Omaha daily bee., 1909-07-30
Council Bluffs
MORE MIXES ARE IN COURT
Three Petitions Filed by Alleged
Victims of Big Store Gang.
BOXING MATCH IS NEW DEVICE
Joseph w. Lessen of Menominee
Mich, Qualified as Stakeholder
by Putting Up sIO,OOO-TaIes
of other Easy Marks.

~ AAAh " VuO hANH
of other Easy Marks.
Another installment Of three petitions In
the suits brought in the district court at
Council Bluffs by Mikes" against J. c.
Maybray and other alleged members of the
swindhng syndicate were filed yesterday
by Attorneys wadsworth and Crawford. OF
the twenty-five suits brought by these at
torneys on behalf Of the alleged victims Of
the big store gang, original notices Of
which have been served, eight petitions
have now been filed in the district court.
The plaintiffs in the three suits In which
petitions wero filed yesterday are:
Joseph W. Lessen of Menoninee, Mich.
who claimed 10 have been bunkoed out Of
$1,000 on June I. 1907, on & fake boxing
I match.
Joseph p. Walker Of Denver. Colo, who
claims TO have dropped S5,S05 on a fake
horse race on July q, 1908, and to have been
robbed OF a diamond stud valued ct $50
by one Of the gang Of "conspirators." lie
sues for S8,105.
J. L. Harrington Of Hartsel, Colo, who
says he was swindled out OF 5000 on a
fake horse race on August 20, 1908.
The defendants who are ths same as
those named in the petitions filed last
cAluIuhA III lub OAheI live sullh III DUH
jamin Marks, alias No. rs: First National
bank of Council Bluffs, Ernest E. Hart,
Ernest E. Hart dncorporated), John j.
spindler, James c. Maybray. alias ]. G..
Gordon, alias No. &C, alias b" alias j. T
Barnes, alias b. s. Ansel; John r. Dob
bins. alias Becky Dobbins; Frank o.. Scott.
alias Frank Maxwell, alias George Wilson.
In the petition in Joseph w. Leisen's case
no alleged 'steerer' is named as one Of
the defendants. In Joseph r. Walkers
case. Frank Adams and George Ryan are
made defendants as alleged steerers. In
Hs%rrington's case, w. II. Coon is named as
the steerer and is made a defendant.
Fake Boxing Match.
The petition in the case of Joseph w.
Lessen, the Mike from Menominee,
Mich, who claims to have been separated
from $4,000 by the gang is somewhat diff
ferent to the others, as Leisen says he
was bunkoed out Of his money at a fake
boxing match instead Of at a horse race,
as most OF the Mikes were. Although
not named as one of the defendants Harry
Lewis is alleged by Lessen to have induced
him to come to Council Bluffs to osten-
sibly act as stakeholder at a boxing
match between Lewis and a man named
]. c. Gordon. The stake were to be $50, 900
a side and Leisen had to show that he
was a man of means in order TO officiate
as stakeholder. AS evidence of his finan-
cial standing Lessen brought 10000 with
him to Council Bluffs. He returned home
without 1t. The boxing match, Lessen says
In his petition, was pulled off in a building
at the southwest corner of Broadway and
Sixteenth street. After a few rounds one
OF the boxers fell to the ground and pre-
tended to be dead, while blood gushed
from his mouth and nose, the same trick
OF the bladder containing blood from q
chicken was made use Of in the fake horse
races. The members of the 'MiIlionaires'
club became scared when the boxer fell
and Leisen was at once told of the neces-
sity of flight to escape arrest. He fled
and in the excitement Lewis, who had
held Leisen's $4,000 forgot to return him
his money. This fake boxing match is
alleged to have been pulled off in June,
1907, a year before the gang made Council
Bluffs it's headquarters.
Walker Loses Diamond stud.
Joseph P. Walker Of Denver alleges that
in addition to being bunkoed out of 50, SO5
on July 8, 1908, on a fake horse race near
Manawa, one of the members of the gang
robbed him of a diamond stud valued at
$500. Although not so stated in the petit
ton filed yesterday, Walker, when relat-
ing his experiences with the gang to
Postoffice Inspector Swenson, accused
George Ryan, a saloonkeeper at Hot
Springs, who was arrested a few months
ago, with taking his stud. Walker told
Mr.. Swenson that Ryan stepped up to
him and cody unscrewed the stud from
his, Walkers, shirt front and put the
Jewel In his own pocket.
Red Leo and Abbie l.. were the two
horses w.Ich figured in the race which
cost Walker his wad. The same trick
Of one Of the jockeys dropping from his
) horse and splitting blood was employed in
l Walkers case, as in many others.
4 For the horse race which cost j. Z. Har-
rington of Hartsel, Colo, $1,000, a horse
; named Bullet was matched against Abbie
, L. Charles Murphy and Tom Wilson are
5 named as having been the Jockeys In the
race instead of Charles Barrett and Tom
Rogers. who figure In so many of these
7 fake horse races. The race in this case
2 was run like the others near Manawa
and the usual stunt of one of the jockeys
falling and splitting blood was pulled off.
SutOr Amends Petition.
Samuel Sutor, the hotelkeeper of Cass
Lake hllhh'' VINO was the tlrst Mike
to bring suit to recover the money out OF
; which he claimed TO have been feeced by
! the Mabray gang. yesterday filed an
2 amendment to his petition in the United
4 States court in this city. The amendment
is for the purpose of correcting an error
+. in the name OF one OF the defendants.
In the original petition Ben Marsh" is
named as one of the defendants. The