Three Caught in Rape Blackmail Plot

NEW YORK - Anna Koch, Francis Rider, and Simon Rider have been arrested for perjury and conspiracy in connection with a plot to falsely accuse James Parker of rape.

At the time Koch suduced Parker, Koch was employed as a domestic servant in the Manhattan home of Parker's father, where James Parker also resided.

Shortly thereafter, Francis and Simon Rider visited James Parker and advised him that Ms. Koch planned to report that Parker had raped her unless Parker paid them money. Parker refused, and Ms. Koch then filed a false rape report which led to Parker's arrest. 

An acquaintance of the three conspirators came forward and provided sworn testimony exposing the plot to blackmail Parker with a false rape claim. Parker was released from custody.

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Typical, right?

Would it surprise you that this story actually appeared in the New York Times on September 16, 1854? We've rewritten it to give it a modern journalistic sensibility.

How little things change.