The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-05-22
PLANS OF DREAMER FAILS.

PLANS OF DREAMER FAILS
Walter vrooman, Author Of tho People.
Trust, at Ropes End.
Kansas City, May 2O.-Walter vroo.
man. founder of the Peoples trust, the
Western Cooperative company and
other gigantic but visionary socialistit
schemes, has been sued for divorce By
the woman who gave him one Quartel
OF million dollars which he spent tr
those projects. The suit was filed II
the circuit court in Trenton, Mo. Mrs
Vroonnan asks the divorce upon statu-
tory grounds
It Is barely a year since Walter Vroo.
man, fresh from England. came to Kan.
Sas City and began spending money sc
freely that 1t astonished people who had
known him only a few years before al 81
a rowing socialist who made his way
from town to town, lecturtng upon dry
goods boxes on street corners. Hounded
by the police everywhere because Of hiis
anarchist talks, this man returned to-
Western Missouri with seemingly un.
limited capital 81;
He bought lavishly at the town oi
Trenton, Mo- In Kansas City he bought
stores right and left, paying thous.
ands upon thousands Of dollars In cash
At Baltimore avenue and Eleventh
street he had q huge tent, with flags fly-s
Ing and band playing and a doSer
orators besides himself to talk cooper
alton to the masses. 1t was his band
and by day 1t paraded the streets Hfsi
had large Offices In the Century build
ing and hired men at fine salaries He
declared that his mission was to up
lift humanity and put the world upoE
cooperative basis.
Quarter Of a Million Conc.
In less than six months he spent
$250.000. It was the money Of Balti-lR
more hetress whom he married. She
was a woman with dreams for the bet
terment of humanity. She saw In
Vrooman the man whose mission 1t was
to make her dreams come true. She
married him and gave him half her for
tune to put his scheme to work.
She knows now that Vrooman waa
anything but savior Of humanity. She
knows that he was commonest clay
wise in the art of deception. She hates
| him as vehemently as once she adoree
him, and she must have loved him well
to have given him s250,O00.
| 1t Is not because Of the loss Of her
! money that Mrs. Vrooman is so bitter
| 1t is because of other alleged acts OF
his which wronged not only her, but
| others.
For the last week Walter vrooman
has been in retirement somewhere near
Wyandotte. His wife. Mrs. Anne Vroo-
| man, and her brother William A. Graf
| fin Of Baltimore, were at the Balti-
more hotel In this city yesterday and
the day before. Walter Vrooman, out
Of money, begged an interview with
her. She refused to see him. He will
get no more money from her. She has
yet nearly 100000 and her brother is
worth $2.o00,o0o, but they are done with
schemes for uplifting humanity and
! they are done with Vrooman.
The Trenton Schemes.
Something over year ago Vrooman
came to Trenton, Mo-, to found branch
4 Ruskin college and to prove the prac-
! ticability Of cooperation in America.
! Martin Irons, Bellany, Ruskin college.
i cooperation had been his course. IN
| Trenton he bought. First came the COLI
| lege building, then farm or two. and
| was for SALE He soon had drug store
or two. hardware store two grocegA
1 stores and theatef. He rented the
largest building in town for a depart
ment store, all Of the dry goods stores
refusing to sell. The men who had own
ed the stores were usually placed In
| charge as managers at a salary that in
most cases exceeded the profits Of the
shops under private ownership. Ha
1 leased an ak handle factory and q can
ming factory which were to give en-
| ployment to the students. At first he
paid cash for everything he bought, but
/ within a few weeks he offered mer-
chants cooperative bonds as payment
| for their stores.
Memberships in the association were
to be sold for $40 each and the member
was to be paid percentage on the to-
tai amount of his purchases at the end
Of the year, according to the profits
Of the concern. with Membership
tickets came also free tickets to con-
certs. lectures and plays. An actor
was engaged to teach the dramatic art
to the young of Trenton. A dancing
master was to give free instruction to
/ all Of the "co-operatives" as the Tren-
dren. AZ
i Expands to Kansas City.
! The Trenton stores had hardly
changed owners before vrooman
i bought stores in other towns in the
vicinity and then he began his Kansas
City campaign. The Century theater
was leased and theatricals with
speeches between acts were made the
evening" 8, entertainment.
Later the meetings were held in q
4 tent on Baltimore avenue and Eleventh
street. Professors from Ruskin college
lit had found very few students-and
men whom Vrooman had hired to as.
| Speakers.
when the association reaches a
membership of 1000 in Kansas CITY"
said Mr.. Vrooman. every member who
1 buys $500 worth of goods a year viii
he given a free ticket to all OF oul
entertainments, which will be equival-
ent to s100 q year. Thus he gete back
one-third of his expenditures in whole.
some entertainment"
Then in a very few weeks came the
4 buying Of several stores in Kansas
CITY, Kansas City, Kas., and Armour
dale. Next Mr.. Vrooman announced
that he had gained control Of six Of the
largest mills and elevators in the Kan
sas wheat belt. These with other flour
mills We're to be the nucleus Of a move
/ ment to unite all Of the farmers OF
/ Kansas in cooperative company
1 Farmers would be permitted to share
in the profits upon paying s1O0 each