Claiming to have been given vast lands in Madagascar, Elizabeth Horne conned many into providing her with funds to develop the country.
In 1907, the headline in the New York Times read "Therese Humbert Outdone In London", while the Daily Express told its readers, "A mysterious 'secret syndicate', controlled and inspired by a Hampstead lady, who is known by reason of her astounding claims as the 'Queen of Madagascar', has succeeded in charming many thousands of pounds from the pockets of credulous investors".
Thérèse Humbert was the woman who, some years earlier, had conned the great and good (well, the wealthy and greedy) of Paris out of large amounts of money by faking an inheritance from the American millionaire Robert Henry Crawford, but the story of the 'Queen of Madagascar', or Elizabeth Horne to give her her correct name, was more akin to that of Gregor MacGregor, the self-styled 'Cazique of Poyais'.
Vast tracts of land
Like MacGregor, Elizabeth Horne claimed to have been given a large overseas territory by a grateful ruler -- in her case, a 32,000 square mile estate handed over by a native chief in recognition of her personal kindness (though what kindness would warrant such a gift was not explained), the estate consisting in part of a concession made by the French government to the chief, and subsequently handed over to her.
Horne's vast lands gave her complete royal prerogative over great abundance of gold, diamonds, rare spices and precious woods to be found in her kingdom, and all she apparently needed was the money to develop it. So the 'queen', together with her accomplice, an 80 year old widow by the name of Catherine Christie, set about trying to raise the money. This they would do by forming a company, registered in Paris, with a capital of £10m, and selected investors were to be permitted to buy shares cheaply, pre-flotation, with promises that the price would soar once the company became public.
While falling for the old "buy it pre-flotation and we promise it will fly" scam is still common, and it's a favourite with today's boiler rooms, one can only assume that the mystery and inaccessibility of such far away places as Madagascar, and the inability to get hold of information first hand, gave the stories an added irresistible attraction that is impossible in today's much smaller world. But whatever the reason, there was apparently no shortage of people willing to stump up the investment cash, and the pair managed to weave sufficient secrecy around it to keep it going for a number of years.
Sshh, don't tell anyone
The success of the scheme was partly due to the way it was sold. Rather than approach wealthy people willy-nilly, the 'Queen' claimed that they were only making the investment available to those they considered needy and deserving of a share in the prosperity that was sure to come, and who would use their financial blessings wisely and charitably (and it's not surprising that the deserving ones were not the most financially literate people in the city). Further, the only way to bring the plan to fruition was for the chosen to keep it under their hats -- as soon as the secret was out, they'd be plagued by thousands who wanted in.
Each investor was given a proper-looking certificate, complete with stamps, signatures, and witnesses, promising a 20-fold return in £1 shares in the new company -- for £100 cash, the punters would get £2,000 worth of shares as soon as the capital was raised to form the company and the estates in Madagascar were signed over to it.
Delay upon delay
Naturally, there was one delay after another, with the months turning into years, and some investors started to get worried. On behalf of one group of investors, a solicitor made enquiries of the French Colonial Office (a precaution that one might have thought they'd have taken before parting with their cash), only to be told that no 32,000 square mile concession had been granted, or would be. But when confronted with this news by a Daily Express reporter, Horne replied "You could not expect them to admit the truth. There are high political reasons for secrecy."
At the time of both the New York Times and Daily Express articles, progress on finalising the flotation of the company was still stalled, the authorities were apparently starting to sit up and take notice, and Mrs Horne was desperately trying to reassure her worried investors.
What happened after that is, apparently, anyone's guess -- if you know of any later developments, please do add a comment below.
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