The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-04-30

sent him to Elmira, N y, to collect
bill OF $500. He left the following note
for Mr.. Surine:
Scranton, Pa, April 2s, 1909.
Mr.. surinc.
Please send Mr.. -, clerk that will
go to work at i.3O p. nj. to Carbondalc TO
see Mr.. Frank q. Norton. interest on note,
S23ij Will leave car fare in envelope.
j. @. p.
li2 Main street, Carbondale, Pa
He left 80 cents for car fare for Mr.
who was to go to Carbondale and Mr..
went although he knew the expense
was more than that He did not want
to have any dispute with Mr.. Patterson.
Mr.. Patterson also left word for Mr..
Surine to go to Wilkes Barre and ar
range things in the Office there. The
other three were sent to nearby towns
to make collections.
Monday evening when they returned
from their several missions, Mr. Patter-
son was not around. Yesterday morn
ing he again failed to put in an ap-
pearance, and while sitting around the
Office waiting for him, the sextette be-
gan to compare notes.
The five who were sent out collecting
all told that the party they We're direct
ed to wait upon could not be found and
that there was no such street number
as that given in the address furnished
by Mr. Patterson. MIR. Surine could
not find the offices of the "Willies-
Barre Real Estate and Loan company"
or anyone who knew anything about
such Il company, although he had the
name Of the building and the number
of the offices as furnished him by Mr..
Patterson.
GREW SUSPICIOUS.
About this time some one of the SEX
tette was uncharitable enough to sug-
gest that probably it might be possible
there was something not altogether just
right about Mr.. Patterson and the
Scranton Real Estate Loan and I'M
provement company. This led to further
comparison of notes and the discovery
that each had just suspicion all the
time that there was something queer
about the business.
He had told one that the company had
been doing business here since last July.
Another was told he lived in Wilkes
Barre. The young lady typewriter
was led to gather that he lived here
because he said to her one day that
he never saw her down town, evenings.
The company's headquarters according
to the stories he told the different "em-
ployees' was in as many different
places as there were employees.
When they came to look up the per-
sons to whom the dummy letters We're
addressed to they discovered that every
one of them was fictitious. The printed
circulars which one man had prepared
for mailing We're found unstamped in
a drawer of Mr.. Pattersons desk. This
circular it was now suspected was q
bluff. A letter addressed to his mother
at a given street address in Philadel-
phia and left lying unfinished on his
desk came in for a like suspicion. In
ciGentally it might be mentioned that
the Patterson notes We're not honored
at the bank.
SOUGHT THE POLICE.
On the strength of these mere sus-
pcions, the seXtette, headed by Mr..
Surine went to the police and asked to
have Mr. Patterson arrested. The
police, who are also a suspicious lot,
agreed to arrest Mr. Patterson just as
soon as he is located.
Mr.. Patterson is described as middle
aged man, possibly so years of age, 5
feet 101A inches high weighing 1855
pounds, with a slight stoop and
habit of talking with his head turned
aside He has grayish blue eyes and
brown hair and wore a close cropped
brown beard. His clothes were gray.
Mr.. Surne and three of the others
resigned their jobs to accept employ
nent with Mr.. Patterson. Another re-
fused a better paying position last
Saturday because it would require his
absence from home occasionally.