New York Times, December 2, 1906, page 10:
FAKE INVENTOR GOT POOR GIRL'S SAVINGS _________
Fooled Her with Postals About a Wireless Telephone. _________
PROMISED TO MARRY HER _________
Then He Got Her to Give Him $200 by Means of a Bogus Postal Card from Edison. _____
Helene O'Connor, a waitress in a Watsessing hotel, near Bloomfield, N. J., has asked the assistance of the Bloomfield police to help her find Seymour Granger, the owner of an alleged wireless telephone device, who has departed with $200 of Miss O'Connor's money, which she says he received from her under promise of marriage.
Granger arrived in Watsessing about three weeks ago and took a room at the Watsessing Hotel. He told Manager Oscar Darting that he was an electrical engineer, and that he was in the employ of the Westinghouse Electric Company, which is building a large plant in Watsessing. It was not long before Granger learned that the waitress had saved some money.
Granger received much mail, mostly postal cards, and soon it became noised abroad that he was in communication with New York bankers in reference to some patent which he owned. Occasionally a post card would bear the mysterious phrase, "Hold on, hold on!"
Meanwhile Granger was attentive to Miss O'Connor. She told the other servants that she was engaged to Mr. Granger and that he owned a patent that would soon make him rich.
Yesterday morning a postal card was received at the hotel addressed to Granger, which purported to be from Thomas A. Edison, and which contained these words, "I will give you $18,000 for your wireless telephone invention." The arrival of this card was soon made known to every one about the hotel, long before it had been handed to Granger at the hotel office. He at once had an interview with Miss O'Connor and congratulated her on the good fortune that had befallen them. As a token of his sincerity in the matter he pulled from his vest pocket a diamond engagement ring and put it on her finger. The ring, he said, had cost him $300. He had purchased it before receiving the postal announcing their good luck, and he was now afraid he would have to postpone the sale until he got a remittance, as it would cost about $200 to have the legal papers prepared.
"Don't postpone the sale," Miss O'Connor said, "I will give you the money."
She drew the money from the savings bank that day and handed it over to Granger. He took the noon train for New York, promising to return about 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon.
Miss O'Connor sat up until midnight, but her lover did not return. She arose this morning, after a sleepless night, and made known her secret to the manager of the hotel. He made inquiries, and soon learned that the postal purporting to have been written by Mr. Edison was a fake. On the advice of her employer, Miss O'Connor appeared before Recorder Cadmus at the Bloomfield Police Court this afternoon and swore out a warrant for Granger's arrest. As a proof of the marriage contract, Miss O'Connor showed the Magistrate the engagement ring that Granger had put on her finger. It proved to be worth about 10 cents.
United States Early Radio History > Frauds, Fakes, and Cranks > Other Dubious Individuals