, 1889-01-05
A 6juantic SwIndIe.

NEW YORK, Jan. 4.-The Evening
Sun prints what it calls an almost iu-
credible tale of gigantic fraud" 1t states
that the Electric Sugar Refining company
had been duped to an extent of over one
million dollars; hat its whole secret pro-
cess turns out to be a humbug of the
most barefaced kind. The secret pro-
cess was the invention of one Henry C.
Friend, who appeared in the trade about
four years ago with samples of wonder
fully pure sugar, which he said had been
refined by his electric process" About
a yea ago he induced a number of Eng
lish and American capitalists to organize
a company and buy the secret process from
him. This was done and factories were
erected, but no one was allowed inside
of them save Friend, his wife, and a few
ignorant workmen. The rooms where
the refining was supposed to be going on
were always kept securely locked, as
Friend said his process was not patent
able and he could not afford to allow any
one to share his secret.
In the meantime the stock of the COM
papy had been bouncing up until it was
worth near $500 per share of 800 par
value. Friend then began to unload. but
suddenly died. The officers of the com
pany suspected nothing wrong until a few
days ago when they found that Mrs.
Friend and all that had been connected
with the company had disappeared, Mrs.
Friend leaving word that she had gone
west. The officers of the company en-
tered the secret chamber and found that
no sugar had been refined there at all, but
merely a number of machines used in
breaking cube sugar into smaller particles
and in graduating the coarser grades.
Quantities of refined sugar, chiefly cubes.
had been purchased by the operators and
prepared in some secret spot with a
chemical liquid which eliminated TIE or
binary impurities found in all sugars.
This doctored sugar was her carted to
the factory in bags purporting to contain
raw sugar. The chemical used had crYs-
talized the cubes to a large extent and
when broken they had a finer appearance
and quality than sugar is known to pos
sess.
The scheme was c~leyerly worked to the
very last and the stockholders and officers
of the company were kept in perfect CON
idence as to the future of the process
until the largest possible amount of money
had been secured and then the bubble was
allowed to burst. There was no such
process as electrical sugar refining and the
bugbear of the sugar trust is dead. Treas
urer Robertson said to a reporter:
81 am heartbroken over the discovery
we have made. l don't care 80 much
about losing my own money, but | induced
numbers of my friends to invest in the
scheme and it is their financial ruin that
distresses me. Then | had such high
hopes that the scheme would bring for
tunes to us all. OH we've been shame
fully tricked and deceived. 1t means ruin
to US. 1t is the most outrageous thing l
ever heard Of"
is there no prospect of being able to
save anything out of the wreck?"
Not that | can see. The revelations
found in the factory prove the entire
thing to have been a great fraud"
The results of to days investigation of
the Electric Sugar Refinery company
gives additional evidence of fraud and
President Cowell left the city to night
for the purpose of procuring the arrest
of Mrs. Olive Friend and VIM. Il. How
ard.