The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-08-26

Fraud But a william as Well They Fired
Him Bodily and Now He Wants to Pay
Judas Iscarist But His Game Will be
BIocked-says He is a Mao of small
Ability.
The roast of Colonel 81 Ellsworth Of
the o. NJ B., lodges OF the state Of Kan
sas. which was published in yesterday
Eagle stirred up the boys in Wichita
20 a white heat and they came back at
the colonel in anything but gentle
terms.
John Hoenscheidt, the state organizer,
was met at his residence last night
and asked TO give statement OF the
order and the interview given by Col.
Ellsworth. He said
The colonel is an all-round fraud.
He il a dead4beat in the fullest sense
of the word. He wants to be traitor
and has his schemes all laid TO expose
the secret work of the order, but he is a
little too late. OF course such man as
Colonel Ellsworth, with his villianous
record would not stop to lie. He lied
to us and we were deceived. / will
acknowledge that ne had brains enough
TO do US up for s5s423, and on June IL
gave him s27.35 and took a receipt in
full from MIN.
He was at hotel in Atchison and
although we did not owe him a cent L
gave him this money to get rid OF him
and took his receipt in full. not because
/ considered that we owed him cent,
but I realized that to quarrel with him
would be Ike wrestling with a hog. The
association would be smeared whether
it would throw the colonel or whether
the colonel would throw it. He has
lied 20 us in letters, he has robbed the
order and now ne wants to play Judas
Iscarhot and cell his knowledge TO the
enemy but it viii do him no good as the
secret work has been changed since his
Shiny form has been in a lodge room.
In February c. S. Smith, acting
grand chancellor, and myself met the
fraud at Kansas City and he represent
ed himself as being able to do great
work for the order and agreed TO not
only pay mis- own expenses but to turn
money into the grand lodge.
I'VE came back and held a conference
with the grand lodge officers and 1t was
agreed to give the man "a trial. We
sent him money TO come on, and when
arrived he claimed that he was in debt
and We loaned him s35. AT Hutchinson
he drew on US for money and this was
the case throughout the sixty days for
which we had hired him, until we paid
the dead beat and Shiny rascal s5s4,23
end then at Atchsson l gave him s27.35
and took his receipt in full.
Here is a copy of letter sent to Mr.
Hunt, a hotel keeper at Horton, Kan,
whac71 explains itself, and when taken
a.
pose the secret workings of the o. NJ
B.. 1t shows him up in his proper light.
The order needs no words of commenda-
ton and It's highest praise is when such
traitors and dead beats as Colonel 90
Ellsworth tries 10 assail the order The
letter reads:
Mr.. Ellsworth sometime ago repre-
eented himself TO the grand lodge of the
O. NJ. 3. as being a lecturer OF thirty
six years experience, and having been
engaged principally by the Prohibit |
tionists to promote their cause Hei
claimed to be posted or all their tricks, |
and would do good service to the anti
Prohibition cause and SO offered his
service as a resubnnisSion lecturer The
grand lodge not having the means to
engage a lecturer, we had to refuse
his request. He then assured us that
HIS lectures to more than defray all his
expenses and vouched that in place of
us having to pay out money, we would
make a net profit out OF his lectures.
To prove his assertion he showed us a
receiptsbook, with a lot of stubs show
ing receipts aggrega ting several thous- |
and dollars, which he claimed to show |
the amount he collected during his for |
mer lecture tours. which he had turned |
over TO an executive committee-that |
from these collections made and turned /
over he was paid his stipula ted salary /
and all lecture expenses. leaving the /
state central committee a large profit |
After these representations on his part I
the grand lodge finally concluded to /
give him a two months trial. OF !
course we expected 10 give him a fair |
start on his way, and advanced him as
much money as we could, but the firstl
thing we were asked TO do was to adj I
vance him s35 to pay some debt in Kan
sas City, Kan, where ne formerly lived.
We did SO on his assurance that he
would make it all right as soon as he
had fairly put in his work
Although 1t was agreed that all of |
his collections should be sent in prompt
ly to the grand lodge. after we had
printed and sent out circular letters to
that effect so we then could liauidate
The necessary lecture expenses in the
regular business manner through the
grand lodge, he never sent in any Of
such collections TO the secretary. and
even went so far as to collect the par
capita tax of several local lodges. with
out any authority whatever Before
he started he made great pretension
about his ''rustling' qualifications. and
his ability to draw big crowds to his
lectures-als'o that he would attend to !
the distribution of his bill posters. as
he understood all about IL; ne was also
posted on fixing the press for notices.
and in short represented that his lecture
would result in great gains being made
10 the cause OF resubmission Now he
may have done his best, but 50 far we
have failed to notice the slightest bene-
fit from his lectures. All We know IS
that ne and his lectures have cost us . |
large amount Of noney-about "a much
as all other organizers combined. These
are facts which can be substantiated
by our records. and by every Individual
member OF the grand lodgeto sheIr sor-
row.
''Of course Ellsworth viii tell a dif-
ferent tale. and must do 50 in order 70
keep up his credit for his boeri bill
II he was honest in his claim he would
turn his account over 10 an attorney
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