Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-10-21

UOSuS IuOTlSdS6s, Will luS OCCd-
sional calls upon him to pay princi pal,
have eaten up the greater part OF his
i'll gotten money. Failure to pay in
terest when demanded would have led
to instant disclosures.
Among the papers in RaEnbusch's s
office, life insurance policies repre-
senting S.. 900 have been found 1t is
thought Mrs. Rambusch will be able to
realize on these in full.
The case of w. T. Rambusch, the de-
faulting real estate agent and banker of
Juneau, is almost without parallel,
Such sanctimonious scoundrel has not
been noticed IN these parts before
How any man could be capable of lead
lug the double life he has led for TWEEN
tv years is beyond comprehension
Here was a man prominent in social,
church, political and business circles
man thoroughly respected and es-
teemed. But he simply used his high
standing as means to hide his monu-
mental wrong doing. In his fraudulent
practices he made no determinations,
treating his close personal friends from
whom he was constantly receiving fa-
vors the same as he did the strange
business man. Neither ere widows nor
orphans overlooked when an Oppor-
tunIty occurred to obtain their funds
In fact, Rambusch piled an enormous
trade and iii nearly every instance he
enjoyed the confidence of his clients o
such an extent that he had complete
control of each ones business.
Developments in the case since our
last issue have brought forth a startling
state of affairs. The amount of money
loaned through Rambusch was proba
bly, 100000, and it is safe to say that
over 90 per cent. of this is invested in
bogus paper. Almost every investor
has found some portion of bis invest
ments to be bad. The greatest individ
ual loss is said to be upon George
Hawkins, Of this city, and the amount
is quoted IN the neighborhood of $50,
600. Mrs. l.. Spence, of Fond du Lac.
is also q. heavy loser, and SO is the Mel
son estate at juneau. There are num-
erous smaller creditors residing in this
city and throughout Dodge county.
Rambusch disappeared from his
home on Saturday, October 10, and up
to the time of his suicide nothing b d
been heard from him save what was
written in a letter to his wife which
she received last Thursday. The letter.
though not lengthy, was complete
| confession of his crimes. 1t stated that
| his life had been lie for over twenty
! years. 1t was written from the Col
| lonade hotel in Philadelphia and gave
! the information that the writer intend
ed to commit suicide. A 5000 draft
was enclosed for his clerk, 0. c..
! Schrader
Rambusch had several schemes for
defrauding bis clients, and it is a great
wonder he was not detected iL many
of them sooner. One of lis favorite
methods was to loan a sum of several
| hundred dollars to a borrower for a
| friend, and leave sufficient space in the
| lndenture just before the word denot-
! ing the size Of the loan, in which an
other word might be inserted. This
mortgage he recorded, and it would be
properly entered up. On the first dav
| Of each month Rambusch would have
the mortgages returned to him. In
space before the sum of the mortgage
he would write twenty" or thirty
or some other sum as would suit his
fancy, SO that instead of the document
reading, for instance five hundred
dollars" as it had originally, and as it
was when the loan was made, ii would
be changed "to twenty-five hundred
dollars" or whatever the alteration
was. Then Rambusch would send the
falsified indenture to his client, and
demand credit for the entire sum
pocketing the difference between what
he had actually loaned and that which
he had been paid in trust. Another
scheme was to send back mortgage
to the client falsifed in another man
ner. This would be done by means
of fictitious abstracts. The abstracts
would read 80 smoothly and clear that
no question would ever be raised. es
pecially as Rambusch was regarded as
a man of unimpeachable integrity. He
also had an advantage which could moi
be overcome In the fact that his alb
stracts were the only ones in the coun
ty, rendering detection almost inpos-
sible. At other times he would forge
the names OF fictitious individuals tc
the mortgages returned to the loaners
i'll all cases disposing of the securities
and pocketing the cash. Often the
mortgage would be on property tha
had actually never been encountered
One result of Rambusch's frauds will
be loss to Dodge county of SIS, 900 te
$40 900, it being estimated that this ex
penditure will be required to furnish
a new and correct set of books fol
the registers Office. Rambusch fol