Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1911-06-08
GOLD BRICK
ARTIST DROWNED?
Man Who Swindled Chaffee of A.
menia, Claimed to Have
Drowned Self

c. w. Caddegan, the man who was
alleged to have swindled H. F. Chat
fee of Armenia, this state, out of $685.
900 by the old gold brick method
will never be tried for that offense.
His body was found in San Pedro
Harbor, near Los Angeles, Cal.
Caddegan, according to the author
tiles, was masquerading in Califor-
MIA under the name of Armstrong.
The body was found in the bay last
Saturday and was afterwards identi-
fed by Caddegan's wife and son and
by D. O'Donnell as that of Cadde-
gan. Other evidences are said to be.
forthcoming that the noted "gold
brick" operator sought death rather
than long term in the penitentiary.
Chaffee was swindled in Minneap-
oils about eighteen months ago and
the entire country was talking about
the case.
Immediately a man hunt began
! which took the authorities over al
most every state in the Union. He
was finally apprehended in California.
Caddegan failed to appear in court
week before last after extradition
papers had been granted by Governor
Johnson of California, with the re-
suit that the $500 bond he had fur
nished was forfeited.
Caddegan was arrested in Los An
geles several weeks ago and was 1den-
tilted by his victims son as the man
who engineered and successfully car
| ried out the swindle that startled the
country from coast to coast by the
daring and cleverness with which 1T
was carried out. Firmly denying that
F: he was John Armstrong, for whom
the police were looking, Caddegan
fought extradition, and was released
! from custody when he furnished the
requisite bonds. When the final
hearing of the case came up week be-
fore last and extradition papers had
been honored the alleged swindler
: failed to- appear in court and the
; finding of the body in San Pedro har'
: Dor was the next step in the tragedy.
, Detectives Howard and Johnson of
the Minneapolis police force who were
sent to Los Angeles to bring Cadde'
! gan to Minneapolis, returned home
Wednesday.
Caddegan was about 70 years of
age, and is said to have been one Of
the cleverest "gold brick" operators
in the country Telling a Plausible
story of California gold mine. Cad
degan brought Mr. Chaffee from his
home in Armenia, N. D., to Minneap-
oils and induced him to advance $780,
900 on the surety of two "gold
BRICKS" which examination proved to
be copper. After putting the deal
through, Caddegan invited Mr.. Chat
fee and his son to dinner, and dis
appeared when he saw that young
Chaffee began to have suspicious a.
bout the transaction that cost his
father so much money.
| Identification a Ruse
/ Detectives of San Pedro, CAL, IN
charge of the Identification of the
body found in the bay there declare
that the body is not that of James
Caddegan, wanted in Minneapolis on
F., the charge of swindling H. F. Chaffee,
a North Dakota millionaire out of
$4,000 by means of "gold brick"
game. They say further that the
supposed Identification is a ruse to
restore to bondsmen the bond on
which Caddegan was released when
Detectives James Howard and Mel
vim Passolt when to Los Angeles to
get him.
! The head of the man found in the
bay is said to be two inches smaller
| than that of Caddegan. The body
was identified as Caddegan's by Cad
degan's wife and son.
Chief Of Police Michael Mealey,
Minneapolis, refused to believe the
body was Caddegan's and said he be-
lied the Identification ruse to pre-
vent the Minneapolis police from
searching for the man.
|