The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-19
ROBBED FRIEND AND FOE.
DefaIcations Now Reach a Quar-
ter of Million Dollars.
A Small Bottle of Clear Liquid and a
Sponge Have been Found-wfth
These the Thief Manipulated
Deeds and Records at WiII-Ram-
busch's Operations Extended over
a Period of Twenty Years-Hati
the Key to the Situation.

JUNEAU. Wis, Oct 1S-No trace of w.
! I. Rambusch, the defaulting banker and
real estate man, who has been missing
for ten days, beyond the intelligence
conveyed in a letter from the east that
he was in Philadelphia, has reached this
city lnquiring investors who trusted him
implicitly have crowded the town during
the week, but only additional proofs of
Rambusch's rascality have rewarded their
search for available assets. Yesterday G
small bottle of a clear fluid in which
rested little sponge was found. This,
on being submitted 20 a chesmist's test,
proved 10 be an erasing fluid, and by its
use Rambusch had manipulated deeds
and records at will.
QUARTER OF A MILLION.
The defalcations already. brought to
| light reach the sum OF $2sN co. and those
engaged in the work of STRENGTHENING the
books claim the end is not yet The only
assets thus far discovered amount to
SIS, 600, and consist of the records in Mr..
Rambusch's Office, worth about $1,000;
stock in the Citizens bank to the value
of 1880, few notes of doubtful value and
a piece of mortgaged real estate The
principal losses are sustained by the fol-
| lowing:
George Hawkins Watertown. s700c0.
Mrs. L. Winfield Spence, Fond Du Lac,
$4,000.
Nelson estate, $4,000.
p. c. Quentmeyer, WATERFOWL, 5000.
Mrs. Jeanette Howells, Milwaukee,
5000.
D. H. Bement, ss,cOo.
Silas Coleman. Fond Du Lac, 5000.
]. j. Williams, Beaver Dam, S5,006
| w. A. Berte. Horrican. 5000
Mortgages for small amounts, most of
which are fraudulent, $4,000.
Rambusch's operations extend over a
I Of 40. r11f- 81 in a
time, have handled between 81, 0,000 and
-, 100000 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 instances of his having re-
ceived money for mortgages. They do
show that he has paid large sums for in
| terest on mortgages.
THOUSANDS OF MORTGAGES.
He handled thousands Of mortgages. as
he was the trusted financial agent of
number of wealthy investors
The only way his defaIcations can be
found out is for all those WHO hold
Dodge county mortgages to send them
to Juneau to haves them looked up, and
for all these who cTn property in the
county 10 examine and determine whether
! it has been affected by his fictitious
mortgages or deeds
Rambusch, owning the only complete
I abstract record in the county, had the
key to the situation.
The manner in which re was caught
will illustrate his peculiar method of
! dealing. One Of Rarbusch's most faith
full and profitable clients was Mrs. Laura
! Winfield Spence CT Fond Du Lac. Mrs
Spence is married a second time. Her
! first husband WAS Mr.. Winfield. q
banker and a friend aud companion OF
/ Rambusch. He invested through the
! latter. and his wife, after his DEATH con-
tinued the practice.
Mr.. Spence, however. was not of the
confiding nature of his wife His sus-
pic!ons were aroused early in the sum-
mer, 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 at any time since the gov
eminent gave It's patent TO the first set
tier.
A STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE.
This was a strange circumstance, as
AIR Spence knew from experience that
! the pioneers were poor, and that it is
the usual thing for farmers to mortgage
their land. 1t also appeared strange 10
him that most of the mortgages We're
given on land owned by widows or I'm
married, and contained but one sigma
ture- On Oct. S, he came TO learn
which his wife had advanced money. Mr..
Rambusch was cut OF the city, and ne
began an Investigation on his ewn ae-
count. In looking over the register of
deeds record. he found a mortgage from
John Rohde TO Laura w. Spence for
5000. He did not remember the document,
but knew there was a mortgage against
John Rohde for $500.
He at once went to RaElbGsch's Office
and looked up the original abstract. 1t
was all right; Up TO the last transaction
Rohde He wanted TO see Ran5usch at
Beaver Dam on Saturday to have some
matters explained. Rambnsch did not
come. Spence found there was no such
person as John Rohde, and that Ram
| busch had not only executed fictitious
mortgage. but he had, after recording 1t,
raised the amount to $500.
Rambusch was frightened by the
Mrs. Spence ievied an attachment on all
of his property the next day, and then
the whole story OF his transactions be-
gan TO unfold itself.
THE CONFESSION.
The confession of Rambnsch, which
came in the form OF a letter for his wife
is far from complete. The family refuse
to make the letter public, although tne
authorities have been allowed 10 read il.
1t tells nothing of what he did with the
money. He saws that for % years
his life has been a lie. He had led a
dual existence, and life had al last
become unbearable, and when his wife
received the letter he would be dead. He
claimed his income from his Office was
rot sufficient TO keep UP his house in the
way in which he wanted 10 run it. Fe
said that he had not used any of the
money in gambling or speculation or had
not as might be charged, spent il Tor
pleasure or debauchery.
The letter was dated at Colonnade
hotel. Philadelphia.
Twenty years ago Rambusch was en-
gagged in the real estate business in
partnership with Richard AIertZ. They
purchased the abstract Office Of Judge
Lewis. and he was pushing them hard
for payment. IN October. 1877, a small
brick building in which We're the county
Offices and all of the real estate records
was burned
It was charged ait the time that the
fire was started to destroy the evidence
against Ode Traynor. who was county
treasurer. and who was alleged 10 be
short in his accounts. Traynor was tried
and acquitted
WAS SUSPECTED.
At the time, the district attorney sus-
pected Rambusch of being the incendiary.
and had collected some evidence against
him. but not enough to warrant prosseu-
ton. The next morning after the fire,
Pambusch borrowed enough money to
pay Judge Lewis and to secure the alb