The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-10-20
FRIGHTFUL FRAUD.
INSIDE OF AN INSURANCE CoMPAN

NJ CAflIAL-MONE1 OBlAlNED On RAISED
CERTIFICATES-THE MANAGERS HELD FOR
PERJURY, CONSPIRACY AND FORGERY.
The New York Sun of October 10 shows
up the bursting of huge bubble: On
Tuesday evening a veteran forger lately out
OF Sing Sing prison was arrested in Brook
Ign, and taken to Philadelphia on the mid
night express by private detectives. The
charge against him was that he was impli-
Gated in an extraordinary swindle
} somewhat resembling the collapsed
Palisades Insurance Company of
Jersey City, but of far greater magnitude
The principles in the case are said to be
prominent insurance men and bankers of
Philadelphia, and the story OF their opera
tions is one of surprising interest. They
conceived and attempted 10 carry out deep
laid scheme 10 make fortunes on a sham
capital. The story of the Philadelphia off,
GERS is that in February last the
Central Fire Insurance Company was
organized in that city, with w. ID. Half
man, a millionaire, as president, w. H.
Halfman as treasurer and secretary, and for
| directors, John Nicholson Ebert W. j.
Noodle, q. A. Duy and p. Thurlow. The
lconspirators represented to the insurance
authorities of Pennsylvania that they had
capital of 100000 invested in various rail-
road and other securities, and that their
ISIOCk udQ Dccn euOcCIiDcQ lOI dS lOllONSs Z.
Thurlow, 900 shares, $4,000; c. A. Duy,
200 shares, $4,000; w. III. HalfmaD, 100
Il shares, $1,000; w. d. Mailman, 500 shares,
$4,000; w. J. Noodle, 200 shares, $4,000;
Noodle. Gross & Co., 40 shares, g. 1000; and w.
/ d. Mailman, $50 shares held in trust.
$4,000. The securities which the company
had purported to consist of $4,000 in mort
cages; 500 shares of Philadelphia & Reading
railroad stock, SIS, S75; 500 shares of Lehigh
Valley railroad stock, S35, 500; 500 of the Del
aware. Lackawanna q Western railroad,
go, S44; 300 OF the Central railroad of New
Jersey, 81, S75; 100 of the Pennsylvania
Central, and 5000 of the Lebanon Paper
Company. A charter was granted to the
company, and in July they opened a
magnificent office in Chestnut street. They
had it elegantly furnished, and employed a
large corps of clerks. John Nicholson FL
bert acted as manager, and he inspired con-
idence in the company, being member of
the Philadelphia Board of Trade, and well
connected. The company ran along smoothly
and with every indication of having
PROSPEROUS EXISTENCE
until about the middle of August, when Mr..
J. NJ. Foster, one of the commissioners of
insurance of Pennsylvania, became suspic-
ious that all was not right with it. He made
| an investigation, and assertained that the
corporation was a sham, and its entire Sc
curities were forged and altered to many
times their original value. 1t was the old
story of Montague T1gg's "Auglo-Bengalee
Disinterested Loan and Mutual Life Insur.
ance Company" with its elegant office, its
, pretentious array of capital, and its outward
: signs of stability and success.
All about the company was
sham. The officers say that Commissioner
Foster made two examinations into the
accounts of the company before the full
extent of the swindle was discovered
Their books showed that $500, 900 had been
paid on account OF stock, but that amount
was all in checks that proved to be worth
less. The Union Banking Company heard of
the suspicious againsgthe new company, and
remembered that it had lent it SIC. 600 on two
certificates of Philadelphia 81 Reading rail-
road stocks. One of the certificates was put
under powerful microscope. and it was
seen that 1T originally represented one share
of stock, but that the number had been
erased with chemicals, and 300 shares writ
ten in. The other certificate was found to
have been altered in the same way, except
that it was raised to only 200 shares. The
discovery led to an inspection of the rest of
|. the securities representing the capital
stock OF the Insurance company, and
the result proved that they had
been similarly tempered with. The certifi-
, Gates were each issued for one share of the
stock, and had all been raised to different
/ numbers, some as high as 500. One certif-
icate of the Delaware and Lackawanna,
name of w. ID. Mailman, the president of
the company, filled in, but as the name
| could not be found the books of the
company, it was thought that it had been
forged, to enable the holder to effect loan
| Most of the stock was transferred to
j. n. Ebert. Commissioner Foster made
report of the fraudulent character of the
company to the encouragement. and the
latter ordered it to be suspended. President
] Halfman, the treasurer, and the directors OF
! the company were subsequently arrested on
/, charges Of perjury, conspiracy, and forgery.
. On the hearing of their case before Phila-
! delphia magistrate
THE STATEMENTS
f made by the president and the treasurer I'M
der oath when the company was formed
; were introduced. President Halfman's was
Q to the effect that he had subscribed for $685.
j 900 worth of stock, and that he had paid for
= il in three checks drawn to w. T. Ebert, a
q banker oil 32l Walnut street. The treasurer
{ made oath that he had received the presi-
f dents checks, and had given them to the
: finance committee to deposit. There was
! no entry in the books to show that they had
/; been deposited. Mr.. w. T. Ebert, respect
!, co banker, testified that President Halfman Is
s checks on him were OF no value, and that he
8 had not authorized him to draw any on him
|. for any sum. The witness said that the
; manager of the company was his nephew.
t The officers and directors were each held in
; $4,000 bail. The only officer who borrowed
9 money from the company was j. N.
: Ebert. He disappeared when Com
Q missioner Foster made his exposure
< and detectives looked for him i'm St. Louis,
n Chicago and Detroit, where he has relatives,
/, with whom it was thought he would be
Q likely to communicate. After three weeks
o search he was caught in an obscure street
< in Philadelphia, where be had gone to keep
|. an appointment In the time that the officers
t were looking for him the organizers of
Q the company tried TO compromise the case
t and get back the fraudulent certificates
: on which they had obtained loans.
K Mr.. Jones, vice president of the Read
o ing railroad, whose stock was among the