The San Francisco call., 1896-10-19
An Unmasking of Rascality That
Caused the Flight of w. 7.
Rambusch
FORGED REALTY MORTGAGES.
Through an Incendiary Fire He OBJ.
tanned Control cf the R cords
of Dodge County, Wis.

JUNEAU, Wis. Oct. 18.-No trace of
w. I. Rambusch, the defaulting banker
and real estate man who has been missing
for ten days. beyond the intelligence con-
veyed in a letter from the East that he
was in Philadelphia. has reached this city.
Inouiring investors who trusted him
implicitly have crowded the town during
the week, but only additional proofs of
mbusch's rascality have rewarded their
search for available assets. Yesterday a
small bottle of clear fluid in which rest
ed little sponge was found. This, on
being gu omitted to a chemists test,
proves TO be an erasing fluid, and by it's
use Rambusch had manipulated deeds
and records at will.
The defalcations already brought to
light reach the sum of $25000 and those
engaged in the work of tralghtening the
books CAIN the end is not yet. The only
assets thus far discovered am mount to $25,-
600 and consist of the records OF Mr.. Ram
busch's office, worth about $4,000, stock
in the Citizens Bank to the value of $500,
a few notes of aubtful value and piece
of mortgaged real estate.
The principal losses are sustained by
the following: George Hawkins Water
town, $4,000; Mrs. L. Winfield Spence,
Fon du Lac, $4,000; Nelson estate, $20,-
600; P. c. Quentmeyer, Watertown. $4,000;
Mrs Jeanette Howels, Milwaukee,
$4,000; d. H. Bamen. $4,000; SiIas Coleman,
Fon du Lac, $4,000; j. J. Williams, Beaver
Dam. $4,000; w. a. Bert, $4,000; mortgages
for small amounts to the REGISTER of
Deeds, most OF which are fraudulent,
S35, 600.
Ram ousch's operations extend over a
period of twenty years. He must in that
time have handled between So 600 900 and
So, 600 600 in the work OF buying and ex-
changing mortgages. How much he re-
ceived from his clients or how much he
paid them cannot be determined. He left
no account books worthy of the name.
What he did leave do not extend over the
whole period that he has been in business
and do not show in more than a few in
stances of his having received money for
mortgages. They do show that he has
paid large sums Tor interest on mortgages.
He handled thousands of mortgages, as
he was the trusted financial agent of a
number of wealthy investors. The only
way his defalcations can be found out is
for all those who hold Dodge County
have them looked up, and for all those
who own property in the county 10 ex-
anime and determine whether it has been
affected by his fictitious mortgages or
deeds.
Ram busch, owning the only complete
abstract record in the county, had the key
to the situation. The manner In which
he was caught we'll illustrates his Pc
culiar method of dealing. One oi
Ram busch's most faithful and profit.
able clients was Mrs. Laura Win,
field Spence OF Fon du Lac. Mrs.
Spence is married the second time.
Her first husband was a Mr.. Winfield, 3
banker and a friend and companion OF
Ram busch. He invested thr ugh the
latter, and his wife, after his death. con-
tinued the practice.
Mr.. Spence, however, was not of the con.
fiding nature of his wife. His suspicious
were aroused early in the summer, when
in looking over his wife's securities he
noticed what uniformly clean abstracts
were furnished by Ram busch. They were
all IN the latter's handwriting. They were
all short. Few of them showed that the
farms had been incumbered many times
since the Government gave its patent to
the first settler. This was strange cir
cumstance, as Mr. Spence knew from ex'
perience that the pioneers were poor, and
that it is the usual thing for farmers N
mortgage their land. 1t also appeared
strange to him that most of the mortgages
were given on land owned by widowers OF
unmarried, and contained but one sigma
ture. On October he came here to Learn
if the taxes were paid on all OF the land
on which his wife had advanced money
Mr.. Rambusch was out of. the city and ht
began an investigation on his own 40
count. In looking over the register
deeds record he found a mortgage from
John Rohde to Laura W. Spence for $500
He did not remember the document but
knew there was a mortgage against Joh1
Rohde for $500.
He at once went to Rambusch's offir
and looked up the original abstract.
was all right. Up TO the last transfer there
had been no transfer to John Rohde. HI
left note for Rambusch saying he wanted
to see him at Beaver Dam on Saturday ts
have some matters explained. Rambuscl
did not come. Spence found there was II,
such person as John Rohde, and tha