Telegram-herald., 1891-08-12
MANY WERE TAKEN IN
n Chicago swiadiss Secures
Thousands Of Vsesims-
How be xoRkED BIS LITTLE CANE
. op<Fafss . crosk<a UaildfHg AAs
Ls4s seh<1s and sss< AwAy VIA
. BAG s1ns leaving AAsy.
MsaFssEs Behiaa.

CaIcAso. Aax 1t---Aifred Downing
- H. Tolimaa sad three young women
eierks-0ceaF4nts Of the cfice Of the
-Sationzl Capital savings kaildiag &
Loaa Association os North America. .
room - Rookery naildiDg--were ar
rested Monday after-oon by United
States Marshals Hitehcoek, Allen and
Charles snd the entire epis-
toiary eoatents OF the place
taken 70 the ofdcs of United state Dis
trie Attorney Nilehrist. Downing and
Tollman were taken before United
States Commissioned Hoyne, charged
with using the United States mails for
fraudulent purposes. and placed under
5000 bonds for a bearing Thursday.
August 20. The three clerks
were notified that they were
waited as witnesses a. the hear
ing. IL IS charged tha. the
men who have been conducting this as
scciation have swindled thousands of
people from every state in the union
and taken Ia from $500. 900 to $3.50, 900.
and given not one penny in return
There are still two men a. liberty. they
having disappeared several weeks ago.
These two men. IL Is believed, got away
with most OF the furds-
For SIX months or more letters have
been received from all parts of the
country protesting that the National
Capital Savings building & Loan Asso-
cation Of North America" was not
what It's propr.etors represented IL 70
he. and that IL was collecting money
and making no loans Inspector Stuart
took charge of the matter about four
months ago and has worked ever since
10 make a case against the officers Of
the association. He found that the
concern was gigantic in It's reach and
had agents in every state in the
union who were dis,osing OF the
$50. 900. 600 OF stock tho company was
selling.
At tiss tine Capt Stuart took hold Of
the ease the head man Of the associa-
tion was Louis +. Mortimer. the gener-
al manager and secretary. lie seemed
90 be the responsible man and handled
all the cash. Several weeks ago Mort
inner and his father disappeared and
neither have since been heard from A
short time ago Capt Stuart sent In
spector Gardner 10 Lincoln, Neb,
where the harvest seemed to be the
richest Here Mr.. Gardner found
George o. Ferguson. who represented
about sixty people that had been
swindled Mr.. Ferguson came to
Chicago with Inspector Gardner and
the result was the captures made Mon
day.
After the arrests were made Mr.. Fer
guson explained the modus operandi of
the gang that had been fleeing the
citizens OF bis town They were rep
resented in our town by Chase Bros"
said Mr.. Ferguson, who acted in good
faith. The people of Nebraska are
very much in favor of the building and
loan association plan. and the offers of
this concern were snapped up quickly.
IL sold shares for fifty cents each, with a
payment Of ell o5 each moath for nine
ty-six months. at the end of which time
81. 900 loan would be paid for. Then
there was q membership fee OF $50, an
appraisemcnt fee of SO and s45 FOR
three months payment in advance,
tuut r1dkl1k nt CDuCtEn Iitaslt
one $500 loan that was genuine. and
this was Just enough bait TO lead 9TH
ers 70 invest. Hundreds sent their
money 10 Chicago, and on the strength
Of toe loan they expected to make
contracts for homes and stores were
let and building begun, bu. the money
never came.
-
ney Milchrist went over the associa-
tion's books and found seventeen loans
had been made In as many different
states. A rough estimate of the amount
of money the association received is
si75. 600 In the year and a half the asso-
citation has been in existence
The books OF the association
show that It's agents in all the states
bat the mos. active were in Omaha.
Denver. Des Moines. Portland. Calves
ton. Olympia. Saa Francisco and Min
ucapolis. Up 10 within several months
ago the association did big business
in Philadelphia. where. however. the
authorities got after tho manager
and drove him away. President
Downing and Vice President Tall
man admitted after their arrest tnst
enormous sums had been taken In. but
they said that they had not .vr- A~sn
in H." We took ip som .thii o~er
fss, goo that know Of" said Pres Svpt
Downing. "bu. never got more ,Aa
a poor salary ont OF IL. and Ia y al
didn't get IA much "a did"
They got badly bitten bosH pt
them. said Inspector Stuart, but thes
were In the deal and knew all about
what was going on. though they didn't
get much Mortimer got ths bulk Of
the uou-y, and ] haven't the least
doab. he 90. away with $4,000. Mort
liner is clever ta!iScr and a smooth
maa generally, and would convince al
most anyone that talked fve minutes
with him that he was the squarest busi-
ness man on earth"
one of .he peculiar features Of the
ease Is the indorseEaent Of the scheme
by The Bradstreet and Dun agencies.
The officers of both agencies examined
the association and it, affairs. but the
evidences II prosperity were SO great
that The agents made favorable re-
Ports Indiana. Kentucky. Ohio. Penn
svi~ania. New York and the southern
states were worked. bnt the bulk OF the
victims live In the states west Of the
Mississippi
several o~rnas seamea Dro~reS