The Artful Grifter of Walla Walla
A young woman posing as a disabled orphan solicited funds from sympathetic merchants, leaving local business owners feeling duped.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A woman, whose name is supposed to be Hilda Hopson, is said to have duped some of the Walla Walla merchants and citizens yesterday in a very smooth manner. The woman, who dresses as a girl of 17 or 18 years, walking with a crutch as one leg is shorter than the other, visited many of the business houses and residences soliciting aid to pay for a business education. Many of the Walla Walla people were taken in for small sums of money by the smooth-tongued woman, who told a pitiful tale of being an orphan and a cripple trying to secure an education to support herself. While she had the appearance of a young girl, many think she is older than she appears. She is supposed to be the same woman who defrauded the people of Eugene, Oregon, two or three years ago and caused the officers there considerable annoyance and trouble.
“Many of the Walla Walla people were taken in for small sums of money by the smooth tongued woman, who put up a pitiful tale of being an orphan and cripple.”
Public sympathy remains a powerful tool for grifters, and the 'pitiful tale' trope still works as effectively today as it did in 1903. This report highlights the thin line between community charity and being taken for a ride, a tension still felt by Walla Walla business owners today.
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