The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1919-03-21
nP. NpFN ROBERT MADISON
PROVED TO Be A RASlA
Vas deTe IN The S mmer Of 1917
Soliciting Money for a Co-opera-
tive Mercantile Venture

Mr. Madison came here in the latter
part of the summer of 1917 and So
licited money among the railroad men
for the purpose of starting a CO.
operative mercantile store, the pur-
pose of which was to supply members
with merchandise at cost. Mr.. Mad
ison stopped at the best hotel, the
Barclay, wore good clothes and was
noticeable particularly on account of
his Charley Chaplin mustache. His
method of conducting his campaign
for his subscriptions for his scheme
first aroused the suspicious of the ed
itor of The Echo, which, together with
the literature he handed out, to such
only as he considered "a good pros
pect," helped to confirm those suspi-
cions. The Echo had some trouble to
get hold of his circulars. Several said
they had seen and read circular of
some kind but none had been given
them to keep. Not one could be found
in Leavenworth. Finally an engineer
with some trouble secured one circular
from some man living on the other
side of the mountains who managed
to keep the one that fell into his
hands. From a reading of this circu-
lar The Echo concluded the scheme
was wholly impracticable, if nothing
worse, and was bound to fail, and that
all who put money into the enterprise
would loose it, and advised the public
to keep out of it. Several took the
advice and now have reason to rejoice
that they did. Mr.. Madison disap-
peared some two weeks ago with
funds variously estimated between
eighty-five and one hundred thousand
dollars. It is supposed that he has
gone to China or Japan.
The following letter, received here
this week by one of the victims of
Mr.. Madison, from the secretary of the
"Cascade Merchandise Corporation"
will be read with interest. The letter
is in our hands but for prudential
reasons the name of the secretary and
the name of the name to whom it is
addressed will not be given at this
time. We may have occasion at some
later date, when additional facts are
ascertained, to print the names and
such further evidence as may be of in
terest to our readers.
Dear Sir:-Our confidence in Mad
ison has been betrayed. He left Fri
day for parts unknown. Tuesday it
was discovered by the fact that he had
given number of checks that were no
good upon different banks in the city.
They found, when we all got to-
gether, that he had left friends and
neighbors here holding worthless pa
pers in amounts ranging from 500 to
S12,50O, total defalcations known to
date amount to about s85, 900 and then
the end is not reached.
He leaves our company without a
dollar. Our company is out of debt
and we have merchandise on hand to
the value of about $500 besides the
office furniture. This can probably
be disposed of at some sacrifice so that
we will be able to realize a little on
the investment.
I would be glad to have each one of
YOU write to me personally what you
think we had better do and then we
can arrange a meeting with the trus-
tees in regard to disposition of the
business.
Personally I have lost every dollar
that I had in the world through Mad
ison. My personal regret that you
have lost money through dealings with
Madison on account of your friend
ship for me, is something that l will
never be able to explain, for there
isn't one of you that would not give
every drop of blood in my veins to
relieve you of the loss that you have
sustained.
If you like it I would be awfully
glad to have any of you come in to
see me.
Please write me by RETURN mail in
order that we may have authority to
act.
Yours very truly