New Britain herald., 1922-09-27
MILLION DOLLAR
 FRAUD CHARGED
Seven Arrested and Warrants
 Issued for Nine More

Il
 900 in the last nine months, post of
 flee inspectors yesterday raided tn,
 offices of the Crager System, Inc, l4t
 West Forty-second street, arrestni ,three of the principals. At the same
 time federal agents arrested foul men in Chicago, and nine warrant , were issued for officers and salesmer of the corporation elsewhere. Arrested in the raid here were
 Benjamin Crager, president; his fa' Ither, Henry Crager, ce-president
 and Joseph E. Dorn, the latter g
 broker at ? Rector street. They were released under $0,ooo ball each by United States Commissioner Hitch.
 cock after their attorney. Thomas A McGrath, had entered a general de-
 nial of all the governments allega-
 tons.
 Those placed under arrest at Chi-
 cago were Samuel Safr. Samuel Getz-
 Ter, H. F. Sideman and Samuel Ros-
 enblatt who were held in S25.00o
 bail each charged with having made false representations, orally and in
 circulars, in the sale of stock. According to the federal authori-
 ties, the accused men introduced a
 new and highly successful system of
 stock "reloadng" when they dis
 posed of stock in a tire corporation and a glass casket corporation, two concerns which had retained the Cra- ger battery of high powered stock salesmen to sell their shares. Postal Inspectors said that the Crager sales men, in their zeal to make sales, had represented to prospective buyers that a national law making a glass casket mandatory at every burial was a matter only of months
 | Fifty Men Push Sales. l The Federal agents also said that the salesmen, fifty of them and each master of the technique of per suasion, had been able to induce stockholders in both companies to double and treble their holdings. Dis erect hints at big developments, a partially masked desire to buy the stock the victim already held. rather than to sell him more. were some of the methods the Federal inspectors laid at the door of the Crager sales men,
 These methods, said Assistant United States District Attorney Peter 1 J. Mccoy. acting like a magnet on s1,o00,oo0 in nine months, drew be- tween s3,0o0,0o0 and s4000,0o0 into the coffers in the last two years. He said that while the tire and glass casket concerns were live and going enterprises, the accused men also dabbled in fifteen dead and dying corporations, leading the stockhold- CTS in the moribund concerns to be- lieve that prolific resurrection was at hand.
 Two weeks ago. c. M. Daniels of 24 Main street, Boswell, Pa, complained to postal inspectors in Philadelphia. He had been approached by Crager salesmen who wanted him to increase his holding In the glass casket com pany. The information he supplied to the Philadelphia authorities caused them to communicate with the post office staff here and Inspectors Ma than Noile and Thomas Fitch were assigned.
 Describes Alleged Methods.
 According to their reports and the allegations which Mir. Mccoy made the basis of his indictment, the prin- cipals in Crager Systems, Inc, would make an arrangement with the offi- cers of a corporation, which was in need of funds, whereby the Crager sa]esmen would dispose of any treas- urv stock that might be on hand. In other cases, according to the govern ment's charge, stock of defunct cor porations would be acquired
 Then the circulars would begin to go out. Crager salesman, who got his assignment from the lists of stock holders, would visit a "prosp oct v This salesman, as Mir Mccoy told it. would tell tht prospect that he under stood he held, say, 100 shares anu would obtain an option on the stock' Then anoher salesman would appear, said Mir. Mccoy, and offer to buy the stock outright. As a rule the stock- holder refused to sell, the option holG- ing him back. Next said MT. Mc- Gov came d letter from some stock firm. trying to buy the mans stock, and finally another salesman who ar rived ana llllOIiileu tio "''NfN'o that big things were ahead of the company in which he held shares, and that a new issue of stock had been voted The salesman would then It. form the lucky one that he had been allotted 100 or so shares. And the stockholder would promptly sab scribe.
 Actually continued Mir. Mccoy there were cases where yet another repre-. sentative showed up.
 He'd look the man over,' said MT. Mccoy. "and say that the salesman who had been there last week must have had something On his mind when he said that the lucky one had been allotted only 100 shares. The real facts were, he would explain, that the allotment had been 25o shares onl then the stockholder would buy the additional 150 shares
 Tells of Casket Company Deal.
 II, his complaint Inspector Noile charged that the alleged scheme was thought of by the defendants some time in January last and that the ne with the casket company began in April The negotiations, he added, were for the purchase of all ,f the unsold stock remaining in the control. for resale.
 Noile also said that a requirement vas the turning over of stockholders ists to the Crager salesmen, He also ,harged that the defendants repre- ,ented to their prospective purchasers