Charles A. Dunham

[Veronica]

I have here a book 'Devil's game' by Mr. Carman Cumming.
Mr. Cumming and like to know more about Dunham's possible alias of 'Livingstone'. Mr. Cumming mentioned it briefly on page 25 and I quote, 'Oddly, though, the 'Daily News' did not repeat charges it had made against Dunham more than a year before, at a time in 1864 when he hah hoaxed the paper with a faked letter. On that occasion, the paper claimed that its tormentor had worked a swindle in the South under the name Livingstone.'

At page 69 'The Daily News in rebuttal said it had been printed the letter in good faith - but that if it was forged, the forger must have been the 'Tribune' writer. It also claimed that its tormentor, a "Bohemian in Washington who occasionally writes fiction for the 'Tribune, was the same man who, under the name of Livingstone, had earlier swindled parties in the South of large sums and then had been jailed in New England on other fraud charges, winning his release only by his efforts of his paper.' Notes to pages 58-79 (note 27) New York Daily News, Mar. 22, 1864.

Unfortunately, Carman did not go further with Dunham's frauds under the possible alias of 'Livingstone'. His research is actually based on the research of Joseph Missemer of San Diego, who died in 1964 without completing his work on Mr. Dunham. Rightly so Mr. Carman wrote about a 'puzzle'; which as I found out is more like a Victorian Cryptic Labyrinth that I by accident had found through my teenaged sons starting in 1997.
It all began when my eldest, then eleven years old, had asked if I knew a subject for his essay. I was peeling the potatoes and said, "Why not write about an explorer, there is an encyclopedia in the living room have a look in that." His subject was Dr. David Livingstone. Gathering information with my son on Livingstone, I learned about Henry Morton Stanley and in particular his secret engagement with Alice Pike.
At the end of the year, a noticed how much of his stories were based on fantasy and it took me years to find out his motives.

In any event, because on my findings it is important to learn more about Dunham's 'Livingstone affairs', does anyone knows about the particulars?
   

[L Verge]

I was friends with Carman Cumming, a member of the Surratt Society associated with Surratt House Museum, before he died nearly a decade ago. I never recall his research having anything to do with THE Dr. Livingstone.

[Veronica]

(10-09-2017 07:08 AM)L Verge Wrote:  I was friends with Carman Cumming, a member of the Surratt Society associated with Surratt House Museum, before he died nearly a decade ago. I never recall his research having anything to do with THE Dr. Livingstone.

Sorry, perhaps my question was put down rather clumsy, I did not mean Dr. David Livingstone with Charles A. Dunham; but the alias that Dunham 'might' have used for one of his scams and I wish that Mr, Carman had given more details on this subject because I like to see why he thought to have recognised the ways of Mr. Dudham.
Have you read 'Devil's game 'The Civil War Intrigues of Charles A. Dunham?

I cannot help myself feeling astonished that you have known Mr. Carman Cumming who wrote, 'To Joseph Edward Missemer, who died without finishing his research on Charles A. Dunham.' I think that the same went for Mr. Cumming.

I keep in mind you had a tiresome week, perhaps about a month or so it is possible to give you some more details of the strange pattern that I have found and from which the Wainwrights trial is one of them.

Thanks that, even you are busy, you took the time to read my message.
All the best!

[L Verge]

(10-09-2017 01:43 PM)Veronica Wrote:  

(10-09-2017 07:08 AM)L Verge Wrote:  I was friends with Carman Cumming, a member of the Surratt Society associated with Surratt House Museum, before he died nearly a decade ago. I never recall his research having anything to do with THE Dr. Livingstone.

I did read parts of The Devil's Game when it first came out, but I admit to finding it somewhat difficult to follow. I cannot imagine how Carman managed to research all the trickery that Dunham/Conover supposedly committed.

We also had Carman as a speaker at one of our Surratt conferences. I can't remember the circumstances now, but I had to talk him through Canadian border guards on the day that he entered the U.S. -- something about the fact that he was getting paid to speak in a foreign country...

After the past month at work, I need this forum to keep me from having a stroke! I took off today in order to prepare myself for what happens tomorrow. For several weeks, we have gone through the torture of changing telephones from land lines to computerized phones (actually plugged into my work computer). We suspect that these phones will even cook our lunch if we ask them to -- which does not help in understanding all the magical things they can do (which 90% of us will never ask of them).

At the same time we have been going through this, in their infinite wisdom, our computer guides have been "training" us for a totally new software program that affects the entire government agency that owns us relative to registering people for programs, taking money from admissions, sales, donations, research, etc. At the very last minute, they realized that they had not prepared for training volunteers -- which are our mainstay workers in these fields at our museums.

I would like science and technology to begin a long-term study on the effect that dealing with computers has on our longevity. For years, they keep telling us that we are going to live longer, but is anyone studying what computer-generated aggravation is doing to our health?

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(10-09-2017 02:12 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(10-09-2017 01:43 PM)Veronica Wrote:  

(10-09-2017 07:08 AM)L Verge Wrote:  I was friends with Carman Cumming, a member of the Surratt Society associated with Surratt House Museum, before he died nearly a decade ago. I never recall his research having anything to do with THE Dr. Livingstone.

I did read parts of The Devil's Game when it first came out, but I admit to finding it somewhat difficult to follow. I cannot imagine how Carman managed to research all the trickery that Dunham/Conover supposedly committed.

We also had Carman as a speaker at one of our Surratt conferences. I can't remember the circumstances now, but I had to talk him through Canadian border guards on the day that he entered the U.S. -- something about the fact that he was getting paid to speak in a foreign country...

After the past month at work, I need this forum to keep me from having a stroke! I took off today in order to prepare myself for what happens tomorrow. For several weeks, we have gone through the torture of changing telephones from land lines to computerized phones (actually plugged into my work computer). We suspect that these phones will even cook our lunch if we ask them to -- which does not help in understanding all the magical things they can do (which 90% of us will never ask of them).

At the same time we have been going through this, in their infinite wisdom, our computer guides have been "training" us for a totally new software program that affects the entire government agency that owns us relative to registering people for programs, taking money from admissions, sales, donations, research, etc. At the very last minute, they realized that they had not prepared for training volunteers -- which are our mainstay workers in these fields at our museums.

I would like science and technology to begin a long-term study on the effect that dealing with computers has on our longevity. For years, they keep telling us that we are going to live longer, but is anyone studying what computer-generated aggravation is doing to our health?

I'm now finished with my anti-computer rant. Back to the subject of Charles Dunham, for those who are not familiar with this charlatan, here's a good review of Carman Cumming's book Devil's Game:

https://h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10166