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American History

The Scheme to Hook Up a King With the Wasp Woman and Other Wild Plans

Susan Cabot - Hussein of Jordan
Susan Cabot and King Hussein. Veja

20. A Minneapolis Society Star

Lord Gordon-Gordon. Wikimedia

In the summer of 1871, Minneapolis was a small but bustling city, with about 20,000. Not that many European aristocrats made their way there, so Lord Gordon-Gordon became an instant celebrity, courted by all who mattered. He was showered with dinner invitations from the city’s elites, and rubbed shoulders with the rich and well-heeled at elaborate picnics in nearby Minnetonka.

Gordon-Gordon had placed himself in the perfect environment for his next scheme. While taking Minneapolis society by storm, the recently arrived aristocrat crossed paths with Colonel James Loomis, Land Commissioner of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Loomis and his employer were destined to become the British scammer’s next marks.

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A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.

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