Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-07-24
8 GUILTY OF FRAUD.
BARR G. WIDEN COMPANY CON-
vIcTED OF VIOLATING
POSTAL LAWS.
LOOT ToTALED 100000
"cet-Rich-ouick" Concern Collected
Heavy Fees From Patrons for OBJ
tanning Credits From Bankrupt
Firms-Operated Over Country.

Chicago, July 17.-Frauds rivaling
In size the fictitious booty of q j..
Rufus Wallingford we're laid at the
door of the Barr-Widen Mercantile
agency by the verdict of a jury sit
ing in Federal Judge Kenesaw Noun
tain Lands court on Wednesday.
Nine members of the Barr Widen
firm were found guilty of using the
United States mails to defraud. All
are liable to heavy fines and impris-
onmen for five years or each of 35
counts in the indictments returned
against them, a total of ITS years i'm
prisonment for each one.
The scheme by which the Barr-Widen
firm mulcted fhe unsuspecting out of
more thar two million dollars within
a few years was daring and wide in
its scope.
They operated in practically every
state of the Union, collecting heavy
fees from patrons for obtaining cred
its from bankrupt firms and individ-
uals.
The convicted men are:
Abram III. Freeman, superintendent
Of agents of the company, with Of
fees formerly in the Heisen building.
He is described as the brains" of the
agency.
Frederick l.. Wendler, general man
ager of the agency at it's main office
in st. Louis.
Charles F. Day of Chicago. a con-
tract man.
James T. Minehart of Chicago, a
former Methodist minister and a con-
tract man.
Robert B. Fender of Pittsburgh. Pa.
a contract man.
Joseph c.. Stevens of Kansas City,
Mo-, son Of Barney Stevens, a retired
real estate capitalist. He was also a
contract man.
Mo.
J.. H. Norman of st. Louis.
Joseph B. Finkleman Of Kansas
City, Mo.
Wendler and Freeman we're the
chief defendants in the case, and the
scheme used by the agency is said to
have been one of the most productive
"get-rich-quick" enterprises that the
post Office inspectors have ever in
vestigated.
This was the get the money"
scheme, according to Assistant Dis
trict Attorney Robert w. Childs, the
governments prosecutor, that in
volved the concern in the tolls:
The Barr & Widen agency would
Investigate the schedules of persons
who had gone through bankruptcy and
learn the names OF the principal cred
itors.
The contract man would visit one
of the merchants or business houses
named as creditor in the bankrupt's
petition. 4
John Doe owes you people $780,
he would say
1.-THE representative of the agency
would say, the Barr & Widen agency
has learned that there was fraud in
that bankruptcy petition. Assets were
concealed. We car collect that ac-
count if you pay the cost
when the fee was Forthcoming to
cover the cost of collection it would
be kept and no attempt would be
made to collect the account. Over two
million was obtained in this way"
"As a business enterprise, this
agency represents a tragedy" he con
tinued. And in explanation he gave
this outline:
The agency was first formed in 1901
by James Barr and Joseph B. Widen.
1t stood for a legitimate agency bust
ness and was such until Wendler and
Freeman were taken in. Everything
abons it-and everyhody-seemed to
proapera ,zz3zxzsaszsszsz ~
Then in 1912 the post office inspec-
tors began to irNestigate. Widen took
poison on his mathsr's grave in a st.