>>> 10,000 [...] English Pounds that Hermans said he lost in a cab

>> Hermans said this about himself? Wasn't it Dickinson
>> who told this about Hermans?

> No, I didn't say that Hermans said this himself.

Then I'm apparently worse in understanding written English than I thought ;-)
I think there's no reason to doubt the story as a whole, just some ambiguities as to who told whom exactly what and when :-)