The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1908-10-29
MAJOR G. II. SISSON
is UNDER ARREST
Mining Broker Charged With
Having Issued Second
ChatteI Mortgage
Promoter Has Many Creditors,
Who Assisted Him in
Closing Deals"


have been committed in all parts of
the United States, came to light yes
terday with the arrest of Major George
II. Sisson. a mining broker, with offices
at 323 Monadnock building. Sisson
is charged with having issued a sec
ond chattel mortgage 10 c. A. Jordan.
while the Illinois trust company held
I a chattel mortgage in the sum of
50. goo against the same property, Sc
cured while Sisson was living In Ala
media.
The trust company investigated a
report that Sisson had moved from Ala
media, and in that way discovered the
second mortgage. Sisson appeared be-
fore Judge Seawell yesterday morning
and confessed to having placed the sec
ond mortgage. He was Immediately
arrested on q warrant issued in Oak
land and was taken across the bay and
placed in fhe city Jail He was later
released on $1,000 bonds, furnished by
Henry A. Rispin of Mill Valley and
G. W. Watson of Napa Junction.
Numerous business associates of Sis
son who have advanced him money on
different occasions, taking merely his
note as security, were not astonished
to hear of his arrest yesterday and
several of them are figuring on follow
cure payment OF their loans.
NJ X. Miller, civil engineer. with
Offices in the Bacon block, in Oakland,
said last night that Sisson had given
him his note for several hundred dol
lars, ostensibIy to assist him in clos
ing a mining deal Miller refused to
state the amount and was inclined to
condone with Sisson as a. man who
might not be as bad as he appeared.
tsCfccOn &c Tndnnhfpd1V smooth
proposition said Miller. but I do not
think he meant to do anything wrong.
He has been engaged in numerous big
deals in his time, and while his ac-
lions do not appear TO be exactly
square. he may be able to clear him
self of suspicion. l am not worrying
about the sums / lent him."
AWAIT DEVELOPMENTS
S. T. Chaplin and w. E. Howell. also
engineers, located in the Bacon block,
had objections to stating the amohnt
Sisson had swindled them out of, Ito
close mining deal in Butte county"
They told OF the reports they had re-
ceived of him, however, and did not
doubt that they were true in a
measure There is a probability of
their bringing suit against Sisson after
they see the outcome Of the present
charge against him.
.sSfsson appears to owe q large num-
Der Of people in various parts OF the
state" said Chaplin. we advanced him
several hundred dollars to help him in
the selling of a mine in Butte county.
He stated that the deal was just about
closed, and that owing to the financial
depression he was naturally short OF
actual cash.
He would require a few hundred
dollars to close this deal and would
give bonus for the use of the money.
/ lent him about $1,000, and took his
note for it, This was some time ago.
I have not heard from him about the
matter yet.
1T appears that the selling of a
mine has been his plan of operation
for borrowing money from large
number of people, and judging from a
letter received by me September 10 his
operations extend over a large area.
He has been an active promoter and
has been millionaire one or more
times.
He received large grants of land
for work done in Mexico, and has been
the business associate of several of
/ the wealthiest men in the west He
has made plenty of money, and APP
pears to have spent it also. l know
that he was heavily in debt in Arizona
some years ago, but that he left that
place with an excellent reputation for
paving his bills Whether he has
changed his ways since then will be
found out in the next few days.
think"
The letter received by Chaplin came
from a man signing himself I. w.
| LougIlerby, who was a guest at the
Crellin hotel on September Is. He was
unknown to Chaplin, but warned the
! latter against having any business
IL <lo
sired to get the worst of it. Through
friend in Sacramento, to whom
Chaplin had written regarding Sisson,
Lougherby claimed TO have heard OF
doubts as to Sisson's integrity.
BITTER IDENTIFICATION
Lougherby's letter to Chaplin was a
bitter denunciation of Sisson as the
most successful swindler in the United
States. The letter stated that Sissons
scheme of borrowing money to close a
mining deal had been worked by Sis
son from the Atlantic to the Pacific
and from the Canadian border to Ari-
behind the bars years ago. The letter
also stated that Sisson used his friends
to obtain money and even swindled
members of his own family.
Lougherby closed his letter by urg-
ing. Chaplin to prefer charges against
Sisson, and predicted that innumerable
victims of Sisson would be discovered
when the news became public.
Sisson is a graduate of an Albany
n. Y. law school. He graduated from
\ a Tennessee college of engineering be-
fore coming west, where he lived with
his family for number of years II
/ is stated he was a major during the
war of the rebellion. and that he was
at one time connected with III. H.
Rogers, Thomas Lawson, Charles Bur-
raige and Thomas Ryan. He is alleged
| to have closed the deal in which the
Dominion copper mine, at Globe, Ariz.
was sold for $4,000, 600.
He is said to have four children liv-
/ ing I'm Cincinnati, two sons and two
l dauph4erS