Mexico weekly ledger., 1891-04-23
"COAL OIL JOHNNY"
A Remarkable Character Who
Once Lived in
Mexico.
A cHARLATAN WHO GETS HIS JUST
DESERTS AT LAsT-A WIFE
AND CHILDREN IN
THIS CITY.
He Goes to the Penitentiary-Harry La
Mertha, at Marshalltown, Iowa, il
Sentenced for Obtaining Money Un-
der False Pretenses-His Claim
Of Being the Noted
spendthrift.

+ LaMertha, who was indicted three
times for obtaining goods and money
by false pretenses of w. w. Dooit-
tie, F. NJ. Andrews and I. L. Cady,
changed his plea of not guilty to that
of guilty yesterday, and will receive
his sentence the latter part of the
term. Marshalltown Tinaes-Repub-
tican.
The Boone County Qowa) Nesos
says: The above is the closing
chapter in the career of an individ-
ual who for several months made
Boone his home. LaMertha first
came to Boone last fall as a tree
agent In the employ OF the Des
Moines Nursery company. After
ward he leased the billiard room in
the Ernstdorf building and carried
on that place for a time. While
here he was twice arrested for al
legged lewdness in connection with
two women of rather noisy reputa-
ton and when he left Boone in
company with these women he
jumped bonds for his appearance
before the grand jury. In Marshall
town he finally married one OF the
women with the apparent hope
that this would let him out of his
scrape at Boone but, of course, the
forfeiting of the bond could not be
fixed up in this way and had he
got out of his Marshalltown trouble
he would have been brought back
to Boone.
In Marshalltowr HarryLaM
claimed to be getting aid for a des-
titute family and in some way he
transgressed the law so that the
charge of obtaining goods and mon
ey under false pretenses was made
against him and could easily have
been proven.
While in Boone LaMertha made
some mysterious claims to having
rich interests in Pennsylvania and
to a few people made the assertion
that be was the celebrated "Coal
Oil Johnny" who became famous a
few years ago for his lavish expen-
diture of money. "Coal Oil John
ny" inherited some land in the oil
regions which made him a million
aire and he lost his head in conse-
quence and scattered money right
and left in extravagances and ex-
cesses of all kinds. As a result he
soon ran through the whole fortune
and then dropped out of sight.
Various individuals at different
times since then have laid claim
to being this remarkable individual
and LaMertha may be one of the
bogus impersonaters.
But he 10 a man of about the
right age to have been the famous
%spendthrift and he displayed in
conversation such q familiarity
with the oil regions and the people
of the times during which "Coal
Oil Johnny" fourished as to make
it certain that if he was not that
individual he certainly had been a
resident of that country during the
time in question.
LaMertha manifested great un-
willingness to talk on the question
of "Coal Oil Johnny" averring
that the subject was d~istasteful and
the recollections of those times
very painful to him. 81 made
such a fool of myself that it makes
me melancholy to think of it," he
said one day to a News reporter,
although he promised at some fu-
ture day to tell the whole story.
LaMertha had letters from a
Pennsylvania ex-governor regard
ing some lands and moneys to
which himself and a sister living
in Des Moines are now entitled
and which are worth some $4,000
or $780, 900. This sister is dress
maker in Des Moines and both she
and LaMertha seemed to desire to
avoid the notoriety of the "Coal
Oil Johnny" episode and were lIv-
ing under assumed names. La
Mertha protested great love and
respect for her and declared that
she should have every dollar OF
the little fortune about to fall to
them as he had squandered all OF
the old one.
There are many points about La.
Mertha which indicate that he is
in fact the only and real "Coal
Oil Johnny Of history. If his
claims we're fraudulent they were
certainly advanced with more mod
esty than is usual in such cases.
Indeed he seemed to honestly de-
sire to forget, as far as possible, this
porsion OF his career and it Was by
the merest chance that the NeUa
first learned of the probabilities
In the case.
LaMertha's bold assertion that
he is the original "Coal Oil john
my" the famous Pennsylvania
spendthrift, is only one Of the
many outrageous lies that has
character ICED the man through life.
LaMertha is . born prevaricator
and preferred to lie even when the
truth suited better. There are {
lt@~w - Me-