[Hopey]

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I meant had he really just come from Liberia - seems like he didn't, if I recall correctly one conversation about timelines that he had with his mother.

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You're right, he'd been back from Liberia for a lot longer than he'd told his mother. She figured it out due to the amount of time it took him to respond to her letter. I believe he was in New York. I also believe that this is how she figured out that he was trying to scam Hearst.

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And I still don't really get how he was going to defraud Hearst, who surely would have sent someone to verify Odell's claims.

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Odell was pretty naive in this regard. He figured the fake "stake" paperwork and the nugget of gold would be good enough. Additionally, he was obviously hoping that his mother's relationship with Hearst would win him some points. Hearst saw through it all, though.