Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-01-14
NOT BOHEMIAN OATS,
Dat Real Estats, Il the Latsst Wrinkle Of
- spsOuhtor for Making
sPile.
Three Springfield Property Owneru buy
Alns.a Worthleo Property In Col
umbus-systemsttc Opera
tioss by an Organized
Hand.

gang of seven men with headquarters at
Columbus, headed by r. G. Graham. have
been working Springfield. Urbana Dayton,
and other towns hereabouts for all they are
worth. These men have laid out plat of
lots along the banks Of the Olentangy river
in the extreme northwestern part of Co
lumbus, called J. W. Burton's subdivision.
These lots are below high water mark,
and are bounded on one side by large en-
bankment causing the water to back upon
them. The estimated value Of the lot is
about SIS apiece. With this waste land as
. basis they have operated quite extensive
ly. The general method pursued is to
make out mortgage on one of these lots to
any individual-it is immaterial whether he
be street-sweeper or the president Of the
United States-and take this mortgage to
some other town and trade it OF at big
discount for property of real value. This
transaction naturally involves the criminal
elements Of false representation Of value
and fraudulent intent
The agent who has beer operating at this
place Is George W. Miller. . responsible
man and the owner Of some property in Co
lumbus. Some time ago they brought here
. mortgage on one of these lots, with a
value fixed at 81. 500, and traded it to Noah
FOrsythe for the fixtures. furniture. ETC., Of
his saloon on West Main street. valued at
81, 800. Their general practice Is to have
the property for which they are trading al
ready sold. or to have buyer, generally q
man innocent and ignorant of the nature Of
the transaction, ready to take it of their
hands As soon rs they have acquired it.
However, in this case they were not quick
enough to get out, and Forsythe had time
to 60 over to Columbus and find out that
the mortgage was for land practically
worthless, and was made out to an ire
sponsible party. Returning here he reples-
ined the fixtures and furniture Of the sa-
loon, and the case is still pending.
On September 2S Miller came here and
made q trade with an old man named
Baechus W. Perrine, trading him lots No.
30 and 81. in BurtOn's subdivision of Colum-
bus. for house and lot on Dibert's addition
worth about Si.5OO, Miller assuming q
mortgage on the property calling for 5000
with interest He represented that he
owned the lots, and that they lay about q
square west of High street in Columbus.
Graham came over while the trade
was being made, and. when asked
as disinterested party whether the lots
were worth $500 apiece, he replied that he
thought that was too high price for them.
that in his judgment they were worth only
about $500 apiece, Perrine was subse-
quently informed that Graham either owned
the said lots at the time or had only that
day decided them to Miller. As soon as
Miller got the deed for the Perrine property
he sold it to Amos Wolfe for $500. Wolfe
assuming the mortgage, and thus paying
something over $500 cash down. This is
the size of the Doodle the operators got out
of the deal. There is no doubt that
Wolfe was perfectly innocent purchaser
in the matter, for when asked about it he
was very frank in telling about the pur-.
chase, and was intensely surprised when he
found that he had been made a party to a
queer transaction. Just there this case
stands at present.
An incident occurred a month or so ago
at the Franklin County Recorders Office
which was rather mysterious and evidently
has considerable connection with this
case. A man came into the Office
and threw down deeds Of lots No.
81, No. 2s and No. 90, of this
Burton's subdivision, made over to Caroline
Ryder, of Springfield. by r. G. Graham,
and asked that they be recorded. The re-
cOrder asked him IL he knew anything about
the lots, where they were, or what they
were worth. The stranger said he knew
nothing about them, but that his wife had
purchased them and he desired to have the
deed recorded. So saying he left the Office
All attempts to find Caroline Ryder here
have been fruitless.