Adolf Beck
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When Adolf Beck left his London flat on December 16, 1895, he was surprised to find a woman named Ottilie Meissonier accusing him of stealing from her. After Meissonier notified a policeman, the confused Beck was taken to the nearest station for questioning.
Meissonier claimed that Beck was a con artist who’d identified himself as “Lord Willoughby.” Three weeks earlier, he had used his charms to swindle her out of £30 worth of jewelry. Beck claimed she was mistaken, but by this point, the police had reports from 10 other women, each with a similar story. When these women also identified Beck as the perpetrator, officers charged him with fraud.
The police believed that Beck was actually a man named John Smith, who had served four years in prison for a series of crimes in 1877.
Beck had been in South America in 1877, but he was still found guilty and sentenced to seven years in the same prison where Smith had served.
Beck was paroled in 1901, but history repeated itself three years later when another woman confronted him with the same accusation of conning her out of her jewelry. Beck went back to prison, but while he was locked up,
the real “John Smith” was arrested for committing another crime. Smith bore a very striking resemblance to Adolf Beck, and when he confessed to all of Beck’s crimes, Beck was finally exonerated and compensated for his wrongful imprisonment.
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Yes we do DR, and many people of average or above average intelligence. Same in the U.S.,plenty of Americans with interesting stuff to say.
