"Captain" James Henry Irvine Cruikshank was charged with defrauding Lady Randolf Churchill and a number of other women a total of about £10,000 on Spetember 13, 1897 in London, England. The money was obtained under the pretense of making lucrative investments in a number of mythical schemes, the primary one being a railway syndicate in the United States. To enable his scheme to work, Cruikshank enlisted the unwitting help of Arthur Cadogan, the younger brother of Lord Cadogan. It was Cadogan that persuaded Lady Churchill and her friends to invest in Cruikshank's scheme.

Cruikshank, an American it turned out was an undischarged bankrupt with debts of £12,000 andwas also former convict. He was found guilty and sentenced to eight years penal servitude on November 25th, 1897.