Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-01-06
SUGAR REFINING FRAUD
Wiseacres Duped by the
Secret Process.
THE FRIENDS AND THE HOwARDs
How They AstOnish the Natives by
Their Secretly Acquired
Wealth.


Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD
ANN ARBoR, January 5.-Persons in
terested in the Electric Sugar Refining
Company frauds, at New York, have
been in consultation with attorneys here
for several days past. The President
of the company has been here and met
Mrs. Friend, the Howards and Hol-
steads, all of whom live at Milan, this
State. Mrs. Friends attorney says there
was no intentional fraud, but that the
company expected more than was prom
ised. She says the company was to
furnish money to equip the refinery for
refining sugar by Friends Secret Pro-
CESS"
The company alleges that the refining
was to be done from sugar cane. This
she cannot do. The contract her hus-
band made was to refine the sugar at 80
cents ton or sell out his stock and secret
for $250,000 after everything was run
ming. The company has been running
five years and put in over $500 900, but
no sugar has yet been refined for the
market. Mrs. Friend says the company
is trying to force from her another secret
by which she makes superior article of
sugar from grapes. Instead Of getting
| the secret their contract calls for, this
last secret she refuses to divulge for any
amount. No arrests have been made
and none even threatened by the COM
pany's agent, who returned to New York
Wednesday. Mrs. Friend is the only
one of the party interested i'll the trans
action, the others being merely en-
ployees.
THE HOME OF MRS. FRIEND.
MILAN, Mich, January 5.--Mrs.
Friends elegant home, half mile east
of here, was deserted this morning. At
the house of w. f. Howard, Mrs. How
ard 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 farther than
to say that if the New Workers have
broken open the electric sugar refinery
they have lost all their rights and that it
would be all we'll if the process had been
lost when Friend died last March also
that she is sure Howard and Mrs. Friend
are able to take care of themselves.
Since the opening Of the sugar business
the Howards and the Friends have cut
big swath here, building elegant houses
and living as gentlemanly farmers with
E princely incomes from some source not
generally understood, though not without
: taint Of suspicion. They bought the
/ best, lived high, drove elegant equipages
r New York. The village was greatly ex-
. cited. but not whit surprised.
i DOUBTS AS TO FRIENDS DEATH.
New YORK, January 5.-The leading
topic among the brokers and business
men down town is the great expose of
the late Professor Friends Electric
!, Sugar Refining Company. Secretary
Robertson, of the defunct concern, was
5 nearly paralyzed by we'll known Wall
street man asking him for ten shares,
son told the man the shares were worth
I, less. The man insisted, and the sale
was effected. The purchase is tor the
+ purpose, it is said, of Squeezing How
i ard when caught. Howard is the man
who swore before notary public that he
had seen the Professor" refine raw
sugar by electricity. 1t is now limited
Il that Friend is not dead at ALL There
a has not been anybody found so far who
g has seen his corpse. His death is said
It to have occurred two days before the
e blizzard Of last March.
u PRESIDENT CoTTRELL TALKS.
ANN ARBoR, Mich, January 5.-Presi-
! dent Cottrell, of the Electric Sugar Re-
= finery, was found at the Islangton 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 days. He denounces the claim
E made by Mrs. Friend that the contract
q with her does not specify raw cane sugar,
!. but only cane sugar, as an unmitigated
h falsehood. The process is far too expen-
g sive to place on the market There is no
question, he says, that the product is
finer than that produced by any known
process, and would sell better than
@ ordinary refined sugar if it could
e be made from the raw sugar.
# The deception consists in manipu-
II lating refined sugar, instead of refining
} sugar by the new process. On behalf of
d Mrs. Friend, the claim is made that Prof.
Friend invented two distinct processes,
b one for making superior article of sugar
c from refined sugar, the other for making
a it from grapes, and the latter is worth
!, millions. President Cottrell pronQlnces
i this humbug, but says if there is any
b thing in the grape process the company
@ is entitled to it.
# WARRANTS SWORN OUT IN ENGLAND.
!. LIVERPOOL, January 5.-Shares of the
g Electric Sugar Refining Company have
Q fallen to thirty shillings. Warrants have
Q been issued for the apprehension of Mrs.
Q Friend and her step-father, w. Il. How
+ ard, who was Director of the company,
r and had charge of affairs at the factory
!. at Brooklyn.
NO CRIMINAL ASPECT.
/, DETROIT, January 5-There is no
criminal aspect in the Electric Sugar
. Refinery case so far as it has developed
), here. President Cottrell has been max
) ing strenuous efforts to settle with the
. Friends, who will not give up unless
they get big Doodle. They still insist
q that their process is exactly what the
" contract calls for. A Journal reporter
= has seen the contract and it makes
;. no mention of manufacturing sugar
. from raw material. The men who
q pose as dupes confess thfs. The whole
thing has been precipitated by the Eng
lish stockholders. Cottrell and others
who got the Englishmen to subscribe
D now want control. Mrs. Friend and
Howard own a majority of the stock and
| the alleged secrets. The only way the
dupes can determine whether or not they
e have been duped ia to get control Mrs