The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-01-06
THE ELECTRIC sUGAR-REFINERY FRAUD.
The Officers of the Company Have an In
terview with the Alleged Inventors Wife.

The Oficers of the Company Have an In
terview with the Alleged Inventors Wife.
ANN ARBoR, Mich, Jan. 5.-The persons
interested in the electric sugar-refning
fraud, at New York, have been in cOnsulta-
tion with Sawyer 81 Knowlton, attorneys
here, for several days past. The president
of the company has been here, and met
Mrs. Friend, the Howards and Holsteads,
all of whom live at Milan, this State. Mrs.
Friends attorney said that there was no
intentional fraud, but that the company
expected more than was promised She
says that the company was to furnish
money to equip refinery for refining the
sugar by Friends secret process. The COM
pany allege the refining was to be
done from the sugar cane This
she cannot do. The contract her
husband made was to refine the
sugar at so cents q ton. or to sell ont his
stock and secret for 100000 after every
thing was running. The company has been
running five years. and put in over three
hundred thousand, hut no sugar has yet
been refined for the market. Mrs. Friend
says the company are now trying to force
from her another secret by which she makes
a superior article of sugar from grapes, in
stead of getting. the secret their contract
calls for. This last secret she refused to
been made and none even threatened by
the cOmpany's agents, who returned to New
York Wednesday. Mrs. Friend is the only
one of the party interested in the transac-
tion, the others being merely employees.
President Cottrill, of the Electric sugar
refinery, was found at the Arlington this
morning. He says the report that he is
here to procure the arrest of Mrs. Friend is
news to him. He cannot talk to the press
now, but promises developments in few
davS He denOupcpS fhp claim made Inv
Mrs. Friend that the contract with her does
not specify raw cane sugar, but only cane
sugar, as an unmitigated falsehOod The
process is far too expensive to place on the
market. There is no question, he says, but
that the product is finer than that produced
by any known process, and would sell bet
ter than ordinary refined sugar If it could
be made from raw sugar. The deception
consists 0sass in nf manipulating refined sugar
new process. On behalf of Mrs.
Prof. Friend invented two distinct pro-
cesses, one for making a superior article of
sugar from refined sugar, and the other for
making it from grapes. and that the latter
is worth millions. President COttrill pro-
nounced this humbug, but says that if
there is anything in the grape process, the
company is entitled to 1T.
A correspondent who has beeninvestigat-
ing the case says: 1T has no criminal as
pect so far as could be ascertained to-day.
President Cottriu has been making siren
uous efforts to settle with the Friends, who
will not give up unless they get big DOODLE
They still insist that their process is what
the contract calls for. have seen the con-
tract, and it makes no mention of manu-
featuring sugar from raw material. The
risn who pose as dupes confess this. The
whole thing has been precipated by the
English stockholders. Cottrill and the
others who got the Englishmen to subscribe
now want to get control
The Friends elegant home, half mile
east of Milan, was completely deserted this
morning. At the house of ". +. Howard,
Mrs. Howard was found just setting out to
join her husband and daughter (Mrs.
Friend at Ann Arbor. She is a sharp-eyed.
brainy old lady, with determination not
TO give away what she knows. further
than TO say that if the New York
ers have broken open the cleo
tric !. sugar refinery they have
|. lost all their rights,p and that "it would
have been well if the process had been lost
when Friend died last March," also, that
she is sure Mr.. Howard and Mrs. Friend are
able to take care of themselves Since the
opening OF the sugar business the Howards
and Friends have cut Q big swath here,