New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-16
Woman Financier
Has False Teeth
And S. as Assets
Customers 100000 Gone,
Mrs. Ray Hyman Tells
Court

Mrs. Ray Lyman, whose rainbow
hued pictures of the wealth that
awaited investors with her, are said
to have drawn many thousands Of dol
lars from the pockets Of the East Side,
appeared before Commission Gill
christ yesterday in bankruptcy pro-
ceedings and displayed her assets.
The woman who had paid 80 per
cent a month on all funds intrusted
TO her care wore a black straw hat
and had a brownish gray suit. At the
request Of Archibald Palmer, counsel
for her receiver, she opened her hand
bag and produced a fve-dollar bill anl
q set of false teeth. The sober suit
she wore, the handbag and its congrr-
Gus contents, she said, was all the
wealth that remained to her, who had
filled hundreds Of minds with dreams
Of millions.
Air Castles Collapse
There had been more. she told Mr..
Palmer. Out OF the crash that ended
her financial enterprise, she had save
5000. This was all that was left OF
the 100000 which she admits her
customers had intrusted to her in the
last two years. 1t was one of thesa
customers, she said, who took the last
crumbling foundation stone Of her col
lapsed air castles.
"a man came to the home Of Herman
Schiller, where was staying last Tues.
day morning" she related, land forced
his way into my bedroom. He grabbed
my bag and took the Sc, 700 out OF it."
"Who was that man." Mr.. Palmer
asked.
1T was Frank Starkman. He claimed
that | owed him about $1,000
The false teeth, Mrs. Hyman ex-
planned. were hers by right of pur-
chase. but the So bill was charity. After
she lost the $500, she said that she
appealed 70 Schiller, saying that she
was penniless. According 70 her story,
the man said that he was good
sport" and gave her $40. Half Of this
she had spent.
Starkman, Schiller, and Leonard
Blatt, said to be the bookkeeper OF
Mrs. Hyman, and Edward NJ. Grossman
we're summoned before Magistrate Ten
Eyck in the Yorkville Court yesterday
at the request of creditors. who charge
the men with withholding property
rightfully belonging to them.
Early Yesterday morning Mrs. Lyman
was taken 70 Police Headquarters from
the Charles Street station and was I'm
ger-printed. While at Headquarters she
made statement to Inspector Fsurot
Won Fortune in "War Brides
Two years ago, she said, she specu-
lated in war brides" and made a
fortune. News Of her success spread
through the East Side and she was
besieged with requests to invest money
for others.
She acuuiesced, finally, and at hel
offer Of 50 per cent she was swamped
with subscriptions. She managed 10
pay interest for a time. she told the in
spector, by using new subscriptions
for dividends.
Last Saturday she found that $500
was all she had left in the world. OF
her own or the investors money. She
became i'll. and, for several days
played an unhappy game Of hide and
seek with her accusers, slipping from
the home of one former friend to an
other. She was not trying 70 avoid
the police, she said, but she was worn
out by illness and wanted sleep and
rest.
Late yesterday Mrs. Lyman was ar
raigned before Magistrate Breen in
tire West Side court, charged with
suspicion Of grand larceny. Grossman
was the complainant He said that on
June he gave Mrs. Lyman 81 $50
which she promised to pay next day
She never paid. he says.
Sent to City Prison
Assistant District Attorney Lazarus
told Magistrate Breen that he had
names of persons who claim that Mrs
Hyman defrauded them of $4,000. Der
nard VI. Sander, counsel for a number
of other creditors, told the court that
the defendant had taken $4,000 from
his client on false pretences. Magis-
trate Breen then set the bail at $25. 600
Mrs. Hypan was taken to the City
Prison y default. She was without a
lawyer all day. and made this defence
on her own behalf:
81 am a much maligned woman.
never once solicited money from one
Of these persons who are now eagerly
trying 10 prosecute me. Their charges
are exaggerated. ! intend 20 tell my
story TO the District Attorney. Some
Of my accusers have sought money
from me by blackmail."