These 10 Historic Con Artists Prove There is a Sucker Born Every Minute

Sarah Emily Howe and the Ladies Deposit Company

Sarah Howe was married at least once, probably twice, before she met Florimund Howe, whom she married in 1852 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Mr. Howe was a house painter who also offered dancing lessons, and Sarah contributed to the family coffers by working as a fortune teller and clairvoyant. In these professions, the Howes worked and lived in various communities until the American Civil War, when he joined the Union Army as a musician. After his discharge in 1864, the couple relocated to Boston, where she continued to work as a psychic and fortune teller, attracting the attention of relatives and neighbors who had her declared insane in 1867.

Sarah spent the following two years in an asylum before she was declared to be cured. Returning to Boston with her husband, in 1871 she was practicing as a physician for female complaints, as well as continuing her interrupted career as a fortune teller, to which she added the reading of tarot cards and the casting of horoscopes. In 1875 she purchased furniture on credit, after which she borrowed money against the furniture as collateral from at least six different sources. She was charged with one count of fraud and sentenced to one year in jail. She was later released upon appeal.

In the spring of 1879, Sarah announced the creation of a savings bank which would accept deposits only from unmarried women. She named her new project the Ladies’ Deposit Company. In her prospectus, she informed potential depositors that the bank was affiliated with a Quaker charity, funded with $1.5 million, and its professed mission was to assist young women of limited means. Because of the backing of the fund, the Ladies Deposit Company was able to offer interest on deposits of 2% per week, later amended to 8% per month. For several months there was a steady stream of deposits into the Ladies Deposit Company, some women later reported they even borrowed money from male friends at 6% interest in order to deposit it to earn 8%.

There was no Quaker fund, as was later reported after the Boston Daily Advertiser and other newspapers began investigating the Ladies Deposit Company. By 1880 the company held a half-million in deposits, but there was little cash at hand, as was revealed when the newspaper reports initiated a run of depositors demanding their money. In November of 1880, Sarah was convicted on four counts, including the charge of theft by deception since there was not and never had been a charity involved in the creation or support of the Ladies Deposit Company. Almost incredibly, some depositors continued to support Sarah despite their savings being gone and her deception proved.

Sarah was released in 1884 and promptly opened the Women’s Bank. This scheme operated similarly to the fraudulent Ladies Deposit Company and Sarah fled Boston in 1887 with about $50,000 in deposits to avoid prosecution. She opened several other similar banks and ran off with the money before returning to Boston, where she was again jailed pending trial over the Women’s Bank fraud. When the prosecution was unable to find witnesses willing to admit in open court they had been duped by a known fraudster the charges were dropped and Sarah was released. Sarah remained in Boston until her death in 1892, although she made no further forays into banking, returning instead to her profession as a fortune teller.