Cañon City record., 1911-07-06
JOHN R. BLOCKER
MAY BE FORCER
=
Prisoner Believed to Be a Crook Whose
Operations Have. Extended Over
Several States.

As the result of Information furn-
ished him by the officers of the Fre-
mont County National bank and by
District Attorney Jas. T. Locke. about
/ o'clock Friday afternoon City Mar
shall Julius Cramer arrested John r.
>blocker. an alleged former resident
of Oklahoma. a couple OF hours later
at Florence on the charge Of forgery
and brought him back to this city and
locked him up In the county jaid.
where he is being held pending an In
vestigation of the authorities into his
career.
BIdAsr is suspected OF being a
crook of the FIRST magnitude and his
arrest is thought to be one OF the
most important made here In a long
time. From inquiries made by the
officials into the case there is reason
10 believe that Blocker is wanted By
the bankers association of both Colo
RADIO and Oklahoma for crooked trans
actions In his dealings with financial
institutions, and. II Is reported. they
Ss-ili assist In the prosecution of the
case for which he is now In custody.
1t Is limited that among Blocker's ac-
complishments is counterfeiting and
, that he is a member OF a band that
is engaged in the manufacture of -the
long green. business that ls re-
earded as at once ungen;iemanly and
pernicious by your Uncle Samuel.
Biocker's antecedents will he careful
ly looked into by his custodians and
whatever besetting sins he may have,
and they seem TO be pretty numerous.
will be Inquired into and a romedy
applied for their eradication.
Blocker came to Canon city about
three weeks ago and represented him
self as a man OF some financial means
and said that he was looking for prom
Using investments in Colorado ranch
'property. On June tenth he placed
hundred dollars to his credit in the
Fremont County National bank and
was a frequent visitor there during
the next ten days or two weeks: GO
ing there ostensibly to ask about prop
erty. which. he said. be was planning
TO purchase II tho right terms could
be had. He stated that the buying and
selling of land had been his business
in Oklahoma and that he had made
considerable nancy in that way. The
oppot N:Iiics for remuneraiIye invest
ment. he said. were as good here as
they were in Oklahoma and he ex-
pressed his opinion that he could do
quite as well here as there.
About the same time that he opened
his account with the bank he deposit
ed n hundred dollars with the
Florence State bank and told the same
story there that he had here about
having some idle money that he want
ed to invest In land In this state. He
said that he was about 10 close up
trade with Dave Hall OF this city for
tho Cramer ranch on the line OF Flor
ence & Cripple Creek railroad and
was going to make model property
kof It II the deal went through. He
asserted that he had Just sold some
city lots in Ardmore. Oklahoma. for
three thousand dollars and that as
eson as the money came he was going
to make a payment to Mr.. Hall on the
C-aper ranch. II his proposition was
accAAsd. He related the same story
bare that he did at Florence about
his negotiations for the purchase OF
khe Cramer ranch, although. It seems,
that nothing was ever said by him to
Mr.. Hall about the matter.
A week or SO after opening his oc-
count with the Fremont County Ma
tional bank, Blocker made second
deposit of ono hundred dollars and
1ntimated that he would soon have =
lot more money that he would place