The Penn's Grove record., 1899-12-01
NILLER'S yNY VICTIMS.
Extent Of the Operations Of the
Franklin Syndicate Of Brooklyn.
GREATEST SWNDLE OF DECADE.
Ten Per Cent. a Week Brourht In Mill
ions in Two Years-Mushrqah Growth
of the conesrn-peopIa< rom Az oxS
the ossq'ry ra-.;ss 5s..s ssSlnr.-
RsmsrIas.lep<nnbitYSn Of c~onndsnce

R.maflslss<d1sssn Of coaadsaes
INV YoRr CRY IspeeiaD.-Louis H. Nil
Ter, the brother Of william r. Miller VIII,
managed Chs Franklin Syndicate whicl
guaranteed $40 per cent. a year on all In
ves.ments intrusted to Its care, was ar
raigued in Brooklyn and charged with th,
larceny OF $500 belonging to deposItors In
the syndicate. He was held in $1,000 bal
for a further hearing, and In default OF bal
was sent to Raymond Street jail.
The wooers OF the ackle goddess who
had been showering their savings on VIII.
lam r. Miller took alaFm only when the
actual news of the collapse OF the venture
reached them. kilograms lave poured In
on the Brooklyn Postoiice from all Sec
lions OF the country stopping payment on
money orders and asking that registered
letters be not delivered to Miller. These
kilograms Indicate that his business reached
into nearly every State In the Union.
When the franklin Syndicate Was started
Miller only had one room In q house In
Williamsburg. He began in a small way
nearly two years ago. He promised to pay
ten per cent. dividends, and very little
capital was needed after his business was
started. SO long as the receipts from de-
p0sitors exceeded the amount OF money ne
had to pay cut In dividends he was per-
leetly safe and could keep the thing going.
He got hold OF mailing lists giving the
names of employees in large factory towns
and sent circulars. Naturally each GUS
toner he got became an agent OF his, b..
cause he offered Ave per cent. interest on
all new business. He has always paid his
dividends and kept the confidence OF his
patrons. Thus his business, after 1t once
got fairly started, rolled along like asnow-
bal, Increasing in size as 1t went. 1t ran
Itself.
Miller moved Into the house No. 1l4
Floyd street last spring. BY June his OPP
CREATIONS had grown to trein endous proper
tons. His press agent, Cecil Leslie, wrote
alluring circulars aud advertisements for
him, and he branehed out on a much more
extensive scale. He advertised his plan OF
paying ten per cent. dividends each week
all over the country.
The impression Of the police and. In fact,
OF all who have Investigated the franklin
Syndicate is that tho syndicate as such
never earned a dollar In Wall street, and
that the dividends, MS they became due,
were actually taken from tho daily de-
posits.
1t is believed by persons who worked In
the onlcs, aud have good means OF know
INK, that tlld HuulUtI pl DBlSDuS on sIH8
mailing list who were receiving drafts fol
their dividends by mail was nearly 20, 900.
or course, 1t was necessary, In order to
continue paying these dividends, that the
receipts should he enormo
1t is quite likely that KILLER has disbursed
in dividends at least half the total am punt
that he has taken In. The total amount OF
money that has passed into the house will
reach into millions. So far as can be as
rartu Iua1 No la,.natfn~ a fasl.1 81 u,.t-
his dividends until within the last week OF
doing business.
Thus every investor In the Franklin Syn
dictate who opened his account ten weeks
ago has drawn out his money. The only
losers and actual dupes are those who haye
deposited within the last ten weeks, and,
of course, the more recently their deposits
were made the larger is their loss.
From Binghamton comes tho news that
two ~laboring men had mortgaged their
houses, one for $500 and the other for
$1,000, and put the money into the s'syndi-
cate" 1t is estimated that $4,000 OF Bing-
hamton money is tied up In Floyd street.
Cincinnati got hit pretty bard, the
traders in the bucket shops being the
heaviest investors. Several Cincinnati
brokers have asked their New York CORE
spcs1ents to look after the interests OF Gin
who wsrau nseced.
do--s tos2eeae aSsswry-
adult person in tho village had be-
u Spectator and invested every
dollar that could be got together.
In three or four weeks time not less than
$1,000 was sent from there TO Miller In the
hope of receiving $40 per cent. per year re-
turns on the investment. In the same time
not less thnn $4,000 has been sent to tho con-
Germ from Urbana City. Tie craze became
general and everything else had to give
way to 1t.
canton, Ohio. sends the news that fully
500 victims live In Canton and nearby
country territory. Most OF the investors
in the scheme were shop workers, though
there were a number OF Instances where
poor women sent several hundred dollars
to the syndicate.