New-York tribune., 1919-02-14
l41l 81 garten,
Thought Dead.
Found In Arm,
Missing Tax Lien Comns,.
President Enlisted Ins,..
of Jumping Into Riv.,
VIII Be Brought Baek
Traced by Insurance G.
After Being Recognizes
by Women in Washing,o,

If William Lustgarten ever ints,,,
to seek death-and letters written w.
the missing president of the Tsr r.;
Company indicated that he did-bs !.
cided that his body should rest "
soldiers grave, and not on a riv.s.
muddy bottom.
Instead of drowning himself in ~.
river, as he threatened to do IN g..
notes left by him when he dsapDes,.s
last August, Lustgarten enlisted unS..
an assumed name in the United Stats,
army. When the armistice was sigo.,
he was at that part of the front wbs,.
death was most to be expected.
He is now under military ar,e,,
awaiting return to this city, where h.
will face an Indictment charging III.
diversion of funds of the Tax lien
Company.
Il would be worth more to my friend,
dead than alive" wrote Lustrarten !,
one of the notes he left. His friend,
had invested 100000 in the Tax Liz,
Company and subsidiary concerns.
Ruined by War Prices
Lustgarten used some Of these fund,
in building enterprises. When hi,
country entered the war and the cost
of labor and materials scared Lust.
garten was caught in a pinch, and The
company whose funds he had used
faced bankruptcy.
He had insured his life for $4,000
for the benefit of the lien COMPANY
stockho olders. When he wrote that he
would be "worth more dead than
alive" his friends supposed he bad
sought the river as a means of making
what reparation he could.
His death was accepted as fact b.
his friends and his wife, VINO shortly
afterward became the private secretary
of Mrs. Mary Fels, widow of Joseph
Fels, founder of the Fels Fund. How.
ever, when the stockholders tried 70
collect the insurance the INSURANCE
company demanded more proof OF Lus.
garten's death than the notes he left
and hat bearing the initials "W L.
found floating in the river.
Found Out by His Talents
Lustgarten might have Remained
dead" had it not been for his talents
After he enlisted at Fort LeaVenwor:t
it did not take army officers long 70
see that they had a recruit of excsp
tional abilities in the man who in
New York had been a lawyer and
financier, president of the Single 7sr
League Of the state and pres6fnt Of
the Loyal American League, an organ
zation which sought to erase the
hyphen in America, and also president
of the League of Foreign-Bon
Citizens
Lustgarten was detailed to the Els
torical Bureau Of the War Department
in Washington. On this job he helpsd
collect data which Will be used in the
compiling of history of Americas
part in the war.
His assignment 70 Washington vs
! HIS QiINOlHS- ~ Ol A!4iS do SSOluoH A.
the navy were two young women from
Pearl River, n. Y, where Lustgartea
used to have a summer home. One day
they recognized him in a restaurant
and word of his "return to life sOal
spread to New York.
Race to the Trenches
Then began race on the part d
Tax Lien Company Representatives .
get to Lustgarten before he got to The
trenches and to possible death. Nhs
these representatives inquired for Cor
poral Blank at the Historical BurssI
in Washington they found he n'
succeeded in having himself tran''
ferred to the engineering corps Of 1s
309th Regiment.
At Camp Sheridan. Ohio, they learnt
the corporal had departed for CanI
Mills. From Mills they were reteHe'
TO Hobokcn At the port Of enlbaTss
tion they learned that Corporal bSn
was already upon the Atlantic, T.
route to fight for his country.