Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-02-08
SUCKER LIST IS
 VALUABLE ASSET
 WHEN FORM FAILS
Names of Over Thousand Persons Are to be Auc-
 toned

New York, Feb. 7.-Those doctors lawyers, preachers, school teachers letter carriers, firemen, officers O. small banks, soldiers, sailors, wid ows and orphans who live in virtual ly every state of the Union, and wht sent total of $750,O0O to Laura SOY Raymond Latrobe, Ill Broadway under the delusion that they were investing is stocks, may be interested in the news that their names are tt be put on the block and sold to the highest bidder. They represent what Wall Street vulgarly calls Latrobe's Sucker list" This Sucker list represents about the only asset the receiver and his lawyers have been able to find among Latrobe's effects that could be listed as valuable.
 Advertisement of the list for sale in the Wall street district and the issuance of body attachment for Latrobe brought to light the opera tlUns of "Get-Rich- Quick" Walling- ford who made one mistake. It was the mistake of trying to beat Wall streets game with somebody else's money. He lost.
 Two bankruptcy proceedings have been filed, the district attorneys of- flee is looking into the case, and the receiver is scratching around trying to get together the odds and ends in the hope that some return may be made to the customers.
 Alluring Advertisement Used.
 Latrobe in his advertisements of fered to purchase stocks on the in stallment plan for investors. The first payment was 20 percent of the market value of stock, and the balance of 80 percent was to be dis tributed in enght equal payments of 10 percent each.
 "Latrobe had big business built up and would have made success of it." said Edward B. Levy, 200 Fifth avenue, the receiver, eff he had not plunged in the market. From May or June until the end of the year he bought little or no stock for customers. He used the money sent him by people all over the country to play the market. He was short of the market and it went up, against him.
 The brokers customers, who be- gan to complete payments on their stocks in the fall, commenced to de mand deliveries. He could not make them. The receivership followed. The case is particularly fragrant be- cause of the class of people attracted by his advertisement.
 "Latrobe had no less than 25,000 names on his customers list and 1900 of them were live customers. We find on investigation that most of them were people in moderate circumstances. One customer had sent Latrobe $35,000 in cash for the purchase of stocks which were never bought. Many sailors and soldiers just endorsed their government checks over to Latrobe."
 Bull Market Tossed Latrobe."
 Latrobe's case got into the courts on November 20, at the elimination of the bulls market of which Latrobe had been heavily short and which had wiped out almost every cent of the $75O,0OO sent him. Johnf Gioscio of Los Angeles had purchased 1000 shares of Cresson Gold for $1,875 during the summer and paid for it in cash. Gi0scio demanded delivery. It was not made.
 For a month or so Gioscio and the other customers, according to Receiver Levy, were "stalled" by a statement at Latrobe's office tk7t he was not in, and that he was hand ling each account personally and would straighten it out when he re- covered from an illness from which he was supposed to be recovering.
 Worthless Shares Are Found.
 When asked about the assets dis covered, MT. Levy said: "We have raked together few dollars worth. We have made a good turnover of the lease Latrobe held on his office suite at II Broadway. That brought $7,500 in cash. We found few shares of cheap oil and mining stock in the office. They are practically worthless.
 "Then we are informed that the customers list is a very valuable one and will bring several thousand dollars. But it will certainly be a pitifully. small amount that people who believed they were buying stocks will receive. It will total about $10,000 and that will not go far among the 1900 persons who have invested $750,000 in good faith"