A PRINCE OF IMPOSTORS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2923, 23 March 1910, Page 81

A PRINCE OF IMPOSTORS.

EXTRAORDINARY CAREER. 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, had he chosen to go straight, might have made an enviable position for himself, for that he was a man of remarkable ability there is no doubt. '.'.»•-.'.' He was known practically ail oyer the world'. In England he had served 10 years in Portland Prison for impersonating a nobleman. In Paris he is remembered for the feat 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 100 servants and many elephants. Raymond was employed in 1876 as a reporter on a Chicago paper. He was a handsome young man, very intelligent, and did his work in a satisfactory way for a few months. Then he resigned and disappeared. At the moment his salary account was somewhat overdrawn. i! After meeting with some ups and downs,' 1 said the newspaper manager who employed him, " I received a cable message one day from Cairo, advising me 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 me an excellent description of the battle of Tel-el-Kebir—-very truthful and very graphic. For this service he refused any compensation, pleading that he was my debtor, and was glad to do me a service. " 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 as an orchid farmer of New Jersey. Then he went to Stratford-on-Avon, to which city Mr George W. Childs, the American philanthropist, had given a public fountain. There he announced himself as a nephew of Mr Childs, and, after inspecting the fountain with great care, passed a number of bogus cheques and obtained several hundred pounds. Subsequently he appeared in Paris, called at the Hotel Bristol, and described himself as the courier of the Khedive of Egypt, who was to arrive that evening. He took an expensive suite,- told the manager that it was the Khedive's birthday, and that he desired to arrange a dinner in his Highness's honour. Elaborate preparations for a dinner of 24 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 send 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 be sent -to his room. This having been done, he gathered them together, walked out of the hotel, and took train for England. The jewels wero valued at £3OOO. " In 1890 he again ventured into Birmingham, and palmed off a forged bill, ostensibly signed by George Augustus Sala. He was traced to Lincolnshire and itaptured. On leaving gaol he returned to tho United Stated, and because of his extraordinary capacity was appointed editor of a Philadelphia paper. In. a few months, ho wover, he was at his 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 that he had secured funds from almost all his newly-made acquaintances on forged cheques. •' He' was arrested and incarcerated for month. "A year or two later he 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 the

leading banks, impersonated a partner .in a London banking house, talked most intelligently upon economics, and secured more- cash. As a result of his adventure he was taken into custody ' " I was appealed 1o by his friends to sec him in gaol. I did so, and suggested that the only possible plea for him was one of insanity. : I believed then, and I believe now, that it would have been the proper one. To my amazement he rose and was about to strike me. 'Never,' he said, ' will I leave a stigma of that kind upon my "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 hewas finally sent to Nevada, where he Raymond was attended on his deathbed by his wife. Some months ago the wife, in an interview, said: "Why have I clung to Ross all these 30 years? Because I love him. Some d?,y, in another world, •when all this insanity of sin has passed away, I shall see him as he is—a grand, big-hearted man of genius, now temporarily lost in darkness and shame.' Raymond always claimed that he was an Englishman, and the son of an army officer living in- Sussex, but his real birthplace appears to have been Beaver, Pennsylvania. The story of the adventures of " Ross Raymond" has led Admiral W. R. Kennedy to"' give further details of th« swindler's career. He says: "About the year 1837, when I was senior officer on the south-eastern coast of South America, I was in my cabin on board H.M.S. Ruby, when I was informed that a gentleman wished to see me, sending in his card—' Mr Walter Ross Raleigh, special correspondent' of The Times,' as he described himself. He explained that he had been sent out to write some articles on Uruguay and the Argentine Republic, and asked me to help him. I was rather surprised at his American accent, but was thrown off my guard when he produced his credentials, signed by. " Lord Salisbury (forged, of course), on Foreign Office paper. I therefore offered to give him every assistance, and gave him some notes I had. written on the subjects he wished. _ After, a pleasant chat he departed, thanking me most cordially, and next ; day he returned the papers, saying he had been up all night reading them. He went up the river to Rosario. where he donned the American naval officer's uniform, presented himself to the American Consul, as haying come out to take command of an American gunboat, and borrowed £2OO on the strength of it. He then went on to Asuncion, in Paraguay, gave a grand banquet there, which he never paid for, and left for Rio, and from there left for England. Arriving in England, he forged a cheque in my name. He then went io Southampton and represented himself as the master of Lord Porchester's yacht, and ordered a new suit of sails, etc., paying, as usual, by a bogus cheque over and above the order, and r-cceiving the balance in cash. In like manner he gave an order for things for Lord Brassey's yacht, of which he said he was the master."