, reported by us last week, a London paper gives the following history of the hero of the romance : — " Upwards of twenty years ago, one James Hitchman, son of a poor tailor at Oxford, and a tailor himself, thought of improving his fortune by practising on the public credulity. Under the assumed name of Percy Vernon de Montgomery, he published a small volume of prose and poetry, entitled f Hours of Sun and Shade.' This he despatched by post to hundreds of persons all over the country, naming fhe price, and describing himself aa on the verge of starvation. In this way commenced a course of deception and fraud which, both i as to extent and duration, has, it is said, been rarely paralleled. Among those who received Hitchman's book and letters in 1858 was the late Mr. William Drummond, of Rockdale Lodge, Stirling, one of the brothers of the well-known Mr. Peter Drummond, of the Stirling tract enterprise, and a gentleman largely reputed for his benevolence. He took the volume to a literary friend in the same town, who commended the peetry and recommended the writer to Mr. Drummond's support. Some time elapsed, and it appeared that others had recognised Montgomery's claims a» a poet, and taken him by the hand. He was, in the winter of 1858-9, announced by several Mechanics' Institutions and Young Men's Christian Associations in different parts of Scotland &a one of their lecturers. Ho lectured in various towas. At Perth, the late Lord Kinnaird presided 'at one of hia lectures, announcing him as a rising poet. At MeJroae he was hailed as a prodigy, and entertained by some of the best families in the neighborhood. At Stirling he lectured in the chapel of the Rev. Dr. Cnlross, now of Glasgow, both that gentleman and Dr. Charles Rogers commending him from the platform. Dr. Rogers invited him to spend some days at his house, and introduced him to his friends. Within six months Hitchman appeared as residing in lodgings at Kircaldy, and describing himself as the Viscount de Montgomery. He despatched to his correspondents a pamphlet of four religious discourses, which he alleged he had composed and printed for the benefit of a poor old blind man, a Wesleyan lay preacher at Oxford. At Kircaldy he attended religious meetings, and the piety aud apparent devotedness of 'my lord* led several respectable families in the place to respectfully offer him hospitality and attention, ia this way he procured the favor of a young gentlewoman of the neighborhood, who, it is understood, consented to become his wife. The lady was heiress to several thousand pounds. Meanwhile suspicion was awakened. A young gentleman at Stirling, connected with the Young Men's Christian Association at that place, informed Dr. Rogers that a person named Montgomery in connection with his plea on behalf of the Wesleyan preacher had answered doubtfully. In the hope of vindicating the good name of his correspondent, Dr. Rogers immediately instituted searching inquiries. There was at first some difficulty, as those ' who had information feared to divulge it. At length the imposture was fully laid open. The poor old blind preacher, on whose behalf 'my lord' was collecting subscriptions, proved to be Hitchman's ' own father, who was indeed old and feeble, but into whose pocket entered not one farthing of what his unworthy and fraudulent son professed to be raising for his benefit. The old man, who was communicated with through his clergyman, was grieved and disgusted at hi* son's nefarious practices. He believed the contents of his publications were not his own, but gathered up, and this afterwards was found to be so. Exposed in an article contributed by Dr. Rogers to a looal journal, flitchman fled from Kircaldy, and probably returned to London. A further exposure in the Athenasum and other literary journals considerably impeded ' Montgomery's ' progress, who wrote to Dr. Rogers, stating that he had driven him to suicide, and that in a few days he would be no more ! For a time Montgomery was not much heard of. It afterwards appeared that he had assumed the name of Hamilton, and set up as head of a publishing firm in Paternoster Row. In 1870 he waß convicted of fraud in coauection with his pretended establishment, aud sentenced to a year's imprisonment. There was^some difficulty in convicting him, and even after his conviction the opinion of the whole court was required in order to overcome some technical difficulties in connection with the sentence paased or tol)e passed npon him. On his liberation, the convict assumed his former pseudonym of Percy Vernon Montgomery, omitting the * de' and> t the lordly title. An adept in, deception, he resumed his former practices, and with such success that he leased Rydal Mount, the wellknown residence of the poet Wordsworth. From Rydal Mount he despatched missives over the kingdom, favoring his poetical correspondents with locks of Wordsworth's hair ! Leaving the Lake country, he resumed operations in the metropolis. For a time he styled himself Sir James Hitchman."