The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-07-14
DEAD ENSHE|RSS N|NDLED
Police Raid an Office Where Bogus
Klondike Stock Was Dealt In.
Ia BOLD AND UNIQUE SCHEME.
Stock With . Small Balance Duo Sent
c. o. II. to Dead en-ConRressma man
Bland's Widow Caused tho Exposure
of the Bold Scheme.

KANSAS CITY, Mo-, July "A clever
and important capture Of a swindler
who's operations were extensive and
who's swindles were most profitable,
was made this morning by John Hal
pin, inspector of detectives, and De-
tectives Sanderson and Schultz. B. II.
Morse was arrested shortly after .
o'clock by the three officers in Room
5l3 Nelson building, where he made
his headquarters. The room was
thoroughly searched by the detectives,
and all the books ana papers used by
Morse in his illcga. business were Sc
cured. The evidence against him
seems thorough and con7inciny.
Suspicion against Morsc vas
brought about through the wife Of
the late Congressman Richard Parks
Bland, whom Morse had made one Of
the many victims of his schemes.
Mrs. Bland vas swinilcd out of only
Sl9, but she did not, like The rest of
Morse's victims, submit. She vent
vigorously to work, secured the aid OF
John z. Walker, the former federal
attorney, who placed the matter in
TIL. hands of the police. 1t was
through Mrs. H.aud that Morse was
arrested.
Ii. ii. Morse's scheme vas unique.
The police say they nc7ar heard of
anything quite like it. II was simple
and bold, and because Of thcs. quail
tics it was successful.
Morse deals in the fictitious stock of
n fictitious company called the Alaska.
klondike Improvement and Mining
company. representing himself as
district agent" Every day he Looked
through the daily newspapers and
took the names and addresses Of prom
and wealthy persons who hal
died in the United States
His dealings were entirely with
dead people and Through them he
swindled their heirs. From his room
in the Nelson building he sent out
almost every day many express
packages marked C. o D., addressed
to the men who had died.
These packages contained each a GER
tificate of stock in the bogus com
pany he represented. Along with each
was 4 statement which
showed that the dead man had paid
for part Of the stoci-made several
perhaps-but left q small
balance OF IS, $40 or VIZ still unpaid.
The widow or son of the dead man.
rather than lose the apparently val
liable paper, generally paid the
amount duo and returned it in the c.
d. express package.
This was Morse's scheme, md, ac-
rording to the express companies who
handled his packages, he must have
it very successful. AS far as
the police knew, he conducted the
business all alone. with no one to as
sist him and no one to share his
But Morsc's venture with the family
Congressman Bland proved disas-
brous. On June 90 he sent a C. o. D.
envelope by the Wells Fargo Elk press
company with a certificate of stock
for ten shares, and the following
(this statement is copied
from Morse's book, which shows an
X. T. BLAND. Lebanon. Mo-.
January !, 1903, to . share, .....blIJ.U
january !, H. Ol 400
january l.. 1899, by sash. 49,. 1000
July T.. i.sH, b. dt, " I.....,....... so
Balance POD
$lDo.0o
According to this statement, Con-
gresham Bland had bought on Janu-
ary !, 1898, ten shares in the company;
had paid $40 at the time Of purchase,
$40 on January I, 1890; had received a
discount Of IS, aud still owed Sly on
The stock.
Mrs. Bland, ignorant OF this part
Of her husbands affairs, saw only a
that she must pay in order to
gain apiece OF paper which her hus-
band evidently thought valuable. The
stock looked as genuine as a
banknote. She enclosed SIP in
the express envelope and sent
It back. Blu several days ago
became suspicious of the
paper for soma reasoa and asked her
about it. lie SEM it to John
4. Walker of Kansas City, an old and
intimate friend Of her husband, and
Mr.. Walker turned the matter over to
the police and asked them to ~invessi.
gate the "B II. Moore, district
agent" with the above result.
To Fight shs E.,.orn Paper r.u.s.