New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-05-30
A CLEVER SWINDLER DEAD.
WHO WERE HIS LAST VICTIMS ?
EDWARDS H. GoFFss ERRATIo CAREER-THE
AMERICAN EXPORT AND TRADING COM
PANY TURNED OUT OF DOORS
AND ALL AT SEA.

L
PANY TURNED OUT OF DOORS
AND ALL AT SEA.
Edwards H. Gof president and general man
| ager Of the American Export and Trading CON-
pany. died Thursday night from Bright's disease
at his home. No. 1876. West One-hundred-and-
thirty-1fth-st. Almost simultaneously the CON-
! pany was dispossessed from it's offices. No
| Bowling Green. for the nOn-payment OF rent. de-
spite the fact that the advertised capital is S5oo
| 900 aud the surplus. according TO the treasurers
annual report is S542.73o 04. Gof will be re-
| membered by the business world as man WIN
a remarkable record. He first came into promi-
| nence about thirty years ago. appearing In Mon
| treal as the agent of the Agricultural Insurance
| Company, of Watertown. N. Y. Two or three
years afterward he organized the Canadian Agri-
| cultural Insurance Company. with capital OF
| 81 ,o00. 900. The business of the old company
| was transferred to the new one. and things went
| along swimmingly for a few years. In 1877. how
| ever. the company went to pieces with great loss
| to the stockholders.
During the same time he had various other
| schemes in hand, among them the Wingate Chemi-
| cal Company International Express Company anu
| the National Insurance Company. They all failed
| Railroad building next claimed his attention, and
| in connection with some business men Of ST. Al
bans, VT, he constructed the Montreal, Portland
| and Boston Railroad. Through the affairs OF this
road he became mixed up in Dominion politics
The hatreds there aroused were followed by
charges against him of forgery and embezzement
made by the officers of one of the numerous COM
panies that had failed while under his manage
ment Goff fled to NewYork and the Canadian
authorities were unable TO secure his extradition
| Boston next became the field Of his operations
He organized the Sheep Mountain Mining Com
pany 1t soon failed Then came his best known
| scheme the American Electric Illuminating Com
pany, organized under the laws of Colorado TO do
| business in Boston This company had one OF the
best systems of electric Lighting and, under proper
management, should have succeeded. 1t was not
destined to. however. Goff ouarrelled with the
stockholders and came to New-York and organized
q rival company, the American Electric Manufact-
uring Company. These two were finally merged
| into one, and the entanglements that that one
| company became involved in were the wonder and
talk of New-York. This company went the way
of all Gofs companies
But GoG was irrepressible He Immediately
went into another scheme, and again went to
| Colorado for his charter. The American Export
and Trading Company was organized with capi-
| tai of $500, 900 Wonderful advertisements began
to appear in the papers all over the country. They
| stated that the company was organized md
| equipped for doing a general and commercial
| business throughout Mexico and all the Central
| and South American Republics and the West
| India Islands" 1t was represented that the com
| pany had spent 100000 of the capital stock
| in securing extensive landed estates for cultiva-
ton of all native Spanish-American products, ln
securing valuable concessions, appointing agencies
and correspondents, and in establishing its entlre
business operations on such sure basis that IL
will nav extraordinarily largo and immediate
profits upon its low capitalization Of $5oo,0oO."
Young men were wanted who would invest
some money and accept lucrative places with
the company. The attention Of prominent New
York morning paper was attracted to the advertise
ments It investigated the company and CONS
career, and published a full exposure of both.
| Prominent men, whose names appeared as dl-
rectors of the company, denied all knowl-
edge of or connection with II. OIL
nothing daunted kept right ahead Almost on
| the heels of the exposure referred TO ne
sent out an annual report in which he said
| Profits up to this time have been satisfactory
| In addition to the regular per cent quarterly
dividend. which will he paid every three months,
the directors have declared 10 per cent extra
stock dividend for the current quarter. The re-
port was signed by Edwards II. Goff president
and general manager; 4. j. F. Vandeventer,
| treasurer and GregorO f. Gonzalez. secretary
Accommodating it was the treasurers statement.
According to this document the company hao
assets of $1,O45,364 SO, and surplus OF
S542 1855 o. This was on January /. 1881.
On January 90, 1891, the secretary informed
stockholders that the 2 per cent quarterly dlV-
| idcnd and the 10 per cent extra stock dlVldehd
had that day been declared. In February the
company's advertisements were still running In
the New-England papers, On March a.
1891 Gon issued circular headed very ln-
nortont.n II was sent to the stockholders of
the unfortunate American Electric Manufac-
turing Co.. and professed to be for the purpose
of correcting the misrepresentation of his actions
made bv those who wished 10 shield themselves
from the consequences of their rascally and dis
honest acts
AT this juncture Goff was taken sick.
The company Immediately found itself adrift
The treasurer, his January statement to the
contrary Notwithstanding, had no money
70 nay rent or salaries. Th .
landlord dispossessed them The six or eight en-
ployes of the office and the paper Export and
Finance" wanted their money. Things went from
bad to worse until Thursday night Goff died, and
Yesterday the American Export ana Trading Com-
pany was turned out of its offices.
The treasurer, Vandeventer, was the only per-
son connected with the company that could be
found Yesterday He knew absolutely nothing
about its affairs; Mr. Goii," ne said, ran
everything The TeaSurer's statement wns
called to his attention. lie said that he made 1t
Tp as Mr.. GoG told him. lie didn't know where
the assets were. If there were any, Mr.. Con
had them. The company had not yet done any
business but expected TO. In fact, he understood
that there was a commission on the way from
some South American State for the company TO
act as its purchasing agent, but he didn't know
what country it was coming from. He had never
seen the c0mpany's charter, nor did he know
anything of the valuable concessions" it talked
about He didn't know who the directors were.
or whether there were any. The capital stock
of the company was divided into 10000 shares
There were 5000 shares in the treasury, 1000
or 5000 shares had been sold, and he supposed
that Mr.. Gof had the rest
In fine all that he knew about the concern was
what Mr. GOff had told him, and now Mr..
GoG was dead and no one knew anything Of its
nnairs In answer 70 further questions. Mr.