Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-25
WAS OMAHA FIXED On BUNCO?


'inside" of Maybray's combination and
acted as the private secretary of the
CLUB Of milllonaires' both at Omaha and
at New Orleans.
was Mayor Dahlman put next by
Harriman's wife and did he promptly
proceed to give friend Maybray" a genuine
cote of warning?
She explained the business he UIarri-
mani was in. She claims to have a private
detective and so on. l am writing this SD
you can look this matter up. Have been
waiting to hear from you that 1 might tell
YOU
After getting wise to Maybray's business
In November, 1907, and giving Maybray a
friendly tip and after the Council Bluffs
games became notorious, Mayor Jim con-
tlnues his intimacy with FRIEND Maybray
and on April 20, 1908, leaves with his secre-
tary a note to be delivered when he calls,
in which 1t appears he owes Maybray
money.
Was Jim n Mike s-G'wan.
Was Mayor Jim q Mike? or did he
| have such intimate relations with the king
bunco steerer that he could borrow money
from him and then without so much as an
| apology or an expression of disappointment
fall down on making arrangements for the
money
or was a satisfactory arrangement made
between 5 and g. so that William Scott
was justified in announcing to a proposed
! confederate, Il have everything ready to
do business. We can pull 1t off in Omaha"
as the town has been fixed wherever 1t
is pulled Off"
In the summer of 1907 when Council Bluffs
was the tow where the business was
pulled off the gang had an office on the
sixth floor OF the Paxton block, and its
postoffice box was No, S5S. The Council
Bluffs address in 1908 was Box 4. The tele-
grath address there was A. b. Graft & Co.
The field of operation extended over the
entire country. Their victims number 100,
and almost $4,000 were obtained from the
Mikes during the two years they were
making Omaha their headquarters. The
federal authorities were on their trail for
more than a year before Maybray, War
ner, Clark and Johnson were landed in
| Jail at Little Rock on February %. Several
others, including Hartman, have since
been placed under arrest.
Towns Must he Fixed.
Among the effects OF FRIEND Maybray
is a letter written on stationery of the
Navarro Hotel and Importing company,
New York, dated September /, 1903. It
illustrates how the organized band of swim
dlers made ITS arrangements. To use the
language Of the gang the town has to be
fixed wherever 1t is pulled off" This
letter does not refer to any Omaha official,
but William Scott writes that I'VE can
pull it off in Omaha" and this is equiv
alent to saying that the town had been
duly fixed in advance, according to his in
formation.
The following is the letter:
Friend John GrIend seems to be the
favorite term of endearment used i'm com
municating with Mr.. MaybTay): Yours to
hand and contents noted, and in reply,
will say that the reason | did say you and
not the combination was not from the view
that | considered them incompetent, but
that there is one more here besides myself
that would have to be considered. and he
is now operating a wire store at the place
| have in view which Is practically N.
Y. c., as II is just across the river in
Jersey, a twenty-minutes' ride on ferry
from the heart Of N. Y, and we have
handled a few plays together, and being
very much impressed with the work wanted
to open a store of your kind, and as he
has about fifty agents working on the
wire racket, he wanted to teach them the
hard proposition 1t was, so we talked Of
the possibility of consolidating with some
other store and work together, hence !
wrote you the letter, so you can see how
the situation is. Now, in regard to the
fixing, $5 aweek will cover everything,
that is, the sheriff. the chief OF police
and district attorneys office; all can be
personally met with the exception Of the
district attorney, who must be handled
through the sheriff. Now, this man with
me is a man of 30 and thorough in handling
sales Of large denominations of good APP
pearance and excellent standing. l thought
would make this synopsis so you could
understand more fully the object of hav-
ing YOU come alone II possible, Otherwise,
can't see where II would pay anyone
with too many in the field, so you can
consider the conditions, and should you
5 feel further interested, we may come to
4 some terms later. At any rate, let me hear
from YOU, as l have a sale in view that
NAV want to take to you. So, with best
wishes, yours, 10.
This letter is stamped Council Bluffs,
Ia, September 4, s a. m, 'OS, and is ad-
y dressed Postoffice Box 4, Council Bluffs,
] To personal-J &. NJ.