Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-12-31
|ND|CT MEN. WHO
SOLD MARI STOCK
TAMA COUNTY GRAND JURY
HOLDS THREE WHO PRO-
NOTED TEXAS CONCERN.
PRODUCT WAS ALLEGED TO
BE VALUABLE FERTILIZER
To Evade Iowa eluesky Laws Pro-
motors Sold "intsrssts" in Property
At So Much Per "lntersst"-Sevsral
Tama County Men AIlege They
Lost Heavily Thru Transactions.

Toledo. Dec. 3l.-After exhaustive
the Tama county grand
jury returned indictments against
officers OF the Iowa Texas Develop
ment Company, a corporation organ
lied under the laws of the state OF
South Dakota, charging them With
conspiracy to defraud and with vio-
lation Of the Iowa "bluesky" law.
The officers indicted. all OF whom
are under arrest or have given bonds
for their appearance. are w. n.
Harrod, of Des Moines. president;
f. r.. Casebeer. Des Moines. \ sales
man for the company, and A. f..
Budlong, Toledo. also salesman for
the company.
Forming company with capital
stock of q million dollars they elected
themselves to office and proceeded TO
sell stock for the alleged purpose OF
exploiting a huge deposit Of green or
blue mari In Leon and Freestone
counties. Texas. This mari was de-
ton for use as a commercial fer
tilizer. Officers and representatives
OF the company, in soliciting buyers
of the stock, represented that the
company had a contract for the sale
of this mari, properly pulverized, to
the amount OF $1,000 tons, $4,000 tons
to be delivered In each of the years
OF 1890, hS2l. and 1922.
The cost OF digging this mari pull.
7verizing IL and sacking 1t ready for
shipment was represented to be SO
little that there was a net profit of
SIP on every ton to the company.
Orr Bros. a Chicago contracting firm
was represented to have agreed IL
take entire charge OF the extracting
of tho mari, It's pulverization and It's
sacking. and put 1t free on board cars
at Buffalo. Tex. at q cost to the COM
pany OF IS a ton. 1t was further rep
resented that railroad company had
signif1ed its willingness to construct a
spur to the lands on which the mar
was located. such lands being owned
by the company or held by 1t under
leases.
In attempting to secure investors
in the company statesmen represent
ing 1t are alleged to have claimed
personal knowledge of the value OF
the mari as a fertilizer. !,
Technical Evasion Of Law.
1t Is further alleged that In an at
tempt to circumvent the Iowa blue
sky" law the company and its off,
GERS refrained from selling stock in
this state. but In lieu thereof and Fol
the fraudulent purpose Of securing
by indirection what the statute for
bids sold in the state OF Iowa wha,
the company aud it's officers desig-
mated as interests in the lands ane
leases owned by the company. there
being $1,00o,OO0 worth of these in
terests" authorized by the company
These interests were sold to Tams
county buyers at 81 each and q, larg,
number Of men invested In them
In the sale Of these interests" tn,
only thing emphasized was the valu,
OF the mari. claimed to consist O
potash, lime and phosphates, and t
be located conveniently~to the i'm
poverished lands of the south, con
stantly in need Of fertilization.
Recently this mari has been ana
lyzed in the best equipped laborator,
in the United States and has beer
declared to be commercially value
less.
Among the Tanla county men VIII,
were induced to sink their money il
this alleged fraudulent enterpris,
were John kieiy. of Todedo, who in
vested $4,000. DR.. C. M. Morford
Jerry Wild, E. f. Faster. Bent Brown
Ed Dowd, s. n. Dodd, and other resi-
dents Of Toledo or vicinity.
A. E., Budlong also bought SAC, 600
worth of the shares" but it lis al
legged that the company returned to
him notes he had given Tin an ae-
gregate sum of $4,000 and that the
rest of his holdings of Interests
We're paid for by his commissions on
the sales Of interests" to his neigh
bors.
1t is said that the evidence shows
that CaseDeer, the leading company
salesman, received % per cent of all
receipts for the sale Of Interests"
1t is further rumored that the COM
pany paid him in excess of $4,000
for his services as an interests
salesman in q period covering less
than year.
The notes given by the purchasers
OF interests" were to have been held
by the company. according to the al
legged representations Of the statesmen,
Instead OF that they were sold, some
Of them to Iowa banks at the ruin
GUS discount Of SO Is per cent.
It Is further alleged that the COM
pany used mono OF the money 1t re-
ceived from the sale of interests
for the development of its fertilizer
property but that tho money was
spent in the drilling Of three oil wells
on property owned by certain officials
Of the Company individually and in
which the company itself had no in
terest.
DRUG COMPANY FINED.