Telegram-herald., 1889-11-28
ROPED IN.
Thousands Easily D1Sse oy ns
Frscsrikssz Land Company.
Frzsaalsst Mortgages - TIE EAtsot II
Oser al ,ooo. eO8 Floated -tts We
Ez-s Range from the Capitalist
- tbs servant SrL
rHE coScERS Has 40 ASSETS.

q tie krcderlcksen Land Company
against which fraudulent tr@asactlon3
amounting u nearly 81 ooo,soO have
been charged. Vas held for conspiracy %
ssindle IN the sum OF Sl5, 600 BAL Tues
day. A Telegram has been sent % Ne"
YORK % arrest FredsricSsen, the com
p4ny's president. but II IS feared he h@s
already sailed for Europe.
Ex-lIoyernorJOhn A Rice of Hartland,
Wis. II pushing the prosecution. lie Is
loser in large sum. lie says Freterlk-
sen dealt II railroad lands "A Kansas,
Iowa, Minnesota aud elsewhere. lie
pretended 70 sell the land in small
farms 70 poor people. taking part cash
and part mortgages. The mortgages be
sold 20 capitalists. There are many
thousands of poor men living on these
lands today. some Of them having land
contracts and some deeds, who are not
entitled 70 one cents interest IN the
property they believe 70 De their own.
Many Of these poor men gave mort
cages 70 Frederiksen in goOd faith and
he sold the mortgages. But Frederiksen
never had a title 10 the land himself,
and the mortgages and tho title deeds
given b. him 10 the purchasers are
worthless, because he did not pay the
railroad companies for the lands under
his contract and the title 10 them re-
mained in the railroads. These mort
cages are worthless, but not fraudulent.
DR. Rice intimates that ne has the ad-
dresses Of seventy-fve men who signed
mortgages for land they never owned.
To these men Frederiksen paid five dol
lars apiece 70 put their names TO blank
mortgages Many vague rumors are
heard concerning the names and num-
ber OF Erederiksen's victims. That they
are numerous and extend all over the
United States and even to Europe tbsre
is ample evidence. The rich and poor
have suffered alike. DR.. Rice says the
victims number hundreds of thousands.
Frederiksen confessed his crime TO DR..
Rice and others. He said he had been
driven to it by his financial troubles.
He had intended paying the railroad
companies for the land as soon as he was
able, and make the settlers deeds and
the mortgages he had sold both secure.
Then he was driven TO make this other
kind of mortgages and sell them. DR.
Rice was in favor of having him ar
rested, but the others thought the affair
could be tided over. They did not then
know the enormous extent of the fraud,
and supposed 100000 or 100000 the
limit.
Chicago and Milwaukee furnished the
greater number of big victims, but st.
Paul, New York and other cities are
said to have contributed largely.
Among Chicago names mentioned as
heavy losers through their advances on
or investments in worthless securities
are E. G.. Southworth, the Joliet steel
man, the Fort Dearborn National Bank
and the Chicago Loan & Trust Com
pany.
In extent the swindle is one Of the
most gigantic on record. II is estimated
that worthless or fraudulent mortgages
TO the extent of $500, 600 have been
fOated upon the market by Frederick
sen & Co., and that these are held all
over the country, and even in Holland
and Denmark. By far the greater
number of victims are said to be
servant girls and poor immigrants who
would not know an abstract from will.
These fell an easy prey; and the fact
that no abstract of title is required by
the Minnesota law in recording mort
cages doubtless accounts for banks and
business men being roped in for such
large amounts as is affirmed some have
been.
Frederiksen's friends attribute his
fraudulent practices not to a deliberate
policy TO defraud, but to desperate eff
fort TO ward of the collapse of the house.
Still it is believed that the business has
been almost exclusively Of fraudulent
nature for year past. The fact
that Frederiksen has nothing to show
for the money he has borrowed
on the bogus mortgages points to his
having an accomplice who has reaped
the profit Of his swindling operations.
II is known that Rudolph Nunnemach-
er, the Milwaukee capitalist, was prac-
tically the moneyed head of the Freder-
iksen establishment.
Frederiksen's affairs have been under
the charge of Judge Shepard for some
time. w. B. Jarvis was appointed re-
ceiver. He resigned and on Tuesday II.
A. Haugen, his successor, asked leave
to resign, reporting that since his sp-
pointment, November 4, he had found
property Of the concern amounting only
TO $50. SO in money and few worthless
papers.
MILWAUKEE. Nov. 27.-The losses in
Milwaukee, including those oi Or. Rice.
Of Waukesha. who did the business
here, from the Fredericksen collapse
foot up about sl75, 900, divided as fol-
lows: Rudolph Nunnemacher, $4,000;
/ Z. G.. Cou1stock. $50. 600: c. D. Kendrick.
! $40. 900: DIR. Rice. 500 600. Nunne-
mscher is worth fully 81, 500, 0Ooand will
not notice his loss. z. G. Comstock is
also well fixed. Kendrick loses all he