June 12, 2025
"CON" MAN'S GAME BALKED.
Had Texan Talked Into Cashing
Check When Police Interfered.
Classed as an undesirable citizen by the judge of the municipal court yesterday morning, Lon Newton, also named Spencer, pleaded guilty to a charge of vagrancy and was fined $500. The defendant's crime was one of playing confidence man at the Union depot Wednesday night and attempting to separate a Texas farmer from a small amount of cash.
Newton watched a stranger buy a ticket to Bird's Point, Kas., and then struck up a conversation with him. Showing a ticket to St. Joseph, the confidence man said he was only going that far but that he would be in the Kansas town the following day, as that was his home. He said his father was president of a bank and that he was president of a bank and that he was the cashier. Then he asked the Texas man to cash a check for a small amount.
It was at this point that the conductor of the Burlington train overheard the conversation and called Patrolman John Coughlin and Depot Detective Bradley. The man was placed under arrest, but his partner escaped by running between two moving trains.
Labels: con artist, detectives, railroad, Texas, Union depot, vagrancy
