The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-07-05
SEDGEBEER GETS OUT OF
STRAUCH COMBINATION

4 me the time of day. They asked IL l
were a stranger in Honolulu. l said no
that / was fireman and up there to
| spend my liberty day. We had a
pleasant chat while viewing scenery
| from the Heights and Mrs. Strauch
asked me to call upon herself and
husband, and little girls, when / again
| had day Off / had few acuuain-
tances in Honolulu at that time and
| appreciated this as kindness to a
stranger. I called on Mr.. and Mrs.
Strauch and became quite friendly
with them but never talked concerning
their own or my business affairs.
Through them I got acquainted with
others. On the first of September, 1908,
/ became foreman at the Makili Fire
Station. Along in March of this year
Strauch came out to the station and
told me that he intended to start u
society to enable people to build homes
cheaply. He said that he would do
all this himself but needed a couple
of his friends to permit him to use
their names for short time in order
to get started He did not ask me
to become financially Interested. He
said 1t required no money on my part.
l would just permit him to use my
name as favor, One day he came
along and introduced a man by the
name of Capt. II. T. Rodgers / have
seen Rodgers in Honolulu n few times
since. Strauch said Rodgers was also
his friend and l understood he would
allow Strauch to use his name in the
new company in the same way as
Strauch wished to use mine. So in
return for the friendship that Strauch
and his wife had previously shown me
l said 1 would permit it, | signed
brief copartnership-wel l hardly know
what l really did sign the way things
have turned out, but l did not sign
anything for which / ever expected to
have to pay out one cent or receive
cent for. In fact | never expected
to hear of the thing again. Between
that time and now / have never seen
any of their books or discussed any
plans with them and knew of their
operations only when | read the ac-
count in the Advertiser and was call
ed upon in court to state whether | was
member of the copartnership. In
court of course / had to state that /
was for l had signed their papers But
| knew nothing of the work of the
copartnership and only know regard
ing 1t now from what | have read in
the papers. / do not know how much
cash they have received or whether
they have received any"
What do you know of the Equitable
Underwriting & Trust Co. of San
Francisco, which firm Strauch says
guarantees all the contracts of his So
ciety?" asked the reporter
II know absolutely nothing of 1t. AS
one of the copartners l was never called
upon to make any agreement with any
such concern, or in fact with anybody.
1 know nothing of any of the acts of
the copartnership."
do you know anything else con-
corning the copartnerhsip, it's work.
where it banks money received, or any
thing concerning the conduct of the
business of the Society,""
Not a thing. / have as / said be-
fore, had no business relations with
Strauch and Rodgers except signing
the first paper and insisting today,
when l learned the character of the
scheme, in having my name dropped as
a supposed 'copartner.'"
BRIEF BANK ACCOUNT.
Cashier Cooper of the First National
Bank found, on examining his books
yesterday, that Strauch had made one
deposit there of $40 and after leaving
the money a short time had drawn it
all out again. Probably this was done
so the name of the bank could be used
on the Society's letterheads as the
place of deposit.
Ry Tuesday at the latest, the Ad-
vertiser hopes to have, by cable, the
facts about the Equitable Underwrit-
ing and Trust Co., the alleged. hacker
of the Strauch Home Purchasing So |
ciety. Inquiry was made yesterday in
the proper quarters.