A CAREER OF CRIME.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 78, 28 September 1907, Page 13

A CAREER OF CRIME.

BOGUS NOBLEMAN'S FATE. Seymour Barton, known from one end of America to llie other as "Lord Batrington," will not hang for murdering James M'Cann four years ago, but will undergo, lifelong imprisonment. In commuting the sentence the Governor of' Missouri announced : "No man in Mi^ouri can be executed without his consent," and Barton still apparently thinks life worth living. Thus (writes an American correspondent of an English paper) disappears from the public stage another of the tribe of bogus noblemen "who imposed themselves upoD the gullibility of democratic people, many of whom, perhaps the majority, itjll dearly love a lord. Barton's chief stock-in-trade, •was a good English accent, a. decent appearance, and colossal cheek, and these assets were used to advantage more particularly in rural districts, where, on his meteoric visits, he was apparently | welcomed with open arms. | Barton secured an early start in his j career of crime. When but seven yeara I of age he was arrested at Tunbridge j Wells for incendiarism. He received a sentence of five years, but broke out of gaol. When eighteen he became a more accomplisher criminal, stole £16,000, was arrested and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, but he forged pardon papers and again escaped. Ihen he travelled in the best society, stole everything of value that he could find, visited France, Germany, Spain, and India, and served ternw of imprisonment in all four countries. Alternately Barton •■was an adept and then a bungler in his crimes. Sometimes his performances baffled the mo3t skilled detectives, and again his work •was easily traced out. His matrimonial was almost as varied as his criminal career. In 1889 he manicd Miss Celestinc Elizabeth Miller, of New York, iook her to England, and deserted her. In 1902 he mairied a young Canadian woman and deserted her three days later. In 1903, posing as Lord Barrington, hp married beautiful Miss Wilhelmina Grace Cochran, of St. Louis, daughter of a Kanms City pork packer. She discovered that he was not a roal lord and obtained a divorce, while Bar^ington got six months in gaol. Many other marriages are attributed to him. The bogus loid supposedly murdered James M'Cann and a friend for his money, with the intention of marrying Mrs. M'Cann. M'Cann aided Barton, taking him into his own homo to live. In June, 1903, M'Cann disappeared from home, .and a few days later his body was fountf in a quarry. Barton >vas arreetod for the murder and convicted.