Seizerism in the Winslow Affair
- Title:
- Seizerism in the Winslow Affair
- Alternate Title:
- Seizerism in the Winslow Affair
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- The Daily Graphic
- Date:
- 1876
- Date 2:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2320.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2320_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1870 - 1899
- Subject:
- Money & Finance
Politics & Government
Satirical
Pictorial - Measurement:
- 37 x 31 on page 52 x 34 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This satirical map relates to Ezra D. Winslow, a prohibitionist Methodist clergyman who became prominent in Boston as a speculator, politician (state Representative and Senator) and businessman (owner, among other things, of the Boston Daily News and Daily Post). In late January 1876, Winslow was exposed as an epic swindler and forger. He had borrowed against fraudulent shares of stock in the Post and forged the names of relatives and distinguished business associates on notes that he used as collateral to borrow still more, a total that “those competent to fairly judge” estimated as “not less than $400,000” (some $9 million current dollars). New York Times, January 26, 1876, p. 1.
With the authorities in hot pursuit, Winslow fled first to Rotterdam and then to London, where he was arrested on February 15 and “remanded to await the arrival of the extradition papers.” Ibid., February 16, 1876, p. 5. This map, published one week later, shows the long reach of American law, “Seizerism in the Winslow Affair.” The Daily Graphic celebrated the event: “The ease and rapidity with which the Boston forger, Winslow, was captured while fleeing from justice is another illustration of how nearly at one the whole civilized world now is . . . . There is hardly a nook or a corner to which a criminal can retreat with assurance that he will not be dragged from it by the officers of the law. . . . Almost before he is out of port the telegraph has signaled his flight, so that when he arrives at a place where a few years ago he would have been in security he is collared by a policeman and presently sent home again.”
Alas, the Daily Graphic was overly optimistic. Winslow’s extradition was delayed because a provision of British law prohibited extradition absent a binding commitment that the accused would be tried only for the particular offenses detailed in the extradition papers, leading to months of wrangling among the governments of Britain, the U.S., and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Ibid., March 27, 1876, p. 1. In the end, the parties could not resolve the legal tangle, and Winslow was released on June 15. Ibid., June 16, 1876, p. 5.
By 1879, the resourceful Mr. Winslow was in Buenos Aires, where he “lives in a handsome quinta . . . , owns a fine block of buildings and drives the best pair of horses in the city.” Winslow was “proprietor” of the Buenos Aires Herald, “superintendent” of a Sunday School, “in high repute with the Argentine government,” and “in good standing in every way.” Boston Daily Globe, January 13, 1884, p. 12; ibid., August 6, 1886, p. 6. He was living under the name Dwight Warren Lowe, although “his true identity was a thinly-veiled secret.” Unterman 2015, 86. He published in his Herald a long, laudatory obituary upon the death of his wife in Boston and returned from a trip to London shortly thereafter with a new young wife.
Unfortunately, when news arrived from Boston that the first wife was very much alive, Winslow became a social outcast and his business standing declined. Finally, in 1886, he was arrested and imprisoned in Buenos Aires for real estate fraud and bankruptcy. Boston Daily Globe, July 30, 1886, p.1; Unterman 2015, 87. Brazen as ever, he appealed to the United States for assistance! One can only imagine the satisfaction of the American Consul, who turned him down and wrote to the State Department in Washington that Winslow was now “without a country and without citizenship, an object of commiseration as well as abhorrence.” Ibid.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- The Daily Graphic, New York, February 23, 1876.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.