The Confidence Woman of Akron
A local employment agent is charmed by a fellow Midwesterner and left empty-handed.
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.
Mr. T. C. Collins, an employment agent, was recently approached by a woman posing as Mrs. Jones, who claimed to have just arrived from Akron, Ohio. In a display of provincial solidarity, Collins and Jones bonded over mutual acquaintances in Akron. Claiming her resources were exhausted, she secured a position as a domestic and a loan from Collins. The following day, Mrs. Jones returned and, citing the lack of an alarm clock at her new employer’s home, convinced Collins to lend her his gold watch. She never returned, and when Collins went to locate her at the residence where she claimed to be working, he found she had already left for Tacoma. It turned out the watch was in her possession the entire time, and she had used it to secure a loan before fleeing.
“Collins became so interested in his lady client that he hunted through his lists and found her a place as a domestic in a very excellent family.”
This 1889 account of a confidence scam highlights the 'hometown' social engineering that still defines local scams today, where the victim's own desire for community connection is weaponized against them. The ease with which a newcomer could disappear to Tacoma reflects Seattle’s transient, boom-town nature, which has remained a constant feature of the city's character for over a century.
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