New Britain herald., 1916-09-18
BLACkMAIL TRUST
 IN POLICE TOLLS
Gang Said to Have Reaped Million
 Dollar Harvest in Year
HAD FAKE RAGING SCHEMES

Who Made $SO,OOO Through Infor-
 nation Furnished by Endorsements
 Association'' in Louisville, Kent,1ckv. 1 Chicago, Sept. 1S.-Further arrests were expected today in connection 1 with the so-called blackmail syndicate, which raids by United States depart ment of justice officials here Saturday night was exposed. A woman mem Der of the Syndicate" was believed to be in St. Louis, and the Los Angeles authorities were asked to locate the sender of a telegram addressed to Helen Evers, one of the women ar rested here, which read: Simon says thumbs up. Two men are holding me. Watch the fire escape.'
 Operations of the syndicate, which now appears to have been of internaA tional proportions, were not confined to the blackmail of wealthy men and women, according to information de- Veloped today. Among the effects in the office of Doe" Edward Donahue,
 
 day night raid was stationery of the ,"United Turf Exchange" with Head quarters in New York and offices all over the world" There were also cipher codes for deciphering messages received by wire, telling what horses to bet on, how much to bet, what races and position to play.
 Fake newspaper clippings detailing the wonderful clean-ups made by a young eastern plunger in pool rooms, apparently had been used to lure vic- times. One letter found in Donahue's room at the fashionable south side apartment house, was from the "Horsemen's Association" of 146S Market street, Louisville, Ky, signed by J. c. Saulsberry secretary, and addressed to A. T. Kartner. The secre- tary said he was sorry to hear of MT. Kartner's notoriety lately, and hoped he wouldn't have another occurrence like that again.
 It seemed that MT. Kartner's' pie ture had appeared in newspaper. in connection with bookmaklng activi-ss ties at the races.
 According to department of justice officials here today, the "United Turf Exchange" must have been an OK elusive affair The rules stated that members using the club rooms in the evening must appear in full dress.
 Made Wagers by Code.
 Evidently the "Horsemen's Associa- tion'' in Louisville is a grain broker age house. Code xbooks showed how wagers on horse races could be placed and there was apparently no limit. If the bettor wanted to play $50,000 on a horse he would order fifty boxes of red, white or blue matches, the color depending on the position to bet on the horses~viz, red, straight, blue, place; white, show. Condition of track was described as follows: Dry, oats; muddy, corn; medium, rye. If all these elaborate systems were not enough to beguile the victims, the fake newspaper clipping was flashed. The headlines of this article stated that a Young eastern plunger cleaned up $SO,000 from Seattle, Wash, pool rooms Identity of man not known to local gambling fraternity.'
 The story then went on that all efforts to get information from him had been fruitless. He had never lost a bet.
 Here it was, according to the de- partment of justice officials here to- day, that Donahue broke into tI game. He would claim to be the mysterious stranger from the east.
 Schemes Netted $1 900, 900.
 According to the federal officials to- ! day, here are some of the things done :, by the syndicate: They f1eeced a multi l millionaire of New York out of S40,- 1 900 by threatening him with arrest 1 for alleged violation of the Mann Act, | two of the members of the syndicate | impersonating secret service agents 1 for that purpose.
 They frightened a wealthy Phi1adel- 1 phia woman who had been too friend | ly with a stranger in a cafe into giving i them $35, ,0O0.
 They took S100O0 from each of five l Chicagoans, two of whom are women. ! They brought about their own arrest | by allegedly taking s3: 500 from Mrs. l Regina Clipper of Philadelphia and l afterward kidnapping her.
 It was said today that the Organiza- l ton had worked as a whole since the | first of the year, and it is believed | to have cleaned up in that time ST. 900, 1000. The government officials say that for one known victim of the syn dicate there are probably twenty un- known.
 The eight members of the syndicate, l so called, were still in custody today, | awaiting their preliminary hearing be- i fore the United States commissioner l tomorrow It was said the alleged !; head of the organization would be 1 arrested during today.
 "SauEsbury'' Not Known.