St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-01-05
A SACCHARINE SWINDLE.
The Electric Sugar Refining Company
a Gigantic Fraud.
DUPED BY A CLEVER WOMAN.
Americans and Britons Taken in to the
Extent of Million in Hard
Cash.

NEW YORK, Jan. Am evening
paper prints what it calls an almost in
credible tale of gigantic fraud. 1t
states that the Electric Sugar Refining
company has been duped to the extent
of over 81, 100000 and that its whole ''se-
cret process" turns out to be humbug
of the most barefaced kind. The ''se-
cret process" was the invention of one
Henry Friend, who appeared in the
trade about four years ago, with SAM
plies of wonderfully pure sugar, which,
he said, had been refined by his ''elec-
trio process" About year ago he in-
duced a number of English and Ameri-
can capitalists to organize company
and buy the ''secret process from him.
This was done, factories were
erected, but no one was al
lowed inside them save Friend,
his wife and few ignorant workmen.
The rooms where the refining was sup
posed to be going on were always kept
securely locked, as Friend said his pro-
cess was not patentable, and he could
not afford to let any one share his
secret. In the meantime the stock of
the company had been bouncing up I'M
til it was worth nearly $500 per share of
500 par value. Friend then began to
unload, but suddenly he died. The
officers of the company suspected moth
ing wrong until few days ago, when
it was found that Mrs. Friend and all
who had been connected with the fac
tory had disappeared. Mrs. Friend leay-
ing word that she had gone to the West.
President Cotterill, Treasurer Robert
son and number of stockholders pro-
ceeded to the factory and invaded the
secret rooms. What they discovered
made
THEIR EYES BULGE OUT,
and each and every hair on their heads
give limitations of the quilts of porcu-
number of machines used in breaking
cube sugar into smaller particles, and
in graduating the coarser grades, and
nothing else. There was no mysterious
electrical apparatus by which the sweet
stuff should be transformed as by a
flash into the urest saccharine crystals;
no wonderful cylinders, poles or pans
charged with purifying electrical cur
rents. There were crusherS, and that
was all. An investigation at once set
on foot, showed how the great scheme
had been worked. Not pound of raw
sugar had been refined in the factory.
Quantities of refined sugar, chiefly
cubes, had been purchased by the
operators and prepared in some
secret spot with chemical liquid
which eliminated the ordinary
impurities found ia all sugars. This
the factory in bags purpurtlng to con-
tain raw sugar. The chemical used had
chrystallized the cubes to a large eX-
tent, and when they were broken they
had finer appearance and quality than
sugar was ever known to possess. Mrs.
Friend. and those ,nnected with her,
received large sam of money i'll cash
from the company for the process, and
a heavy block OF the stock. which was
disposed of, partly in England and
partly here, at price away beyond its
par value. just how many persons
were included in the scheme does not
seem clear, nor will the officers of the
company tell just how much money
was paid to them, although they admit
that, adding the cash and the proceeds
from the stock together. they must have
realized a sum approXimating $250,0O0.
The
SCHEME WAS CLEVERLY WORKED
to the very last. The stockholders and
the officers of the company were kept
in perfect confidence as to the future of
the process until the largest possible
amount of money could be secured, and
then the bubble was allowed to burst.
There is no such process as electrical
sugar refining. and the bugbear of the
sugar trust is dead. Treasurer Robert
son said to a reporter this morning:
81 am heart-proken over the discoveries we
have made" and he certainly appeared as if
he were. Continuing he said: " don't care
so much about losing my own money, but l
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 fortunes
to us ALL Oh, We have been shame
fully trcked and deceived. 1t means
ruin to u.s. It's the most outrageous
thing [ ever heard of. Yes, we've been over
to the factory and seen the interior of the
secret rooms I'd rather not tell all that they
contain Just yet. am preparing statement
for the public. in which 1 will set all matters
forth just as they are" rs there no prospect
of being able to save anything out of the
wreck?'' Not that can see. The revela-
tons found i'll the factory prove the entire
thing to have been fraud. President Cot
terill left for the West yesterday to try. TO
find Mrs. Friend and endeayor to learn what
chemical was used i'll the sugar. in the hope
that it may be of some USE for the sugar,
after it is treated with it. becomes remark
ably pure commercial product. If this proved
to be worth anything it might save the total
collapse, but cannot have any faith in it.
cannot tell just yet how much stock is held
here and in England. That will all come
out in my statement
The results of to-day investigation of
the affairs of the Electric Sugar refinery
give additional evidences of fraud, and
President Cotterill left the city tonight
for the purpose of procuring the arrest
of Mrs. Olive Friend and William Z.
Howard.
BRITISH STOCKHOLDERS ALARMED.
LONDON. Jan. 4.-The sensation in
Birmingham over the revelations re
gardlng the Electric Sugar Refining
company has been increased by alarm
ing cablegrams. The local holding of
the stock is stated to be 100000. One
of the principal stockholders has de-
parted for America to inquire person
allv into the matter. The stock fell
greatly in Birmingham and Liverpool
to-day.
Treasure Trove Recovered.
NEWPORT, Ark. Jan. 4.-People at