Arizona republican., 1908-07-04
IA LAND SPINDLE
 10 AMOUNT OF Sl05O
A Plausible Stranger Sells a Ranch He Did Not Own.

|
 A somewhat sensational land fraud
 was brought to light yesterday when
 Christian Bomke called on P K Hick- ey with whom he had transacted busi-
 ness in relation to other land recently
 purchased by him on the south side
 of the river.
 | It turned out that Bomke had been swindled out of more than S1000' by
 one of the most barefaced transactions
 on record. If he had exercised even ordinary precaution it could not have happened.
 Bomke, who is a taxidermist of some note, came to the valley two or three | months ago and immediately after coming set about acquiring land. Through MT. Hickey he purchased a ranch of H-neis Bernal on the south side Of the river and at a cost of $200 had secured the relinquishment of some land which had been recently entered. All this was done under advice and di- rection.
 Then BOmke set out to do some business on his own account He said that he had met a man named Nelson at a boarding house. Nelson claimed , to be the owner or agent of a great deal >of land in the valley. Finally he offered as agent for woman living in Los Angeles to sell Bomke the north east quarter of section 27, township 2 north, range east, at $35 an acre. This land is known as the Armstrong or Reynolds ranch. It lies northeast of town not far from the city limits Any real estate man could have told Bomke that land all around that place has been selling at s2OO an acre.
 But instead of carrying his investi- gation in the direction of the land, Bomke set about finding out as much as possible about the moral character of Nelson. He asked the landlord of the lodging house and he says the land lord told that he had known Nelson for years and that he was all right.
 Bomke agreed to take the land at the price agreed upon. The owner of it. Mary Eva Simmes. Nelson said was in Los Angeles and he would write to her asking her to execute a deed. In the course of time there came from the woman what DurpOrted to be a con tract for tte sale os not the entire quarter section but of forty acres of it only, Bomke to have his choice of the quarter. This scaling down of the amount os land tended to disarm any suspicion that BOmke might have en- tertained. It looked to him as if the owner O. the land wanted to "craw- fish" He lost no time in cinching the forty acres he feared that the woman might soon conclude not to sell at all. He accordingly paid Nelson $500 under the contract and in due time he re- ceived a receipt for that amount. The receipt he was told had come from Angeles. At any rate a woman wrote it
 Nelson knew about the relinquish ment held by Bomke and one day he suggested to him that the latter was getting more land than he could han dle The ranch he had bought from Bernal together with the property he had just secured from Mrs. Simmes was enough for any one man. He pro- posed that Bomke turn over the relin- punishment to him for s2O0. the amount he had paid for it, and take credit on the balance due Mrs. Simmes. Bomke finally consented to that arrangement and at the further suggestion of Nel- son he added s350 in cash to the re- linquishment and in the course of time he received another receipt from Mrs. Simmes for $550.
 The neyt day or two after this trans action Bomke failed to find Nelson at the lodging house where he had seen him every day for weeks. Two Ger mans, brothers, who had appeared to be in some way interested in these land transactions, were also missing The landlord could give BOmke no in formation in relation to them.
 Then sprang into being his first sus- picion. In half an hour he was sure he had been stuns for he learned that Nelson did not own the land he had and that he did not in anyway repre- sent the owner of the land. There is no clue as to the whereabouts of Nel- son and his associates but the matter has been referred to the office of the district attorney.