Mr. Myers proceeded to Canal Fulton, Stark County, Ohio, whence the letters to Mr. Whetham were addressed. The postmaster at that place only knew that a person calling himself Winter Hamilton came to the office once in the fall of 1873, and took a number of letters bearing that superscription. The stranger vanished as suddenly as he appeared. Subsequently he requested the postmaster to forward his mail to Washington and Uniontown, Pennsylvania, but for several months none had been received. Beginning the game cautiously, the doctor evidently selected an office where he was unknown and where he intended never to be known, visiting the place but once after sending abroad the first installment of his wares. Nothing further could be learned at Canal Fulton.

Mr. Myers returned to Pennsylvania, visiting Washington and Uniontown in search of additional evidence. Quite a large foreign mail came to both offices, but in the multiplicity of names, neither postmaster recollected that of Winter Hamilton. Mr. Myers requested them, in case any letters for that address should be received in the future, to take particular notice of the party who called for them, and also to notify him. by telegraph.

For several months the pursuit was suspended, the tracks of the swindler being rather obscure and other work engrossing the attention of the agent. Meanwhile, some one of the numerous parties in England who had been favored with an effusion from the eminent philanthropist, gave a résumé of the letter to the press. The paragraph, copied into American papers, obtained quite an extensive circulation. It set forth that a person over the signature of "William Parker, M. D.," was writing from Washington, Pennsylvania, to members of parliament, ministers of the Church, and other wealthy and benevolent people in England, representing that certain distant relatives of theirs, clandestinely in the United States, had died at his house in indigent circumstances, leaving an abundance of good land in Texas, but no ready cash to meet the expenses

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of the last sickness and burial, all of which he had borne, and for which he desired to be indemnified.

As the literary ventures of the doctor were constructed on a single model, the publication was likely to illuminate nearly every person in England whose sympathies had been awakened by the sufferings and fate of the erring but repentant scion of his house, and to interrupt any further outflow of pounds sterling that might be prompted by gratitude or greed. An equally probable result of the exposure would be the hasty flight of the operator from the locality connected in the papers with his fame. Living for the most part on the wing, such birds scent danger from afar, soaring away with a change of plumage at the first note of alarm. Lost to sight in the blue empyrean, they drop down at length on some distant shore, so metamorphosed that none but an experienced hunter would recognize the quality of the game.

Mr. Myers, meeting the newspaper paragraph referred to, and not forgetful of our old acquaintance, "Winter Hamilton, M. D.," revisited Washington, Pennsylvania, toward the close of October, to renew the search. He learned that a Dr. Parker had resided there during the previous May and June. The gentleman bore an excellent reputation, was welcomed in the best society, and was supposed to be an Englishman of decayed fortunes, seeking to bury among strangers the memory of his griefs. The more impressible were attracted by the mystery, heightened by the air of reserved and gentle melancholy, that distinguished him from the coarser grain of the common herd. He taught a novel method of short-hand writing, both as a pastime and a means of livelihood, so favorably impressing the public during his brief sojourn that he carried away recommendations from the leading citizens of the place.

After leaving Washington, the "doctor" resided at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, about three months, receiving many letters from England addressed to William Parker and Winter Hamilton. Here, also, he circulated among the best people, and taught short-hand. It was not his policy, however, to tarry

long in one place, and so, procuring a fresh reinforcement of recommendations, he removed to Connellsville, Pennsylvania, where he played the same rôle which had carried him safely through his sojourn at Washington and Uniontown.

Mr. Myers pushed on to Connellsville in pursuit, and learned that Parker, evidently alarmed by the exposure in the press, had suddenly decamped, leaving a part of his effects at the Yough House. The agent stopped over night at the same hotel, cautiously trying to gather tangible proofs of the guilt of the doctor, but that worthy had taken equal precautions to prevent the success of any such enterprise. Long experience in eluding the winged avengers of the law had made him careful in covering his tracks. Probably he never carried longer than was absolutely necessary any papers that might compromise his safety. There was a chance that he might return, or send for his luggage. In either event his capture would easily follow.

Mr. Myers left the next day, having arranged with the postmaster to notify him by telegraph if Parker returned, or if further letters for him came. The interval of delay was brief. October 25th the postmaster telegraphed that Parker was at Connellsville, and asked for instructions. He was directed to keep a sharp lookout and wait. At daylight, the morning of the 26th, Myers turned up again at Connellsville, repairing at once to the post-office to learn the posture of affairs. In the meantime an incident had occurred which might have resulted disastrously had the pursuit been less vigorously pressed.

On the 10th of September Parker wrote from Connellsville to the Rev. J. E. N. Molesworth, vicar of Rochdale, Lancashire, the stereotyped story, varied only with a change of names, that two months before, a young Englishman, Edmund Molesworth, had arrived at that place, sick and friendless. The quick sympathies of the doctor's wife were enlisted by the helpless condition of the stranger, and she proposed to have him moved to their own house. Since then she had watched over him with the tenderness of a sister. That very morning

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the youth handed him a paper, containing the address of a distant relative in England, with a request that he be written to without delay, to remit enough to defray the expenses of the funeral, as he could die easier if he knew he was not to be buried by the hand of charity. The doctor continues: "If you see fit to send me any money for his funeral, you can do so; if not, I shall see that he is not buried by the town. For my own and my wife's services he is heartily welcome."

In response to the appeal, Dr. Molesworth purchased a draft for ten pounds, and mailed it to Parker. After reflecting a day or two, however, he came to the conclusion that he was the victim of a swindle, and wrote to the London post-office to have the letter intercepted, but it had already gone forward. Accordingly, the Foreign Office addressed the following note to the department at Washington:

"Registered No. 138,775.

"GENERAL Post-Office,

LONDON, October 8, 1874. }

"SIR: I have the honor to inform you that a letter has been received from Rev. Dr. Molesworth, Vicar of Rochdale, in which he requests me to detain a letter, addressed to' Dr. William Parker, Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, N. America,' and containing a bill of exchange for £10.

"Dr. Molesworth states that the person calling himself ‘Dr. William Parker' has applied to him for pecuniary aid; that there is reason to believe that he has done so under false pretenses.

"I have informed Dr. Molesworth that the letter was dispatched from Liverpool to New York on the 1st instant, by the Inman packet 'City of Paris,' and that it is, therefore, beyond my control, but that I would write to you upon the subject.

"I think it right to state that, had the letter been addressed to a place in this country, it would not have been in the power of this department to withhold it from delivery, if a person of the name of Dr. William Parker had been found to reside at the address. But you will, of course, act in the matter according to your discretion and to the regulations of your department. I shall be glad to be informed in what manner the letter has, in the result, been disposed of.

"I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, F. HILL. "The Postmaster General, at Washington, U. S."

On the 23d, the acting superintendent of foreign mails at Washington addressed the usual circular of inquiry to the postmaster at Connellsville, asking what disposition had been made of the letter in question. On calling at the office the morning of the 25th, Parker received three foreign letters, which he proceeded to open before leaving the vestibule.

.

"While thus engaged, the clerk incautiously informed him that

he had an inquiry from the department."

While thus engaged, the clerk incautiously informed him that he had an inquiry from the department in reference to a British letter forwarded by the City of Paris on the 1st inst. to his address at Connellsville, and asked if he had received it.