Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-10-22

81, 900 loan he would file the mortgage
and then after it had been returned TO
him raise the amount to $1,000 and
send it to his client aS an evidence OF
loan OF $4,000. As he collected the
interest there was not much danger OF
the trick being discovered, but he had
to pay interest on $1,000 himself. The
interest feature is one OF the ineXplic-
able things about the strange case.
There is one instance of man who
paid only per cent. to Mr.. Rambusch
upon a note which drew per cent.
for his client, the l per cent, for
some reason beius furnished Ivy Mr..
Rambusch. Another method was to
neglect to credit the amounts paid TO
him on mortgages. and that is the way,
il is said, in which he has defrauded
the comparatively few people in Jul
neau who have been victimized. Stin
another trick, which he practiced only
once so far as diScoN cred, was to file
an assignment OF 4 mortgage. Some
years ago he took mortgage in his
property in Juneau and turned the
mortgage over to George Hawkins or
Watertown, but did not record the as
signment. subsequently he took pos
session OF the property, satisfied the
mortgage on the records and sold the
land AS the present owners were in-
nocent purchasers Mr., Hawkins is out
of the amount of the mortgage. Most
of his victims reside out of town, and
while Juneau has been and continues
to be greatly excited there is not near
ly the excitement there would have
been had he vlCtimizod his own towns
men to a greater extent,
startling fact of LEGAL history has
leaked out in connection with one OF
the many theories a. to the cause of
Nh Rambuschs detalcations. 1t is
the statement made by those who know
whereof they speak, chat in certain
on pretty good grounds of having
started the fire thai destroyed the
court house aud TIL county records
many years ago The fire was laid at
the door of a dcfauitins county treas
urer, but the then district attorney had
reason to believe that Mr.. Rambusch
had set fire to the building, and he had
s.:ch good grounds thai he employed
Pinkerton detectives to work up the
case, They found evidence tending to
prove that RambuS2h was the guilty
man, but ii was not sufficient to make
a case and the matter was dropped.
Nobody ever knew anything about 1t
except the district attorney and one or
two friends, but tho fact now comes
OUT.
This fire put Mr.. Rambusch upon
his feet Up to that time he had been
poor and heavily in debt He had
just bought an abstract business upon
credit for $4,000, and the moment the
county records We're ocsucyed the alb
stracts in his possession became worth
5000. This was in 1871, aud from
that day to this they have been the
records for the county and have been a
source Of great revenu, TO Mr., Ram
busch. The theory of those who know
this fact is that Mr.. Rambusch has
been heavily in debt ever since and has
beer covering one cooked deal with
another all the time living up to or
beyond his income. Whether or not
they are right will pclhaps never be
settled, but when Il is known just how
far back the CIOokedness dates, there
will be some evidence tending to either
prove or dsprovc The theory.
Portage, Wis, Oct. 16. Maj III. s.
lockwood, who left Portage Saturday
last for New York, Travelled all the
way from Chicago to Pittsburg over
the Pennsylvania lines on the same
train with his old friend w. r. Ram
busch, and the two visited pleasantly
together until they parted company IN
the smoky city Rambusch told the
major that he was going to Philadel-
phia on visit and the latter was
much surprised and shocked to learn
later mat the Juneau man was fugi-
tive.