The Swindling 'Boy Preacher' of Discovery Bay
A young con artist charms his way into the confidence of local ranchers with promises of land purchases and a wealthy mother, only to vanish without paying a cent.
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 pretended boy preacher of surpassing eloquence, who under the name of George T. Pritchard or Twitchell won the confidence of many in Des Moines and then left the town in a stolen buggy, has an interesting record in the neighborhood of Port Townsend. In June, he introduced himself to Daniel Andrews, a rancher in the Leland valley, saying he wanted to buy land. He struck a bargain and promised to meet Andrews in Port Townsend to pay, but gave him the slip. He then surfaced at Sequim bay, posing as the 'world-renowned boy preacher from New York.' He won over a suspicious audience with an eloquent defense and convinced a local rancher, John Brown, to sell him eighty acres. He hired men to clear a site for a $4,000 house and ordered lumber. When Brown finally insisted they drive to Port Angeles to settle the money in the bank, the preacher claimed he needed to fetch a 'clerical brother' from the hill, and Brown has not seen him since.
“He actually hired a man to clear a site and dig foundations and a well, and put him to work.”
This story captures the vulnerability of rural frontier communities to traveling con artists, a common trope of the 1890s. The 'boy preacher' serves as an early, colorful example of the 'fake it 'til you make it' hustle that still persists in the digital age.
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