ot suffer, and a day was agreed upon for the completion
of the purchase.

The woman then assumed a confidential tone, and told the gentleman of her
immense fortune. She was absolutely alone in the city, she said, without
relatives or friends to whom she could apply for advice in the management
of her property, and she urged him to become her trustee and manage the
estate for her, offering him a liberal compensation for his services.
Her object was to make him her trustee, induce him to act for her in the
purchase of the house, and involve him so far as to secure the success of
her scheme for getting possession of the property. The dealer, however,
thanked her for her preference, but assured her that it was impossible
for him to accept her proposition, as he had made it a rule never to act
as trustee for any one. He did not in the least suspect her real design,
and but for this previous and fixed determination would have acceded to
her request. Finding that she could not shake his resolution, the lady
took her departure, promising to return on the day appointed for the
payment of the purchase money.

At the time designated, the deeds were ready, and the real estate agent
and the owner of the Madison avenue mansion awaited the coming of the
lady; but she did not appear, and, after a lapse of several days, the two
gentlemen concluded they had been victimized, and then the true character
of the trusteeship he had been asked to assume broke upon the real estate
agent. The audacity and skill of the scheme fairly staggered him.

After the failure of this scheme, the woman tried several others of a
similar character, with the same success. In October, 1870, a city
newspaper, having obtained information respecting her transactions from
some of her victims, published an account of her career. The next day
she committed suicide, and was found dead in her bed.

Not long since a city lawyer, whom we shall call Smith, and who is much
given to the procuring of patent divorces for dissatisfied husbands and
wives, was visited by a richly dressed lady, who informed him that she
was Mrs. P---, the wife of Mr. P---, of Fifth avenue, and that she wished
to retain his services in procuring a divorce from her husband, on the
ground of ill treatment. Mr. P--- was personally a stranger to the
lawyer, who knew him, however, as a man of great wealth. Visions of a
heavy fee flashed before him, and he encouraged the lady to make a full