The Intellectual Con Artist of the Fife Hotel
A well-dressed man claiming to be the former secretary to Sir John Macdonald flees Tacoma after leaving behind a trail of worthless checks.
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.
Tacoma, April 26.—An elderly man with a gray beard and an intellectual face, who registers as A. G. Highton of Victoria, has swindled several citizens here by the use of worthless checks and loans secured upon the most plausible of stories. Mr. Highton stopped at the Fife Hotel while here. He claimed he had a twenty-stamp silver mine he wished to sell because silver was so cheap. He stated his baggage was delayed in the mountains due to the Great Northern tie-up, and on that premise, he secured cash and clothing. Highton also claimed he was private secretary to Sir John Macdonald for seventeen years. He has since left town.
“He claimed he had a twenty-stamp silver mine, which he wished to sell because silver was so cheap.”
The 'stranded traveler with a prestigious background' remains a classic grift, though today they might be a 'digital nomad' with a lost laptop. The Fife Hotel, once a hub for such characters, is long gone, reflecting how transient wealth and scams have shaped the history of the region.
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