The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-07-13
Credit Frauds Cause
Heavy Loss Yearly To
District Merchants

ed name An interesting feature of
the Investigation was n large sheaf
of kilograms passed between him
and his wife.
Each Of the trunks had a name.
such as Bertha" Mary" Minnie"
which they communicated regarding
consignments, and until the fraud
was discovered the kilograms were
very innocent appearing.
Both are now spending a con-
siderable period of time between
four stone walls.
Found In Warehouse.
Charles Tugendhaft, of New Or
leans, was doing business as the
Peoples Furniture House" He call
ed a meeting of his creditors and Of
fersd to settle at % cents on the dol
lar.
1t was found he owed $50, 900 and
claimed assets Of only $1,000. The
case looked suspicious as he had pur-
chased large quantities OF furniture
during the summer previous. AS he
was unable to explain satisfactorily
what had become of it his creditors
refused his offer.
The National Associations adjust
ment bureau at New York took hold.
By diligent work about $27 900 worth
OF this furniture was found stored in
q warehouse which was claimed by
another man. 1t was marked, how
ever, Charles Tugendaft, Peoples
Furniture Company"
Two Years In Prison.
Philip Da Costa opened small skirt
factory in New Orleans and apparent
ly did a fair business for two years.
He issued a financial statement show
ing assets Of about $4,000 and Habili-
ties around $1,000.
On the strength Of this statement
he obtained a large amount OF credit,
and then astonished his customers by
filing a petition in bankruptcy, bra
zenly setting forth his assets at 1000
and his liabilitiesc as over $4,000.
An Investigator from the national
office went to New Orleans, found
that the bankrupt had kept very in
adequate records, and had withdrawn
a considerable amount of funds shoru-
ly before filing his petition.
1t was found that he had sent
checks for considerable sums to an
alleged sister in Fort Worth, Tex,
This was denied by both of them
at first, but Da Costa and Esther
Caneal were indicted by the Federal
grand jury for perjury, for the COLI
cealment of assets, and for using the
mails to defraud.
The man was given two years in
Atlanta and the woman one year in
the Federal prison for women at Nc
Allister, Okla
The HThree F's."
A concrete illustration of how the
Three F's"-Fire, failure, and for
tune-are worked was shown in the
case of Benjamin Fleischer, a member
OF a group of New York auctioneers
who had for years been preying upon
the paint and varnish trade.
Fleischer made the acquaintance OF
one Matthew Gardner, a paint dealer,
at a time when business was dull. He
induced the latter to let him sell"
about 5000 worth Of goods for him.
Fleischer turned over $500.
Gardner's complaint was received
with the warning to keep still and the
promise that if he would order all the
goods he could get on credit and in
sure them Fleischer would see to it
that there was a fire. Gardner fol-
lowed his advice and the store was
burned.
The stock had been insured for
$4,000. but the fire was not a success,
and the fire marshal detected foul
play" The whole story was dragged
out of Gardner. While he was under
indictment for arson he went into
bankruptcy and succeeded in settling
with his creditors for 10 cents on the
dollar.
FIeischer, the fake auctioneer, was
sentenced TO from ten to twenty years
in prison and Gardner to from three
to six.