The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-10-30
DR.. R. c. FLOWER
CAUGHT IN CANADA
Now Languishes in Toombs
Prison on Old Swindling
Charge.


e Same Doctor" who Once Owned Mar
l. sion in East Palatka and Flew
High.
t, DR.. Richard C. Flower, known i
n all parts of the United States as on
e OF the sllckeSt sWlndlers in the coun
try, has been arrested in Toronto
;. Canada, and incarcerated in the Ney
n York Ioombs on charge of fraud
Y after eluding the police for more thai
v eleven years.
, Old citizens of Palatka will remem
l ber DR.. Flower although it is nearl.
20 years since he quit these parts
, They will remember the gentleman
who travelled in his private car whicf
was generally switched on the track
near the Vertrees warehouse there tt
remain most of the winter while its
owner luXuriated in his mansion ovel
in East Palatka, now the home of T
L. Clarke. Here he had a hundred
acres of land which even in that early
day he proclaimed to be the richest in
all Florida and on which he proposed
to grow roses that would astonish
California. DR.. Flower spent num-
ber of winters here, and his parents
lived at Interlachen. He often de-
clared Florida to be his home.
His operations were generally con-
fined to mining schemes and he made
hundreds of thousands of dollars by a
system of "salted' mining schemes as
old as the greed for gain. In these
swindling operations he generally
touched the rich and powerful and
who could afford to pay for an "ex-
perience." But he did rot confine
himself to the rich and powerful He
could and did organize servant girls
into trust schemes that are said to
hav, netted him vast sums.
Flower was doctor of the "quack"
variety, smooth and artistic in his
movements and with convincing
manner that would draw dollars from
corpse.
At the time of his arrest he was
engaged in forming the Standard Ra-
diator Company in Toronto. He was
taken to New York to answer in old
charge for which he had jumped his
bail OF $4,000 and on which a rich
widow was security.
To q World reporter who inter-
viewed him in the Toombs the other
day the doctor said:
For over ten years | have been
fugitive from justice, being bounded
from place to place. Of course | al
ways got away, but the strain of the
constant pursuit was there all the
time. | learned in the beginning that
the best way to get away from the
police was to let them do the wander
ing, while | just kept still. So while
the detectives were searching faraway
places was right here in New York,
a little disguised, but not really try
ing to evade them
Il have sat in the foyers of large
hotels here and read of my being ar
rested in other cities and heard peo-
pie talking about me. Yet no one
thought to notice me.
"Those detectives ought not to feel
toward me. | gave them
many good trip and lots of good
expense money. | was never more
than 1000 miles from this city at any
time.
81 am broke now and done for. I
suppose | could beat them again if |
really wanted to, but what's the use?
No one cares for me anv more, and I
myself do not care much. am in
terrible pain always.
81 am going to die very soon. These
no doubt. are patting them
selves on the back and thinking they
have done something very clever to
get the old man. But what have they
got? Before they can succeed in con-
victing me l will be dead. So much
for their work"
A Really Able Swindler.
Speaking of DR.. Flower editorially,
the New York World SAYS:
If instead of following the life of a
swindler DR.. Richard C. Flower had
turned his cleverness and energy to
honest business, he probably would
have achieved a notable success. With
less effort lie might nave made a de-
cent fortune and saved himself the
trouble for years of lodging the po-
lice and the courts.
There is no use denying that DR.. |