Omaha daily bee., 1890-12-23
FLASH LIGHT FLIMFLAMMERS
Two Bogus Electricians Suddenly Oomo to
Grief in Council Bluffs.
1T WAS A TEMPTING JOINT STOCK FAKE
G. ID. Covell OF ON aha Jailc Il, Charged
with Obtaining $500 from
q. A. SchoedsacS Under
False Pretenscs.

small building on Broadway, Council Bluffs,
taking a lease for a few days with the privi-
lege of keeping the building an indefinite
time The men gave the names of @. ID.
COvell and w. Bellard. After renting the
room they hauled over from Omaha several
small and apparently secondhand storage
batteries, with bundle or two of insulated
electric light wire end box Of sixteen candle
power incandesc cent Edison lamps They at
tached abouta dozen of these to each of
the storage batteries and the morn
ing and the evening was the
first day. The second day opened about
O'Clock the succeeding evening with bril-
liant illumination in the old building that
made it fairly glitter in its resplendancy and
attracted great deal of notice from the
throngs on the street. The window curtains
were thrown to the top of the sash and the
multitude invited to come and SEQ the ninth
onder of the world, little voltaic battery
that was capable of supplying a dozen incon-
descent lights for an indefinite period. Back
of each storage battery were half dozen
common battery jars, containing the usual
copper and zinc plates and blue vitrol solutio
for the generation of the ordinary low ten
sion electric currents. These common jars
were pointed out by the two men in charge rs
being the source of light and power that was
capable of maintaining the dozen lamps all
night If necessary, and resting from the exer-
ton and recuperating during the day by run
uing a few small motors.
1t was modern wonder, and the crowds
stood around with open eyes fixed with pure
astonishment But the fellows were looking
for people Of the sucker variety, who would
come around with open mouths and
pocket books. Elaborate arrangements
were made to induce the visits
of this kind of game, and the fellows in
change took great pains to describe the ap-
paratus in detail but keeping in profound
seclusion the great secret they had discov-
cred, which was to revolutonize the electric
light and power business of the world. The
fellows incidentally announced that they
came direct from Boston and had stolen
away from the Hub of intelligence and
wealth and come to Council Bluffs solely for
the purpose of escaping from the greed of
eastern capitalists who were determined to
get control of the grand invention, even if it
cost millions of dollars.
After attracting great deal of attention,
on the second night of their advent and when
the room was full of people almost supplied
with establishment. the Electricians" an
nounced their intention to close up and get
little rest, and prepare for grander demon
strations on the morrow, and the morrow
night. The lights were turned out and the
| crowd hustled out, and the old building had
| lost its brlliancy. The remainder of the
evening was Spent III CHllHg upon
citizens and inviting them to come down and
witness the modern wonder. The batteries
were described as costiag but few dollars,
and the intended victim was told that by once
filling the Jars, at o cost of about 80 cents
| a jar. each battery would run twelve incan-
| descent lights for seven hours each night
and small motor for six hours each day for
| a little period of seven months. 1t was ex-
planned that the batteries could be put into
every house in the country where the owner
| had the ability to hustle up $780, and then the
| company that was to be organized would
| make clean $50 on each one. They wanted
| to organize stock company and make Coun-
| Gil Bluffs the great head center of illumna-
| tion, the light of the world, as it were, and
| for this purpose would place $4,000
worth of stock at so cents on the
| ST.. 1t was great scheme, and when
| they discussed it they both became madly en-
| thusiastic. Among the prominent business
men and capitalists in the Bluffs taken
down to see the plant were $. B. Wadsworth,
| G. r. Hannah, l.. H. Hanscom and many
| Others. They would be taken in very
| stealthlly by one or the other of the alleged
| electricians, but who could only get into the
| building by observing series of raps and
| signals, when the door would be opened by
the other fellow. This procedure tended to
make the investigating capitalists suspicious
| rather than enthusiastic, ana the brilliant il
| Illumination that followed the turning Of a
| switch was not sufficient to reassure them.
The belief was fixed that the fellows had
| tapped an electric light or motor wire and
| were stealing the current used.
| The matter was brought to the attention of
| The BEE, and reporter made three at.
| tempts to get into the building either at night
| or in the day time, but adrnittance was re
| fused him upon specious prcteXts. Three ap-
| pointments were made with other parties
| who had become interested in the matter in
| good faith but each time when he appeared
| the raps and signals given by his friend
| failed to bring spark of light or response.
The place was dark and deserted each night
and during the day the blinds were kept
| closely drawn After the fourth day the
outfit pulled out in the night as mysteriously
as it came and dropped out OF sight al
together. The reportorial hunt for swindle
/ was then dropped
Yesterday afternoon the great discovery
was brought to the surface again in the shape
| of an information filed by q. A. Schoedsack,
| proprietor of the Twin City steam dye works,
| charging G. ID. Covell, the all ll-round ruster OF
the concern, with obtaining money under false
pretenses. On Sunday it was found that
Covell had returned to Omaha, and
scheme was arranged to induce him
to go back to Council Bluffs. One
of the parties who had taken a deep in
terest in the matter sent word to the fellow
| that another man was ready to take a block
| of ''stock' and would pay 81 900 down. He
was to meet him in Rettiggs barber shop,
next door to the building where the plant had
been located. Instead of meeting willing
victim he encountered Deputy Cusic with a
warrant for bis arrest and fifteen minutes
later he was in the Pottawattamie county Jail
The whole story then came out. The w
Bellard of the firm was one of the chief
operators of the notorious Don Carlos lumber
| company of Omaha, and the man calling him
self Covell was his capper. Their plan was
very simple, The batteries were simply two
old common storage affairs. When charged
with 1000 volts of current they would
maintain twelve lamps for five hours
The jars were only blind. The
batteries were small and easily lifted
and each night after midnight they were
loaded on wagon and taken to the Omaha
electric light works and charged and brought
over before daylight. Among the Council
Bluffs people who took deep interest in the
matter was DR., F. p. Bellinger, and he had
agreed to take 81 800 in stock when convinced
the thing was not fraud. When the outfit
left they went to the northern part Of the
state and set up the fake in LeMars. Here
the batteries became exhausted and the lig hts
went out. Covell claimed that something
was wrong with them which could only be
fixed by taking them down to Sioux City
DIR. Bellinger had sent his brother with the
outfit and he followed Covell TO Sioux City,