The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-09-03

| on what Mr.. GerSOn nad SAID OF MT. COon
judgment in such matters, the latter wa
asked to appraise the articles Mrs. Andel
son states that Cohn said In passing juds
ment I'D loan $3.50 on that jewelry." TIL
loan was made by Mrs. Anderson on this as
surance. No interest has been paid on
and subsequent developments show tina
Leadbetters wife is living and in the fu
enjoyment of good health. They hav
apartments at the st. Elmo hotel.
Mrs. Anderson was evidently looked upo
as easy" A few days later a third ap
plicant for favors appeared. This individ
uai was Ben Hostet;er. His story was t
the effect that he had sick wife and tn
expense incident to her Illness had force
him to raise some funds in addition to hi
regular income. Much as he disl.ked to, h
was obliged to use as collateral his "dea
| sisters" jewelry, consisting of solta,r'
| diamond ring, a breastpin set with 81,
| diamonds. etc. Mrs. Anderson made Thu
loan also, and 1t has received no further at
| tention from the borrower. Inquiries mad
at the Hostetter lodgings on South Sprin:
street substantiate the claim that his wifi
| had been sick and the landlady stated tha
| she knew very little about the couple, q:
| they usually went out in the morning anC
| did not return until evening.
A Woman in the Case
The last of the quartet of suspiconet
| borrowers was either the slickest Of them
| al, or is innocent. She, fer it was a woma r
| this time, was a little, pae-faced German
| woman, bearing the name of Mrs. Knud-
son. Her jewelry had formerly been the
| property of "her sister," who had, as
usual, departed this life. She represented
| that some time before necessity had forced
her to pawn the jewelry to F. A. Marcher
for $500 at a monthly interest of 10 per cent.
AS she could not stand such a drain on her
meager treasury she sought the loan from
Mrs. Anderson at a lower rate of interest.
She represented that she had a home in 81.
Paul and the money would eventually be
forthcoming from there.
1t was not a great while after that Mrs.
Anderson began to appreciate the remark
able similarity in these four cases and she
finally decided in her own mind that she
had been made the victim of a game Of
some sort To what extent 1; was difficult
to determine, as the jewelry In her posses
sion was real, but was by no means worth
what 1t had been appraised at. She re-
ported the matter to the police department,
anu DeleCtlNcS f1dWicS anu It W ere
set to work Decoy advertisements of money
to loan were inserted in the papers and
friends Of Mrs. Anderson were placed In
remote parts of the city to receive those
who answered. Finally Ben Hostetter ap-
peared as an applicant for loan. He told
the same story as Of old and stated thai,
the jewelry he desired to leave as security
was In Fire Chief Walter Moores safe. He
was dismissed for the time being on some
pretense and when he left the house was
followed by a detective, who saw him join
Marcher and Mclean. Further attempts
were made to associate the whole crowd Of
professional borrowers and to learn in
what manner the very liberal appraise-
ments OF their securities are arranged for.
but sufficient evidence to warrant the maxi
ing of any arrests could not be obtained.
1t was learned. however that Marcher has
had inserted in the newspaper advertise
ments Of money wanted" and that he
has been seen in company with Mrs. Knud-
son, the pale-faced German woman. The
police department had hopes at one time
that evidence would be obtained shown e
Marcher to be the leader. but their hopes
have been blasted.
Marcher's Colorado Record
Marcher cannot lay claim to being an an
gel by any means, as his career has been
shown up in the past. The following affi-
davit from the United States district attor-
ney at Denver, Henry v. Johnson, gives a
fair idea Of the reputation he bore when
he became a resident of Los Angeles:
Some time during the year 1890 was
given the collection by several estates of
l., lot ha6 ,ipc
Frank A. ard C. A. Marcher, his wife, who
were then doing business as jewelers. in
Colorado Springs, Col The clients I repre-
scented were the Green-Smith Jewelry COM
pany Of Denver, who had claim of s2500
against Marcher for goods and jewelry sold
to him; another claim Of Edward Lehman.
amounting to $500 or $780, and an account
of H. H. Tammen Of Denver, amounting to
some hundreds of dollars. Mr.. Lehman and
Mr.. Smith and went to Colorado Sprin gs
In this matter some time dn November of
that year and we discovered that March,
tr's stock of jewelry had been very much
reduced from what Mr. Lehman knew 1t to
be in the month of September previous.
II at once told these gentlemen that be-
iieved Marcher had been stealing the Jewell
ry from himself in order to defraud his
creditors. Upon our return to Denver we
procured a warrant for Marcher's arrest
upon the gound of having obtained jewelry
under false pretenses. He was brought to
Denver and thrown into Jail and finally
after remaining in Jail about two weeks
he sent forsMr Smith of the Green-Smith
Jewelry company and confessed that he
had taken a large amount of his diamonds
and watches from his store and had hid
den them in his residence. Upon receipt of
this informa alton a search warrant was is
sued; an officer went to Marcher's resi-
dence, and there, hid away in a tin box, we
found some $500 worth of his handsomest
diamonds and finest watches. They were
taken in charge and went to the benefit of
his creditors"
This affidavit was introduced as evidence
in case tried In the Los Angeles county
superior court IN 1895. wherein F. A. March
ants and S. Lyons e. Sons, New York dia-
mond merchants. were the plaintiffs. The
plaintiffs alleged that Mrs. Marcher.
through her husband as agent, had in 1893,
purchased for the Marcher store, then at
204 South Broadway, over $500 worth of
diamonds and precious stones. These goods
were sold to Marcher by the New York
firm, according to their complaint, after
Mrs Marcher had made statement to the
effect that she owned property worth $780,
OoO The plaintiffs claimed this was a
fraudulent representation and further that
on January g 1894, Marcher sold part of