Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-01-04
Held UP AND ROBBED.
Editor N. p. Rindlaub. of Platteyille,
a Victim Of Misplaced Confidence.

LID IcSChO iOiu up III IHlCdRo.
The editor Of the WITNESS was
held up and robbed while in Chicago
on Thursday afternoon last. The
only thing OF value taken was Grant
County order No. H. for $262.2S
which he was forced to endorse. He
took immediate steps to stop the pay.
ment OF the order, and while we were
In Lancaster Saturday, the order was
received by the Lancaster State Bank
where 1t had been sent for collection
by bank In Chicago. Besides our
force endorsement, the order was en-
dorsed by one S. L. Samuels and one
M. b. Martin, and was sent for col
lection through the bank of II. l..
Turner IL Co., 100 Washington street.
1t was returned to the Chicago bank
the same evening with the informa-
tion that payment had been stopped
for the reason that the owner OF the
order had been held up and robbed
and that his endorsement was
obtained by force. 1t is quite prob
able that no further attempt will be
made to collect the order.
| The circumstances of the hOld-up
are as follows: We had telegraphed
from Chicago TO Mr.. Roessler, Secre-
tary Of the Wisconsin Press Associa-
tion that we would meet him Thurs
day evening to arrange matters for
the Winter meeting OF the Associa-
tion, and we were standing on Wa
bash avenue waiting for 70 car to take
us to the station. While we were wait
ing, n man partly passed us, and then
stopped and reaching out his hand !,
said, This is Mr.. Rindlaub, Of
Platteville, | believe" We said /,
Yes, that IL my name" He said /,
I" thought IL was you, but ] was
not positive at first. My name,' he
continued, Is Eastman, have been
there number OF times" We asked
him TO which family he belonged, and
he said that Goo. w. Eastman was
his uncle. He also spoke of some Of
tho HuntingtOns, and mentioned D..
| P's. name. He was II glib talker, and
| had travelled u great deal. He said
he was the advertising and introduce
ing agent Of u wooden factory. That
he had just returned from Oklahoma,
and that he would soon go to lower
California. He then asked whether
we would have time to step over to the
Office of the company; that he would
his friends in Platteville, and that he
would also present us with u souvenir
| book which the company had recently
| issued. He said that IL would not take
more than five minutes, and having
| the time to spare, we went with him.
| He conducted us to u place u few
blocks away, In the second story Of n
building n couple Of doors from the
avenue. The room was fitted up with
samples and patterns of cassimeres.
There were two men In the room when
we entered, and addressing one OF
| them, he said: "Go and tell the man
ager TO please step over. That | want
to introduce him to my friend, Mr..
Rindlaub, of Plattevillc; and also tell
him to bring along some samples,
which want TO send to my friends Mt
Plattevlle; and also that souvenir
book
We snt down and talked on general
subjects for few minutes, whereupon
noticing that the time was passing, we
suggested that we would have TO go.
Our FRIEND spoke up and said we
must not hurry; that he did not un-
derstnnd why the manager did not
come; that he would certainly be in u
few minutes. We waited II little while
and again arose to go. by this time
they were both in front of the door,
and one of them said, You can't go,
just yeti" The situation flashed upon
us In an Instant and we said what
does this mean?" &" 1t means that we
want your money, and we want you to
hand IT. over-----quick," Ut the same
time pulling out revolver. We
have but II vague recollection of all
that followed. Our pocket-book was
handed over. There was only fifteen
dollars In cash In It, and this was in
an out-sidc flap of the pocket book i,
which they overlooked. Upon finding
the County order, o;ac OF them said 1t
would not be worth anything without
being endorsed. 4" Well" said one
OF them, We will have him endorse
| 1t, and handing MS II pen, 1t is sntli-
cicnt to say that we wrote our name,
however much we protested against IT,.
just then large man came into the
room and said he wanted to know
what all the eommotion was about;
that they had better be getting out
| The two fellows went out and when we
attempted to go he stood before the
door and held IL for n moment, evil
IDENTIFY so rs to give the fellows an
opportunity to get away, and when we
got out We saw the two men disap-
pcaring NJ the rear end of the hall.
The fellow who detained us pointed
to n stairway and said: This is
your way down and you had better
go down without making any noise. "
We reached the street pretty. badly
excited and broken up, but remember
ing the appointment nj Jefferson, and
II street ear coming along, We boarded
II for the station.
Next morning We telcphoned home
from Jefferson, and before nine
O'Clock the County Treasurer and all
the leading banks in Grant county
were notified OF the robbery, and pay"
ment Of the order stopped.
Every town treasurer IN the county
received II notification before the or
der rca ned Lancaster, not under any
consideration to cash the order or re-
ccive the same for taxes.
We had read many accounts of vic
Tins of misplaced confidence, and
have often wondered how 1t was done
Our curiosity is now so thoroughly
| sati sipd that we will never read an,