The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1907-12-27

flee all he Has to Settle.
The trial of the Kansas City fraud
ulent pump concern, among whose
victims was Frank Dermel Of Nor
folk who for 800 purchased county
rights to Madison, Stanton, Pierce
Wayne, Cedar, Antelope and Boone
counties, has had a startling sequel
1t now appears that Bermel and the
other investors in the fake concern
may have their cash refunded by an
unusual sacrifice on the part Of one
of the members of the indicted firm.
What will probably be one of the
most remarkable settlements ever
made with creditors was licensed on
Thursday afternoon by the United
states court at Kansas City, when a
provisional order was made to dis
charge Hervey s. MCGOWAN from bank
ruptcy upon his promise to pay off
certain obligations of the Western
Pump and Manufacturing Company.
A recent Kansas City federal jury
indicted the owners of this concern for
swindlng, and two of them, William
II. Meyers and j. F. Rudd, were last
week sentenced to prison and to pay
fines for their part In the enterprise.
Mr.. MCGOWAN, who is an occasional
preacher, and who regularly delivers
lectures, Joined the Kansas City COM
pany five weeks prior to the time Post
Office Inspector e. L. Mckee closed it
up and the district attorney seized its
books.
With Myers and Rudd, Mr. MCGOWAN
was arrested, released on bond, given
a severance from his partners and
his case set down for trial during the
current month. Thursday, voluntar-
lily and without previous notice to the
court, he appeared before Judge Nc
Pherson, and made the statement
that he had undertaken to reimburse
every man who had been deceived in
to buying county rights and otherwise
Investing money in the worthless
pump machine to which Mr.. MCGOWAN
had lent his name deliberately, but
with the fullest conviction that the in
vention was of merit instead of being
utterly worthless.
According to Mr.. McCowan's state
ments to the court, as given in Kansas
City dispatches, the settlement will
cost him $4,000, at least. He pro-
poses to incorporate a hardware con-
Germ which he owns and which Is in
Snyder, Ok, and to turn the stock
and management and other assets he
possesses over to his own attorney
r. r. Brewster, and to Arthur Miller
of the firm of Karnes, New & Kraut-
hoff, as trustees, for the benefit of all
those persons who invested money in
the Western Pump and Manufacturing
company while Mr.. MCGOWAN was
identified with it. Mr.. MCGOWAN asked
to have one year in which to liquidate.
The effort will ruin him, so one of
his friends said, adding: "But he is
so distressed at the plight of the vic
Tins of the Western Pump and Man
ufaoturing Company that he has
promptly and cheerfully put absolute
ly every dollar he has in the world
into this trustee fund to clear his
name of a stain
1t is expected that when the Nc
COwan criminal case goes to trial be-
fore . jury in the federal court this
month. this settlement will have a
marked effect upon the verdict, some
holding that it will completely acquit
the defendant, as it will prove that
he could not possibly have known
the pump machine was a swindle, 9th
erwise a man with his sense of justice
never would have allowed his money
and his name and the money and name
of his friends To be involved.
Claims for little over $4,000 have
been listed against the Meyers-Rudd
MCGOWAN partnership, but the list doe!
not include investments made by per
sonal friends of Mr.. MCGOWAN. Tit
$4,000 in claims is to be paid off b,
the trustees out of the revenues from
the MCGOWAN estate, which is to b.
incorporated. The $4,000 paid to thu
Meyers and Rudd pump outfit will b.
settled in private by Mr.. MCGOWAN
who was given permission to max
his own terms and time with those,
This remarkable detail belongs t
a remarkable transaction. A paten
right peddler named Myers, of Okla
homa, contrived a handle to wind Il
a spring which would be checked i
its release by a common ratchet, fror
which depended a pendulum, just e'
actly what may be seen in a clocl
As this pendulum would swing it wa
to work a pump handle, and the clair
was made that an 1S-yearold DO
could by winding the spring, make tn
machine pump ten to twenty gallon
an hour of water constantly for twelv
hours. Experts showed that it woul
take six horses to wind the sprint
and that the spring would weigh a
least 100 tons. Myers advertised h
could sell the machine for SIS. e.
perts showed the spring would cos
s2s-an0 Not pump was ever made
SOU 0fN6elS made were found to ru