EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF AN IMPOSTOR.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5397, 2 June 1879, Page 3

EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF AN IMPOSTOR.

I ..Referring to an extraordinary charge iof fraud, "a ! London • paper gives the following history- 1 of the hero of the [romance:—" Upwards of twenty years I ago, one ' James , Hifchmari, son of a ippqr M tailor a( Oxford, and a tailor ! himself '-thought' of improving 'his fortune by practising on the ' public cre- [ duUty.\, Under the assumed' name of l*ercy iferoon.de,, Montgomery he published, a small volume of prose and poetry, entitled;' Hours of Sun and Shade. ' This Ihe despatched:. by post ;.-.>t0..: hundreds of i persons all over the country, naming | the pride," and-'desoMbiiigJhimself ias on ! the verge of starvation. In this way I cp'mnienced. ' a course of deception and j fraud yrhichy both ad to extent and duraI tion, has, it is said, been rarely paralleled. [Among those who receivod Hitohman's } book and letters in 1858 was the I late Mr William Drummond, of Rock- ? dale Lodge, Stirling, one of the ; brothers of the well-known Mr Peter Djrummond, oft 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 poetry and recommended the,, writer to Mr JDrummond's support. Sometime elapsed, and it appeared that others r ,had recognised Montgomery's clainiai as'. a poet, and taken him by the hand." He was. in the winter of 1858-9, announced by several Mechanioa' Institutions and v Young Men's Christian Associations in different parts of Scotland as one of their lecturers. He lectured in various towns. At Perth,' the late Lord Kinnaird presided at one of his lectures, announcing him as 'a rising poet. At Melrose ,he was hailed as a prodigy, and eri'ttertkiried by some of : the best families in the neighborhood; At Stirling he lectured in the chapel of the Rev. Dr Oulross, now of Glasgow, both that gentleman and Dr Charles Rogers commending h'hn^froni the ; platform. . Dr Rogers invited him to spend some days at his house I,'1 ,' ohd' introduced him to his friends. Within six months Hitchman appeared as residing in lodgings at Kircaldyy and describing himself aa the Viscout de Montgomery. He despatched to his correspondents v a . pamphlet of four religions discourses, which he alleged he Had composed 'an'd 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 and , apparent devotedness of 'my lord' led several respectable families in the place to respectfully offer him hospitality »nd 'attention. In this way he procured the favor of a young gentlewoman of the neighborhood, . who, it is understood, oonsented to become his wife. The lady was heiress to several thousand pounds. | Meadwhile 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 rained Montgomery in connection with his . plea on behalf of the Wesleyan preacher had answered doubtfully. In: the hope of vindicating the good nameof ; his correspondent, Dr Rogers immediately instituted searching enquiries. 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 16rd ' was collecting "subscriptions, proved to be Hitchman's rown father, jwhp.was indeed old and feeble, but into whose, p.pcket ' entered not one farthing off what his unworthy and fraudulent son professed to be raining for his i. benefit; . The old man, who w.aa communicated with through his clergyman, was grieved ; and disgusted at his 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 Ro,gers ,to a : local journal, Hitchman fled from Kiroaldy^ and probably returned to London. A further exposure in the iAthentßiim 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 was convicted of fraud in connection with his pretended establishment, and 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.t.he sentence; passed or to be passed upon. him. On his liberation, the convict assumed his former pseudonym of Percy Vernon ■ Montgomery, omitting the'de' and the lordly title. An adept in deception, he resumed his former practices, arid with such success that he leased J Rydal Mount, the well known residence of the poet Wordsworth. From Rydal Mount ho despatched missives over the kingdom, favoring his poetical correspondents with locks of Wordsworth's hair ! Leaving the Lake country, ho resumed operations in the metropolis. For a time he styled himself Sir James Hitchman."