The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1921-04-15
swiNpLERs CATCHING SUCKERS
MADE ocALA THEIR HEAD
QUARTERS

or the letter addressed Co Mayor
Anderson OF this city from H. r.
Pointer or Kersey, Pa. the Tampa
Times comments as follows:
Pointer brought his father to Or
Iando in january for the benefit OIL
his health There they met young
man who gave the name Of Charles
Kempfer Kempfer had an automobile
and pretended to be looking for al
good investment In orange grove prop
erty. He invited the Pointers to ac.I
company him on a tour OF the orange
growing section, and they accepted the
invitation The party went first toI
Winter Haven, where they met Kemp
Fer's father a very dignified old
gentleman. Next they came to Tam
pa. spending two days here at the
Atlantic hotel January 20 they went
TO St. Petersburg, thence TO Inverness
and finally TO Ocala, where the swind-
Iers had their plant on the third floor
of a prominent hoteI-the name OF
which is omitted in the letter, how
ever The game worked is the same
by which hundreds Of others have
been swindIed 1t has been exposed
in the newspapers so many times that
it is almost beyond belief that there
are still men, in the country-at least
men with a sufficient amount of in
tel1igence or shrewdness to have ac-
cumulated a considerable amount of
money-to fall for it. The elder
Kempfer recognized man who was
passing them on public street as
one who had made a lot of money
for the Judge at ST. Louis. The man
was accosted, and after being pressed
with questions. admitted that he was
the man. Replying to further uues~
lions be confided that the opportunity
for big winnings was still open. The
party were steered to the offices OF
the exchange in a hotel. and Pointer
and his father were amazed-and no
doubt their cupidity aroused the
magnitude Of the transactions they
Witnessed They We're inveigled into
investing in some stocks with
their friends. and won large sums.
They had landed a fortune and the
huge roll of money was about to be
delivered to them when the manager
of the exchange held up the transac-
~, by a demand for evidence that
they would have been able to pay in
the event that they had lost This
necessitated the Pointers returning to
',air home in Pennsylvania and rails
ing s25,600. They returned on the day
appointed and produced the money.
They were felicitating themselves on
their good fortune and waiting in one
of the rooms of the exchange for the
money when the man who had been
managing the tranaction appeared and
in an excited manner announced that
he had risked all Of their money on
another deal and lost IT. The Pontz-
ers did not appear to realize. even
after this experience. that they had
been swindIed They made no eom-E
plant to the authorities, but returned
to Pennsylvania. where it finally |
dawned upon them that they had been
duped by a gang of crooks. Then tney
wrote to Mayor Anderson But in the
meantime the operators OF the ex-
change had packed up their equip
ment and moved and of course no
trace of them was to be found.
While The Times would rejoice
to see the operators of all Of these
swindling games who follow the
crowds to Florida each winter given !
life terms in the penitentiary. II has
very little sympathy for their dupes.I