The Savannah morning news., 1901-03-21
wHITEMAN, THE boss swNDLER.
HIS Remarkable Career in the
Northwest In the Old Boom Days.


Northwest In the Old Boom Days.
From the New York Commercial.
TITS little odd" said the man from
Duluth, at the Holland House last night,
but this A. ]. Whiteman, whom the po-
lice OF so many cities seem TO want, and
who's the boss bank swindler of the Unit
ed States, is the author of what is known
out In Minnesota as the Whiteman cleo
ton law, whose intention was, and whose
effect has actually been, to purify pri-
mary politics. Whiteman's criminal ca
reer would fill book, and no little one,
either, but it has not been generally
known that he has any record as a phil
anthropist or high-minded statesman.
But he has. It's long time back, though,
and he's got well over 1t now.
"Whiteman was a very prominent fig
ure, socially, politically, financially, and
speculatively, in Duluth in the early sos.
He was a young fellow of good address
and much money, of good family, In
Dansville, N. Y, and he plunged into the
middle of about the widest Western real
estate excitement that most men ever
knew Of
Duluth was booming then. When there
wasn't chance to buy real estate and
sell 1t for double a few days later, White
man would vary the programme by plung-
ing into grain and stocks When the tre-
mendous speculative period of the Mesaba
iron ore region came along in 1891 and
1892, he was in the middle OF that In
those days the organization Of a $1,000 900
mining company based on SIS invest
ment in a State lease OF land supposed
to contain iron, was matter of almost
daily occurrence. and Whiteman owned
lot Of land on the range. He went to
Duluth with a fortune variously esti-
mated at from 100000 to five times that
amount, and made several more while
there, some of them honestly enough,
some by the peculiar processes that later
made him very much sought-for-in-
dlvidual He lost everything in time,
however, and for the past few years has
been living on his wits.
II remember when he ran for the state
senate His opponent was a high-minded,
highly respectable gentleman of Duluth,
whom every one honored. The district
then included about as much territory as
the whole State of Massachusetts,, and in
the western parts of II there were strange
doings Whitenan's opponent relied on
the promises Of his friends for that part
of the district. lie got two votes TO
Whiteman's one at their home, but when
the returns came in from the west, day
that Whiteman had a majority there
greater than the entire population-men,
women, and children-a few weeks be-
fore
This pleased him so much that he
wanted TO run for Congress. The Con-
gressional district was known as the
Fighting Fifth, and 1t covered half OF
Minnesota. The battle was three-cor-
nered with one, Kittle Halvorsen, a re-
candidate. He had no intention of run
ming. as he had no money, no Influence
no ability, and no personality, but White
man offered to stake him for 49, 800 IL he'd
run, thinking that his votes would draw
away from the regular Republican and
thus Whiteman could get in. But to
everybody's CONSERVATION Kittle won out
and drew his 5000 a year for two years.
"Whiteman, II was said sent a friend
Of his, a relative of John j. Knox, 20
Mexico. The friend was accompanied by
a woman. and his business was to get
some diamonds. They bargained with the
leading jewelers. of the city Of Mexico
for some $4,000 worth OF stones, giving
Senator Whiteman, of Minnesota as
business reference. The jewelers. wired
to Whiteman, who answered that he
would honor the friends draft for $4,000.
Most Of the stones were delivered on this
telegraphlc Endorsement, but one sus-
picious dealer wired to Henry A. Ware,
then a Duluth bank cashier, now a Chi,
cago capitalist, and the whole deal was
exposed. The friend and his woman COM
panion spent some months sampling the
hospitality Of the Mexican government.
"Whiteman married about that time a
very beautiful young woman Of st. Paul,
whose father gave her as q wedding gift
about $4,000 of unincumbred Duluth
property. They hadn't been married a
month before Whiteman, by fraudulent
papers and by misrepresentation got the
property and blew II away He was at
that time n leading stakeholder in the
West Duluth Land Company, holding sew
eral OF the thirteen promoters interests
He secured another by presenting to the
officers of the company an order signed
by the owner, lady, for her share. Each
thirteen was then worth about $4,000.
She later brought suit against the COM
pany. claiming that she had never signed
any order and she got judgment for the
value Of her stock. For some unknown
reason whiteman was never prosecuted
on this charge.
but he was done up once in a while.
He had a piece of land on the Mesaba
range that nc sold for $500. His clerk ana
assistant in previous deals got him to sell
Il. There have been many years since
then when the dividends from that piece
OF land have been $1,000 n year. II now
belongs TO Rockefeller. and Carnegie Is
mining IT,
"whiteman built beautiful house in
Duluth, down by the shore OF Lake SUI
perior. overhanging a cliff, under which
the waves beat ceaselessly. II was total
~ destroyed by fire a year or two ago.
His costly barn, that for some time lat
teriy has been inhabited by a lot Of peo-
pie not as reputable as the horses and
dogs that he had there, was also burned
very recently, the FIRE having originated,
It IA said, in an attempt 70 cover up
-"Oh, Il was just beautiful IN you"