St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-27
Shrewd Capitalists and Ig-
norant Emigrants Swim
died by a Titled Dane.
Frederieksen Floats Bogus
Mortgages Representing
Nearly 100000.
He Spared Neither Friend
Nor Foe, But ALI Were
Bilked Alike.
Hen Of Money Hold Worthless
Paper, and Settlers Are
Merely Squatters.

CHICAGO, Nov. 26.-It is now said
that the amount involved in the alleged
fraudulent transactions OF Frederick
son & Co., in connection with which
their cashier, Bidgood, was arrested
yesterday, will reach s1,00O,O0O. The
charged is based ON alleged crooked
+ transactions in giving mortgages on
lands to which the Fredericksens had
no title. These mortgages are said to
have been pledged as security for
loans. Fredericksen 81 Co. have been
doing a large business in Western rail-
road lands, selling for the most part
small tracts of forty or fifty acres on
the installment plan, the purchasers
usually being immigrants or poor peo-
pie, who wished tOinveSt their earnings
in farms. After a certain number of
payments had been made, Fredericksen
gave deed, a mortgage on tine land
being taken for the unpaid portion of
the purchase money. These mortgages,
it is alleged, were then given as collat-
eral for loans or sold outright through
the West. Among others ex-Gov. j. A.
Rice, of Wisconsin, K. Nunnemacher,
cashier of the Merchants Exchange
Bank of Milwaukee. and E. q. Com
stock, a Milwaukee lawyer, are said to
udNC DCCu Ii Is HOW
claimed that many of these mortgages
are worthless. When seen at the sta
ton, Bidgood stated that his connection
with the company was purely as cashier,
and that he did not see how he could be
implicated in Fredericksen's transac-
tons. The business, he said. amounted
to $4,000 acres year, but he could not
say how much of this was in mortgages.
T. q. Cowie said that he represented the
interests of his father-in-law, ex-Gov.
Rice, of Hartland, Wis, who, he said.
was a lose to the extent of 800, 900 or
more by the alleged fraudulent opera
tiOnS.
1.-The charge we make" he said. rs that
Fredericksen. Bidgood and D. 6. NJ, Freder-
icksen were all concerned in this conspir-
acy. They got out fraudulent mortgages
went out on the street and gave men IS to
sign them. Then they went to capitalits
with the mortgages and raised money on
them. They gave mortgages Old land in MIN
nesota, Dakota and other parts of the North
west. There are hundreds of working peo-
pie in Chicago who paid in their earnings to
The Fredericksens, thinking that they were
buying land, and now they find their deeds
worthless. Many of these mortgages were
placed in Milwaukee. Among the purchas-
ers are Mr., Kendrick, Mr.. Brice and Rudolph
Nunnemacher. the cashier OF the Merchants
Exchange bank. Stephen W. Rawson, the
banker of Chicago, had some of them, but he
is not hit for much
1t is said that much of this paper was
also sold in Milwaukee. An afternoon
paper says that eight or ten Eastern
capitalists contributed 100000 to the
Golfers of FFtdericksen & Co.. and E. G.
Comstock, Milwaukee capitalist. drops
about $4,000. Cowie makes a state
ment in which he iDtimates that prom
inent Milwaukeean assisted the Freder-
ioly n or,di fl,..i,.
ties to his friends. Bidgood was ar
even arraigned in police court to-day,
and his case was continued till Satur-
day in bonds of $4,000. The prisoner
looked as if he had spent the night in
WAKEFULNESS AND TEARS.
He declares his entire innocence, and
asserts that he never had reason to sup
pose that the business of Fredericksen
Il Co. was other than strictly legitimate.
Mr.. COwie, son-in-law of DR.. Rice. of
Harland, Wis, one of the heaviest Suf-
ferers, is here looking after his father
in-Iaw'S interests. He declares that he
will secure the arrest of the miss ng
FredericksenS if it becomes necessary
to follow them to the end of the world.
''There are about 200 servant girls in this
city," said Mr.. Cowie, who invested from
$50 to $500 each in these bogus lands. and
who, of course. have lost all. but aside from
these there are bankers in Chicago who hold
lot OF alleged mortgages which they might
as well throw into the fire. because they are
not worth a SOU. Where all the money has
gone can't imagine, and that's something
has been pulling my brains about for long.
long time. There is from 100000 to S7OJ-
900 to account for. and the only explanation
l can give is that the major portion of it went
up Milwaukee way. The Frederic -ens
haven't a cent, and no property whatever.
Now we have the papers to prove it, and are
q
tain Milwaukee man mentioned in this case
has figured as the chief in these crooked
transactions, and that he induced hundreds
of people. among them his friends to go into
his swindle.''
The Daily News says:
The scheme of the conspirators was SIM
pie one. FrederickseE had plats of lands in
Dakota and all parts of the Northwest. and
by picking out suitable piece description
GOULD be filed out on a blank mortgage and
sent to the county clerk wherein the land lay
No abstract of title is required by Minnesota
law in recording mortgages. and the mort
gage bearing all the marks of genuine doc
ument, similar to those held in great num-
bers against farmers, was soon back in the
hands of the sharpers Then it was easily
disposed of to investors, unless the people to
whom it was offered demanded complete
abstract, ana this. it seemed. very rarely oc-
CURED, although it is astonishing that some
of the shrewdest moneyed men in Chicago
we're taken in by the scheme. The real own
ers of the property knew nothing of the
scheme. of course. and the poor fellow who
bought and partially paid for these lands,
receiving supposed abstracts of title, settled
upon them and built homes put in their
seeds, and stocked the places. only to be
swooped down upon by the real owners and
driven out. Thus the rich holders of mort
cages and the poor occupants of the land
were robbed. Among he Chicago capital
lists and banking concerns in Chicago who
had confidence in Fredericksen, and are said
to have invested in the mortgages are Z. G.
Southworth, the Joliet steel man, who is said
to be one of the biggest creditors of the COM
pan: s. W. Rawson, who however. took the
precautIon of perfecting his holdings and
will lose nothing; the Fort Dearborn National
bank, which holds small bundle of nice
paper mortgages worth about two cents a
pound when paper and rags are in good de-
mand. and the Chicas 20 Loan and Trust COM
pany which is in the same boat with the
bank"
Hedge A. Hangar, the receiver APP
pointed by Judge Shepard for Freder- |
icksen q Co.. asked leave of Judge |
Shepard to-day to resign his receiver
ship. He says that he has been able to |
collect only $3.50, and that the concern |
has no assets except some apparently |
worthless papers He sees no need OF |
receiver. tier; btu: nothing to receive. |
The judge direct2M nim to serve all par |
ties in the suit of .'osiah Crafty against |
Fredericksen wirh his motion to be al |
lowed to resign. End come in court Mon |
day.
DIR. John =. dice. one of the victims |
of the swindle, arrived here this after |
noon. "Why, that man Fredericksen !
was the most cold-blo0ded swinuler | |
ever knew" be said. Il hold now
Sl5O,OO0 Of mortgages sold me by i