Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-08-15

lost MILLIONAIRE
Y REPORTED FOUND
ns,ed and LegIess Man Secret
ed by Des Moines Sleuth as
h Ambrose Small
10000 REWARD AT STAKE
nv the Associated Press

r.s Moincs, H., Aug. ia man OF
.vstery. who, according to Frank
%,.,v former assistant chief Of police.
hoen under surveillance here for six
a,tbs as Ambrose Small, missing To-
- theatre owner, may be brought
,rom his place of hiding today harty
announced. .,o. .ho
O. the Toronto millionaire for whom
.rldw;de search has been in progress
.,nc. his disappearance in December
,oIo Harty said he had been in com,
lv.n,cation uni, with TORONTO authorities ana
.hat some one would be here from tne
r.nodian city either today or tomor
row to verify the idcntlsy y. .a1 - % nn.
He said Mrs. Small might come TO LIES
Moines. ,,.,
uarty refused to discuss the condition
:, tbe man he claims to be Smal,, put
Jobn ]. Brophy,- former chieI Oh ae.ec
s,yes, @ who with Marshall Miller, rormer
Gp"d Gupd Harty in his investigation, said
~. ss.. tbe man is living IN an isolated
s, house lust outside OF the city
,ns;ts ; and that he could be reached In
an hours time when wanted.
Man Leglcss and Dazed
pronbv substantiated reports that the
van Il iegless and said he appears 10
~ ' dazed. Erophy intimated. however,
y sS.t be was injured by a train and not
Sv runshot wounds, as previously re-
ported, =, A., ,, h.,,eved 70 be
Small was brought to Des Moines ,nVte ire
than a year ago. he intlma'e9 tnaS .n n'
was brought here by John Dousm,.y, ,r,
tsrm in a Canadian prison for the
shsft of some of the millionaire's stocks
snd bonds. Harty says the man was
s.;rlv we'll supplied with money and that
I. vas left in the care Of private fam
~ Who promised to keep his where-
sbouts q secret.
Dubious at Story
pronby SAYS 1t is impossible to en-
,sse tbe man in lucid, logical conversa-
Hon, He saws his replies invariably are
;Yes' or NO." and frequently mean
ingless. o mn -, .oo, oforod
for Small's return to Toronto.
Local police officials today were IN :.
Nltnpd TO uueSIlOH thS oSohS
BY the detectives.
Smnll's disappearance on the same
a.r that he received a million dollar
check in a business deal, followed soon
sfterward by the disappearance OF John
Douphty. his confidential secretary, ana
the vanishing Of Victory bonds valued
AZ s1bO. 600. caused q world wide search
which seldom has been paralleled.
Starting life as a newsboy, Small had
r;sen To be the dominant figure in the
Eastern Canadian theatrical world. On
December 2. 1919, he disposed Of a part
Of his holdings to the Trans Canada
Theatres. Limited. for approximately
ii $50 900. A check for 81 900, 900 was
riven him and he deposited this in a
Toronto bank. That day he met his
wife for luncheon and told her he
would be home to dinner at I O'Clock
that evening. He was last seen by a
newsboy who daily supplied him with
papers.
Kept Secret Three Weeks
His disappearance was not made pub
lie BY his wife for three weeks. 1t was
asserted that Small had disappeared
once before and that later it had de-
veloped that he was away on party
Because of tendency in this direction
he was supposed to have made a sepa-
ration agreement with his wife, which
had not been carried out.
A week later the case was given a
new and sinister aspect by the disap-
pearance of Doughty and the discovery
that bonds had disappeared from
Small's safety deposit vault at u bank.
Mrs. Small raised the reward she had
offered to $4,000 and then to $50, 900,
adding an additional S15, 900 for the
discovery of the secretary.
Then Doughty was arrested in Ore
son City, Ore, through an identified :
ton made by an amateur detective.
After being brought to Toronto, he led
officials to a cache at the home of his
sister, where $105,000 worth of the
missing bonds were found.
Doughty. while arrested for grand
larceny and kidnapping, was tried only
on the larceny charge. He was found
suilty and sentenced to six years i'm
pflSOOmpnt ot hard Iohnr