The alleged Dr Barber: a case of identity theft in 1912

In 1912, detectives discovered that a local GP wasn’t all he seemed. Sensational news reports described his dramatic attempts to escape arrest.

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Richard and Edward Chrimes

Notorious Chrimes: The Blackmail Pills

In 1890s London, the ‘Lady Montrose Pills’ blackmail scheme efficiently and heartlessly targeted more than 8,000 victims. In this comprehensive account of the case, Dick Weindling introduces the Chrimes brothers, who manufactured this audacious scam.

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Antidipso British Monthly Dec 1903

To raise false hopes: Antidipso

‘Tears and prayers are of no use,’ warned the eyecatching pictorial advertisement in the Penny Illustrated Paper. It was perhaps the most truthful statement Arthur Lewis Pointing, proprietor of the anti-drunkenness powder, Antidipso, had ever come up with.

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