Warren sheaf., 1899-11-30
CHECKED BY TEL & la w
The Franklin Syndicate, Of New
York, Closed Up.
bursting of the Bubble Leaves Thou
sands of Dupcs -Extrayagant
Returns offered to Investors
Brings Enormous Business.

thousands of persons in Brooklyn un-
der promise of paying dividends of ten
per cent. week, or $50 per cent. per-
arnum, and Cecil Leslie, his secretary,
were indicted by the Kings county
grand jury Friday. Bench warrants
were issued for their arrest, but neither
has been found.
In the course of the afternoon Miller
made an assignment to John L. Daily,
ex-sheriff of Richmond county, who
& was one of his employees. Mr.. Daily
closed up the place at 7:45 p. m.
owgreatis the alleged swindle no one
knows, for theamount of funds on band
cannot be even approximated,b but it is
confidently asserted that Miller has
taken in not less than 81, 900 since he
began business. The receipts of. the.
. concern, especially in the last few days,
have been enormous, and how many
Z persons will lose their principal cannot
be even guessed at. Many Of the de-
positors or victims were persons of
4 small means, who put all they could get
togethe the concern.
Big Sum of Money Found.
Louis H. Miller, brother of William
liam r. Miller, was arrested at 9:45
o'clock Friday night on a charge of
grand larceny preferred after the dis
covery Of $500 which had been Sc
gcreted> by young Miller during the
afternoon under a. soft in the next
house, 142i Floyd street, where Miss
Alma Gorley, one of the employees. lived.
He was stakensto the Vernonsavenue sta
ton. Miss Gorley was also questioned,
but was not held. g @
Mr.. Daily, the assignee, said that be-
tween $4,000 and SIS, 900 in cash was
received on deposit Friday. There. was,
however, quite a demand for the re-
turn of deposits. Friday was the first
: day that there was any "run''. or indi-
cation of any uneasiness. The people
on Thursday We're almost tumbling
4 over, one another. to put in their money.
Fully 1000 people were standing in
the street in front of the house Friday
q evening. There was no excitement and
/ the: police had little difficulty. in and-
ling the crowd, which seemed disposed
to talk over matters quietly There
were evidences in the conversation on
every side Of confidence in Miller.
*t.sas Paid Big Dividends 5gl
Miller began the Franklin syndicate
in "a very small way, locating his office
. among the: poorer classes in the .bor-
oughsof Brooklyn and making one fea-
ture of his business the acceptance OF
very small sums of money and the
alleged investment of them for the.
poor people. He claimed that by in.
side tips on the stock market he was
able to reap large and quick profits, of
which he was willing to pay a large per-
centage to his clients. He paid the in
a terest on the principal each week and
his business increased. Within the
past few months he advertised exten-
sively and in all parts of Brooklyn
could be found men who could tell won
tferful stories of the weekly dividends.
Then some of the financial concerns of
New York began to look into the bust
uess of the franklin syndicate and not
only did many Of the prominent finan-
ciers denounce as preposterous the offer
of ten per cent. interest on money in
vested, but some of the banks refused
to accept Miller's account or do busi-
ness, with him. yss ss4.s. 49,. 49,. s.. stts
1t is claimed that Miller was simply
the representative of a syndicate of
men who had been engaged in con
ducting blind pools for years. ! It is
said within the last week Miller has
received deposits of hundreds Of peo-
pie, aggregating a daily amount of
from $4,000 to $4,000. 1t is easy to
see under these circumstances how
the Franklin syndicate could readily
pay out ten per cent. of this amount
a week and still make money
Miller claims to make his abnormal
profits through speculation in Wall
street, though no evidence is forthcom-
ing up to the present time to show that
he ever speculated in stocks to any ex-
tent.
3 On Tuesday of this week, just before
charges of libel were preferred against
Miller, he is said to have taken in $685.
900 and paid out $4,000. The conf
Dental representative of one of the
banks who visited Miller's office about
this time said that he never saw. so
much money scattered around loose in
his life.
Money in Boxes and Barrels.
He said it was an. absolute fact Mil
Ter did not have facilities for taking
care of all the gold and greenbacks
which poured in upon him, and empty
barrels were brought up from the base
ment Of the building in. which he ops
Grated and thousands and tens of thou
sands OF ollars We're dumped into these
barrels by the employees and clerks en-
ployed by Miller in his establishment.
One ofsAiller's trusted employees is re-
sponsible sfor,.the statemen t at t the
Franklin syndicate man had taken in
over $4,000,0G0.
Made IN Good Showing.
Boston, Nov. 25.-Against tide, wind
and a heavy head sea fol. at least half
her course the new bat ttleship Ken tucky
made "a record of f16.S77 knots an hour
Friday on her official speed trial over
the government course from Cape Ann