The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-10-12
a BIG swINDLE.

HW. b. Ingham & Co.." a New York BrOk'
erage Concern. After Gatherings Conn
Portable Amount of Doodle Quietly De-
parts for Other Fields in Which to Enjoy
1t.
NEW YoRK, Oct. 6.-Oae Of the biggest
swindling schemes that have been worked
in this city for many years has been
brought to light by the disappearance of
VIM. 81. Ingham and the closing Of the
brokerage firm of "W. H. Ingham &
Co.." at No. 50 Broadway. As yet
no accurate estimate of the swindlers'
profits can be made, and very possibly
the extent of the fraud Will never be
known. But from present indications,
the losses Of the victims Of the specu-
lative mania will run we'll up into the
thousands, and may aggregate more than
one hundred thousand dollars. The man
who has successfully played upon the
gullible, calls himself VIM. H. Ingham,
though his real name would probably
not sound like that. According to
all accounts, he made his appearance in
the city the latter part of April, 1887, and
opened the Office of w. H. Ingham e. Co
at No. 40 Broadway. His entry on the
scene was soon followed Ky the appear
ance of advertisements in EundFy promi-
nent papers calling attention to the inn
mense profits to be gained by investing
in w. II. Ingham g. Co.'s speculative
syndicate" The Syndicate was de
scribed as a mutual pool, which was
to operate in stocks, bonds and grain,
under the direction of VIM. II. Ingham
& Co. At the end of the first month a
printed statement was forwarded to all
stockholders, or members" as they were
termed, showing that the profits for the
month of May, 1887, were fifty two pei
cent. The statement issued by the firm,
taking them for what they are worth, &C
to show that the ''profts" for the several
months from June down we're:
July, forty three per cent; August
twenty-four per cent; September,
sixty seven per cent; October, forty
six per cent; November, fifty
six per cent; December, forty two
per cent: January, 1885, twenty mine per
cent; February, thirty per cent; March,
eighteen and one-half per cent. April,
twenty two per cent; May, twenty -one
per cent; Juns, twenty-six per cent. ;
July, twenty-five per cent; August If
teen per cent. September, about twenty
| five per cent. OF course these ''prohts"
were all purely imaginary, and such
! dividends as were paid were paid out OF
the money invested by the dupes. How.
| many of the nominal dividends actually
| were paid can not be ascertained, but
/ since December, at least, the dividends
indicated have actually been paid
While Ingham's business was booming
/ along, and letters, kilograms and visit
ors daily pouring in, he was making
/ preparations to close up shop. On las
Saturday he mailed card to his victims
reviewing the career Of the syndicate anC
announcing that in consequence of tn
| members solicitation he had met with
heavy losses, which had forced him t.
suspend with the loss of the entire syn
| dictate membership capital, and all it
business and Offices are closed"
The card goes on to significantly remar
! that 1--WE only hold your Names" an
| concludes in this way: 'As soon as W
can get matters arranged and our &C
counts Strengthened, with full details ant
figures Of the losses and trades, and ope1
Offices again, we will notify you. By tsi
| word Co.. after the name 'W. H. Ingham
is infant each and every syDdicat
member who constitute the company c
the firm"
According to stories of the other occu
pants of the building at No. SS Broadway
Ingham was last seen at his Office SatuT
day. He had a Yale lock put on the QUITE
door when he removed to his new office
and as he took the key with him, no on
can now get into the room. A glimps
through the 1e tier slit, however, shows
big accumulation of mail lying on th
floor where it has fallen through the sli
Scores of undelivered kilograms fc
Ingham are also lying at the adjacer
telegraph Office. Ingham wOul
never allow the janitress {
any one else to see both his rooms {
once, and apparently removed importaT
books and papers to the rear room, an
locked the door when the woman cleane
the front Office. His residence is given
the directory as No. 38 Broadway, an
there is no clew to either his actual resi-
dence or himself. He is not member
either of the New York stock exchange
the Consolidated Exchange or the ProduC
Exchange, but had intrusted an aggr'
gate of about five hundred dollars Wort
: of mining stock to the Open Stock an
| Grain Board of New York (limited),
, ! No. 80 New street. to sell for hiT
All his checks were drawn on eith
the Seaboard National Bank or Il
United States National Bank. They wel
always careful to look up his account b.
t fore cashing his checks, but he new
;. overdrew on them, and apparently pa
Q for hall services, etc, in cash.
= Judging from the bank officers stat
o ments Ingham has altogether Withdraw
r his deposits, or has but a small balan
f on hand. There are some reasons f.
thinking that he came to New York fro
10 Chicago.