The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-04-08
1T MAY BE TRUE, AFTER ALL

nave DEEH lOOieu dS Ddu4g dS tlSGll. 80
it might pass the following story-up
if it did not consider that it was its
duty to print it.
1t viii be remembered that some
weeks ago a story was in circulation
that two men by the name of Pointer
haC Deen here, looking over orange
groves, and had been taken in by
some slick parties and lost over
twenty-five thousand dollars. which
story they told when they returned
north. The Star investigated the
story, but could find nothing TO back
it. The police had heard nothing,
and the hotels declared no persons of
the name had put up with them.
Ocala was thronged with strangers
at that time, few of whom stayed
more than two weeks and it would
have been impossible for even man
who was watching them all the time
to have remembered half of them.
The Associated Press correspon-
dent here sent out denial of the
report, and in doing this he counted
on the men. if there were any such
men, to come forward and make
themselves known and give proof
they had been here. This they could
easily have done and perhaps would
have done so if they had not hoped by
keeping quiet to recover some of
their money. They could almost GER
tainly have recovered it if they had
gone imediately after losing their
money to the sheriff or city marshal.
They had not done anything unlaw-
full, tho they had been very silly, but
the men who swindled them had done
enough to send them to the peniten-
tiary
The victims had not been home
very long before they communicated
with the authorities here, who of
course did not give out anything,
hoping to locate the swindlers in
some other part of the state. But it
is almost certain that soon after their
| big haul they left Florida. They were
most likely an organized gang of con-
fdence men land took some time to
trap the two unwary strangers. They
could not have succeeded without the
| help of some local people.
Intelligence of the affair was soon
communicated to Mayor Anderson,
who has been doing all he could with
his very limited powers to obtain
clues to the thieves. By his permits
sion we print the following letter,
which may bring some information
and will at any rate be of interest.
The Pointers do not write like would
be swindlers, who are squealing be-
cause they were stung. They write
like honest men who thought they
were engaged in an honest transac-
ton, and were deliberately swindled
by men who they thought were
friends
A strong proof of the sincerity of
the Pointers is that they received a
large sum of money by telegraph
while here, and about the date they
give as the time that they were re-
Ilieved of their cash.
The letter follows:
Kersey, Pa, March z, 1921.
Mr.. r. L. Anderson, Jr., Mayor OF
-Ocala, Florida.
- Let
received and in reply will give you as
much information as possible. My
1 father and | left here on Jan. 18th
Ito go South for a warmer climate, tC
live hereafter, on account of my
fathers health On Jan 22nd we met
young man stopping at the Aston
hotel, in Orlando, Fla. who called
himself Charles Kempfer. We be-
. came somewhat acquainted with hin
and he asked us to go with him to ar
: orange grove in his car the following
} Iday, as he wanted to buy some or
anges to send to his home, which he
Isaid was in Cincinnati. We went with
him and when we returned to Or
) lando he said that the following day
he expected his father, and later hi
, informed US his father had sent tel
egram stating that he was at Winter
Haven. He also said that he was go
/ ling to Winter Haven and asked US il
we wanted to go with him, as he wa:
: going alone and thought it would bt
company if we went with him. All il
would cost us would be half the gaso
line, he told US; so we went with him
We arrived at Winter Haven about
4 D. m. He met an old man there
: who he introduced to US as his father
We stopped there an night. The next
I. day we went to Tampa and stopped
. there two nights at the Atlantic hotel
The next day, it being the 29th OF
January, we went to st. Petersburg
and stopped at the Flagler hotel one
night The next day we left at noon
and went to Inverness, where we
stopped one night.
Leaving Inverness at o'clock the
following morning, we went to Ocala
where we arrived about IL a. m. and
had dinner. The four Of US then took
a walk around the town and while
passing one of the hotels there came
across the street man and upon see
ing him old man Kempfer said to us:
81 believe l know that man; that's
the man who made a lot of money for