The Widow’s Silverware Swindle
A 'weeping widow' targets charitable Seattleites with a high-pressure sales scheme for cheap knives.
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.
The latest old swindle to come to light is being worked in the city by a weeping widow who tells stories of hardships and poverty to gain sympathy. To obtain money, she attempts to sell cheap silver knives, which she claims are valuable, at prices ranging from $2 to $5 per dozen. When a charitable woman in the southern part of the city was approached, she almost bought the set, but a neighbor, Mrs. Davis, intervened and warned that the goods were of poor quality. When the widow realized her sale was failing, she dropped the mask of the 'weeping widow' and unleashed a torrent of abuse, showing her true temper before moving on to her next victim.
“When the woman with the knives and sliding scale heard it she dropped the mask and commenced to talk.”
This is a classic 'pity scam' that mirrors modern doorstep or online charity fraud. It shows how social empathy was weaponized against Seattle residents even in the 1890s.
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