Fraudsters

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.

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.

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.

Du Brange mentioned in The Times, Sat 30 Oct 1869 (www.newspapers.com)

The mysterious Doctor Du Brange

In this guest post from Dick Weindling and Marianne Colloms, an 1870s Kilburn practitioner finds himself in court for distributing indecent handbills.

Dr Wheeler and the Bacillus of Death

British newspapers reported in 1895 that someone had discovered the ‘Death Microbe’.

Maria Owen, the bogus lady doctor

In the West Midlands in the 1890s, Maria Owen pretended to be a doctor in order to part people from their cash.

On thorny ground: the human x-ray scientists

In 1911, the Grant brothers of Maidstone claimed the power to grow new internal organs and bring dead people back to life.

Advertisement for the Rev E J Silverton, 1884

Detective Caminada and the quack doctors

Dr Angela Buckley, author of The Real Sherlock Holmes, relates Detective Jerome Caminada’s encounter with an ecclesiastical con artist in 1870s Manchester.

‘A Damnable Villain’ part 2 – a free pony for your wife!

In part 2 of Robert K Waits’ guest article, Byron H Robb moves to Texas, changes his name and starts selling mail-order Shetland ponies.

‘A Damnable Villain’ – Byron H. Robb and the Electro-Magnetic Brush Co.

Part 1 of 2. Robert K Waits, author of The Medical Electricians, introduces the colourful career of 19th-century fraudster Byron H. Robb.