The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-05

That the Western Loan association
was a great big swindle became more
and more apparent yesterday as inves-
tigation along the lines outlined in yes
terday's Herald continued. The clever
ness Of the work of Mr. HYDE is
shown in the fact that he maintained
the agency here so long and kept Og-
den people in ignorance of it, OF course
an investigation of the business meth
DDS of the concern by any Ogden BUSH
ness man would have resulted disas-
trousiy TO the Western Loan agency
Suspicion was aroused in the mind Of
one business man when, some time ago.
one of the letter-heads came before his
eyes. he stated that no responsible
concern would state simply "Headquar-
terS office, New York City" without
giving street address and number. Be
sides the letter-heads of the Western
Loan agency which had the names OF
5. w. Hyde, manager; James Glaspia,.
attorney. and George w. Sumner, cash
Ter, another style of letter-head was
found amongst the effects in the office.
This read: w. H. Hamilton & Co.,
First Mortgage Loans. 212 Boston block,
Denver, Colo
The presumption is that the man was
also operating in Denver or was about
to. Inspector Fitzgerald confiscated all
the stationery in the office and was
much delighted to find the two letters
in Hyde's handwriting referred to yes
terday. One OF these stated to a Gus
toner that future renittances should
be made to New York, the other that
they should be sent to Chicago. Chi
cago was to be the place where the
western Office was to be maintained in
stead Of Ogden, and New York was
still to be the headquarters Office.
At the Office of the Utah Investment
company Hyde gave his name as Hicks
when he rented the office. He is known
to have received mail as both Hyde and
Hicks. AS the mail ceased coming so
suddenly after his departure Miss Muir
ply thsGas the man must have or
dered it sent somewhere else. Inspec
tor Nichols. who came up to pursue in
vestigations further yesterday, does not
say what he thinks about the reason
for the mail stopping.
At the Central hotel. where Hyde
stopped portion of the time while
in the city, he registered as Sylvester
Hyax of Albany, n. Y. He came there
about April l and when he left was
owing the house for three weeks
board. His departure must have been
sudden and unexpected, as he left
trunk containing some clothes and
lot of printed stationery announcing
the name of the Ohio Central Insurance
Company of Cincinnati, some of which
bore the name of S. S. Meeser of Mon
tana. general western manager. with
headquarters at Helena. 1t is believed
this was one of the schemes he was
working to catch people with. He had
a lot of shotgun shells and a note for
$780, showing that someone, whose
signature could not be obtained, had
made a. part payment on $50 acres of
land down in Texas. This note was
made payable to James Hawkins and
bore date of Nov Is, 1895. 1t was in
dorsed on the back as having been
paid.
AT the hotel he had cashed several
SO checks and some money orders, all
of which were received from Montana.
He was a good customer at the bar and
knew how to handle a crowd.
Miss Murphy, the lady stenographer
who did considerable of his correspond
ence, says he was in the habit of writ
ing letters of inquiry about himself
and forwarding them to Denver to be
mailed back TO Ogden. She has been
to appear before the fed
eral grand jury in Salt Lake today.
and learning that she had her original
notes, decided to have her appear for
the purpose of testifying.
1t is known that Hyde was negotiating
with parties in Brigham City and in
Pocatello about the time he absconded.
While here he secured several abstracts
to property which ne returned. claim
ing there were flaws in the same. Fees
were never advanced, however.