The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-04-10
CASSIE CHADWICK 0F GERMANY MADE
 3,OOO,OOO MARKS
Frau Meta Kupfer Takes Old Method of Extract ing Coin From Gullible
 Ones of Country

Berlin, March 30. - Correspondence of the Associated Press.)-Germany now has it's Cassie Chadwick. its Mime. Humbert case. The latest rival to these women of international notoriety is Frau Meta Kupfer, an attractive widow of Al. With capital consist ing of plenty of nerve. an attractive daughter, plenty of good looks her self, lavish hospitality in these lean war times. and an unduly keen insight Into the gullibility and selfishness of mankind, she had harvested just under 3,o00,000 marks up to the time of her arrest and confession.
 Her plan of procedure was the old old one-based on "520 per cent Mill Ter" She has been paying 12 per cent q month interest on money invested" with her. And each solitary investor has put in. his or her money in the be- lief that it was going into a whole sale food business, and with the knowledge that the enormous profits must come from illegal methods and at the expense of an overcharged public.
 WINS SYMPATHY
 Therefore, Germany, finally awake to the swindle, is inclined to have more sympathy with Frau Kupfer now lan-
 
 vestors," whose names have not yet been made public but who are said to include wealthy though greedy capi- talists, men with well known names, officers among them, all of whom are ; doing their best to keep out of the limelight
 Frau Kupfer began her operations on modest and apparently a legiti- mate scale when, year and half ago. she moved to Berlin and began to trade in the then almost unrestricted foodStuffs. But the money did not come in nearly as fast as the oppor- tunities to get money from investors who wanted to make big profits quick ly, regardless at whose expense they might come.
 So Frau Kupfer began to forge few bills of ladinS and the few necessary official looking seals and stamps. opened more pretentious office, launched the "business" in her daugh- ters name-since she was on the court records as bankrupt and, therefore, not entitled to conduct a business Of her own-and sat- down to wait for
 SWINDLE REVEALED
 She represented to the would-be in vestors that her storage warehouses Tor food were in a city some 100 miles rom Berlin. and so charmingly did she recite the story that no one thought to verify the matter until re- gently an investigator revealed the whole swindle.
 AS the money poured in Frau Kupfer mad to increase the number of her bank accounts, until she had six large banks gladly accepting her deposits. Gradually her own ways of life changed. She rent ed pretty though modest apartment ill the West End of Berlin, where she entertained the more favored of the in- vestors. The daughter came in handy too, for her very great beauty acted as quietus on all embarrassing ques- tions, all uncomfortable requests for de- tails. sa,aN
 GAVE RICH BANQUETS
 Somehow, Frau Kupfer managed to get not inconsiderable portion of the food which was supposed to make up her business, for she nightly gave banquets at which nothing was lacking. The rest of Berlin might sigh for butter or stand in line for potatoes. but she always had plenty and more
 The entertainments were never so noisy or populous as to enrage the neighbor- hood, but they were long drawn out af- fairs that often lasted until six in the morning. Yet Frau Kupfer always was at her office by nine fresh and ready for anything, whether it be new invest ments, demands for the return of old ones. or the payment of the monthly interest" She kept no books, but slowed away in her head all her financial trans actions, with the exception of receipts for payments These have revealed the identity of her financial supports.
 The eventual arrival of the police found her with her daughter and one man. an investor-admirer On the heels of the police came creditors who wanted their money back. With sang froid and nerve worthy of a better cause she made an appointment with the credi- tors for the same afternoon at Berlin's largest bank, then turned and walked out with the plain clothes men whose identity the creditors had not discovered
 WHAT POLICE DISCOVERED The police investigation revealed: That Frau Kupfer had taken in between two and half and three million marks, most of it recently; that her daughter, nomin- ally the head of the company, probably knew little about the whole matter; that many creditors had drawn out all they had ever put in and much more by way Of interest. but at the expense of many others who had poured thousands into