Swindling Geologist - Part 1 (of 2)

A Con Man Rocks

I am taking a slightly different tactic this week and next with a two-part story of geology and chicanery. I hope you enjoy it.

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When Clarence Dutton spoke, people listened. As one of the most famous geologists of the late 1800s, he regularly attracted large crowds to his talks. For one speech in northern Michigan, a man traveled in the dark through mud for hours to hear Dutton but ultimately was “chagrined and surprised” when the geologist didn’t show. He was further upset because Dutton had borrowed two books from a clergyman friend of the writer and hadn’t returned them.

Unfortunately for potential attendees, the man they thought was Clarence Dutton was actually an imposter. Beginning in the early 1880s, a swindler had traveled throughout the Midwest and northeast pretending to be different famous geologists and had milked people out of hundreds of dollars, expensive microscopes, and valuable books. By the time the bogus geologist impersonated Dutton, his exploits had made the swindler infamous in the scientific community.

Aliases of The Swindling Geologist, though technically he said he was Leo Junior.

Early in January 1887, the ersatz Dutton’s deeds caught up with him. A Captain Butler of the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, knew the real Dutton and confronted his impersonator, who claimed that there had been a simple misunderstanding. Someone must have misheard; he wasn’t Clarence Dutton but his brother Charles. Undeterred, Butler had Charles arrested.

At the police station, the so-called Charles Dutton admitted that he was traveling under an assumed name. He was a real geologist who had worked for Clarence Dutton but circumstances prevented him from earning a living if he used his real name. Evidently Springfield’s finest bought the imposter’s tale for they let him go, never to be seen in town again.

The Swindling Geologist, as he came to be called, first appeared in the news in 1884, following his arrest on February 9, in Philadelphia. Pretending to be W. R. Taggart of the Ohio Geological Survey, he had befriended Ferdinand V. Hayden, of the United States Geological Survey, and stolen one of his rare books and made off with $20. Curiously, Hayden had once employed a William Rush Taggart on his 1871-72 survey of Yellowstone and had even written a formal commendation for Taggart.

Even more strange, just four months earlier the Swindler had visited Hayden, but instead of how he appeared in February—a clean-shaven man in his mid-20s—he now had black whiskers and looked to be 45. The men had dined together, and the Swindler, then using the alias of T.S. Holmes of South Carolina, had borrowed money, saying he needed the cash for a train he had to catch immediately.  

Hayden didn’t realize that he had been hoodwinked twice by the same man until he sent out letters trying to track down Taggart. Not only had the Swindler pretended to be Holmes but also E.P. Strong of the Kansas Pacific Railway; Prof. Henry Shaler Williams of Cornell University; E. Douglas of the Ohio State Geological Survey; and E.D. Whitney, a geologist from Denver. Under these aliases, and more, he had defrauded people from Ohio to New York and absconded with at least $570, as well as fossils, minerals, Indian relics, rare books, and scientific instruments. Each town also brought a slight change of persona, as if the Swindler was testing his victims. He claimed to have broken both legs and an arm while on Major John Wesley Powell’s historic 1869 exploration of the Grand Canyon. He said he had lost part of his left arm and had an artificial hand. He claimed he was French!

Hoping to alert others to the Swindler, Hayden sent letters to Science and American Naturalist. He noted that the imposter geologist was heavy set, shabbily dressed, and had rather deep set eyes. The con man talked glibly about fossils, knew many scientists, and had an adroit manner in winning the confidence of his intended victims. In his letter, Hayden sought any information as to the real name and address of the Swindler, though he neglected to say that he himself had been victimized.

It is unclear what effect Hayden’s letters had, but the Swindler disappeared from the news until August 6, 1885, when he resurfaced in Davenport, Iowa. Now he was Francis Arandel, 36 years old, a native of Austria, and a fourth-generation geologist. He told people that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had chaired the geology department of the University of Prague since 1792. During his stay in Davenport, the fake Arandel visited the local college and helped classify and label more than 120 fern fossils. He also promised to return soon and donate additional specimens and books.

A week later, and 70 miles north in Monticello, the Swindler had morphed into Fred A. Arendel, principal of the Ohio State Deaf and Dumb Asylum. Still a geologist specializing in plant fossils, his new place of birth was Germany and he was now a deaf mute who corresponded by pen and paper. Though he would pretend to be deaf and dumb later in his career, the Swindler abandoned this ruse and now became the namesake son of Leo Lesquereux, a well-known, Swiss-born paleobotanist who had settled in Ohio. Deaf from an illness in his early 20s, the real Lesquereux could lip read and speak French, German, and English.

Traveling throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin, the faux Lesquereux Jr. continued to snooker the unsuspecting. In one town, he used a mysterious formula to show two mine owners the “unexcelled richness” of their ores, for which he was paid royally, honored, and feasted. In another, he borrowed books from one person, sold them to a second, then borrowed them back and returned them to the original owner. And always, he appropriated specimens and scientific equipment, bailed on his lodging, and disappeared. But using his alias as Lesquereux Jr., the Swindler’s luck was about to crater.

(Continued next week.)

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Walking Tour - July 24 - Who’s Watching You with Birds Connect Seattle - 6:30pm - I will be leading my ever popular downtown Seattle walk exploring the carved and terra cotta animals and faces. The walk covers about 1.5 miles and lasts 90-120 minutes.