Omaha daily bee., 1909-03-27
NIKE" MCRATH TELLS HOW
Minnesota Mar Relates Details Of
Way Swindlers Got Him.
LOSES TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS
Enticed Into Operation ON Pretense
of Business Deal and he swal-
lowed Bait, Hook and
All.

81 never in by life bet a cent on a horse
race, prize fight or wrestling match and
I did not bet a cent on this Maybray
match said William II. McGrath Of
Minnesota, one of the many Mikes of
! the Maybray gang, who recently has come
from a Minneapolis hospital. but not with
standing this. he fell to the extent of
$4,000.
Mr.. McGrath was formerly a newspaper
man in Minneapolis and gives a good
account of how the gang got his money
and says that he. as well as many other
victims was enticed to the scene Of
operations on the pretense of a legiti-
mate business deal. At the proper moment
a sporting proposition, made to fit the
inclination of the intended victim, would
he proposed, and in almost every case the
victim tumbled and the swindlers got his
money.
Il was enticed into this affair In the
first place to illustrate to a friend OF
mine that his friends we're merely after
his money. and that by going to Omaha he
would readily find that there would be
some fraud sprung on him whereby he
would lose his money said Mr.. McGrath.
I'm brief I was asked to bet money fur
nished by my friend and his associates on
a wrestling match. against a club Of
very rich men. l did not approve of the
affair and finally another wrestler, than
the one previously selected. was substi-
tuted and the match pulled off on the
square. This was agreed to. The betting
then began and In a short time 100, 900 was
in the Shareholders hands.
Money f. Delayed.
AT that point I was approached by my
friend, who insisted that a large sum of
money needed to cover a bet made the
day before was delayed, but would arrive
before the match was pulled off. I was told
by him that the whole plan would fail I'M
less the money could be raised. I was sur
rounded by my friends associates, who
urged with him that unless I could aid
them their united fortunes would be ruined
and my friend insisted that his wife and
little girl would starve. I was promised that
my interests would be protected in any
event by the return of the money before
the match was pulled of.
Being in good faith and having conf
dence in a friend. 1 do not see how any
average decent fellow could refuse such a
request. I could be turned by another
friend on the same plea today. tomorrow
and hope to keep the same sentiment as
long as 1 live. If drawing some money to
apply in such circumstances (were they
reaD constitutes acting like a sucker 1 am
proud of the distinction. "
THE match was pulled off and one OF the
wrestlers pretended to die, and that was
the end Of the game, as the crowd dis
persed. 1 did not seek to regain my money
then, as my friend assured me that the
stakeholder was all right, and that worthy
had himself assured me that he had called
all bets off and would return each man
his money.
Not Crying for His Money.
II am not seeking now to get my money
back, nor setting up a howl, as this hap
pened when / was considerably younger
than l am now, but 1 have followed up this
gang hoping to save others from disaster.
II am a young man still and we'll able
to recover any losses 1 have met, but the
acts 1 have ascertained and verified re-
garding starving widows, wretched house
holds, old men once wealthy and now
working for day wages. bank wrecks, county
treasurers driven to dishonesty and bank
cashiers occupying suicides graves, show
that there Is another side TO this picture
over which the public dares not smile.
THAT a crowd of crooks and swindlers
may entice the weak, the inexperienced
the credulous or even the man who turns
aside for a few hours from the paths of
rectitude, and then set up a plea that the
trimmer has been merely trimmed" and get
away with 1t before the American public,
does not to me seem possible. That they
will try it is beyond doubt. For they have
-