Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-06-09
Lang Pleads Guilty
To Getting 100000
In SwindIes Here
'SeII-und-Switch' Deals
In Stocks Admitted;
Known as F. J. Hill

B. Edwin Lang pleaded guilty in
District Court today to charges in
volving an estimated 100000 stock
sWindle in the District.
Known here as Frank J. Hill,
erstwhile head of the brokerage firm
of Crumpton & Co.. Lang entered a
guilty plea on two counts of an in
decentralization of the Securities
Act of 1888 and the mail fraud
statute.
The scheme by which the defend
ant was accused of dipping more
than 400 residents of the District
and nearby States involved large
scale sell and switch" deal in stocks
of we'll known company.
Assistant United States Attorney
Cecil R. Heflin, who represented the
Government in the case, said follow
ing the arraignment that 1.-The plea,
insofar as this Office is concerned,
disposes of a case in which a num-
Der of small investors in the Wash
ington area lost their life savings"
Sentence Is Deferred.
William H. Collins, former assist
ant District attorney, who repre-
sented the defendant, entered the
guilty plea and asked that sentence
be deferred until sometime next
week.
Justice James M. Proctor granted
the request. Lang, who has been
held under $4,000 bond since his
arrest in Philadelphia, May Is, did
not ask the court to set bond.
The fashionably- dressed defend
ant. who appears older than his So
years. was supported in front of the
judges bench by two deputy mar
shals. He seemed on the verge Of
collapse. 1t was learned later that
he had collapsed en- route to the
court from the District Jail.
The Securities and Exchange
Commission, which, with the Post
Office Department, has investi-
gated the case. was represented at
the arraignment by Edward R. Haig-
Ter, who has had charge of the
investigation since several months
prior to the indictment. 1t was re-
turned in District Court here in
April, 1887.
Traced to Philadelphia.
Lang was traced to Philadelphia
by Mr.. Haigler and Inspector Her.
bert N. Graham of New York. ma
tionally known investigator for the
Post Office Department. His arrest
climaxed an intensive search follow
ing his disappearance from the Dis
trict shortly before he was indicted
Crumpton e. Co. was closed under
a temporary injunction In 1885. less
than two years after its organiza-
ton. A permanent injunction fol-
lowed year later.
The indictment stated that the
practices of the brokerage concern
included an expensive mailing and
advertising compaign directed to
holders of common stock in a large
utility company.
These holders, the indictment con-
tinued, were urged to turn in their
common stock in exchange for a
certificate calling for delivery of pre-
ferred stock in the same company.
The victims, it was stated, we're per-
suaded to purchase preferred stock
of twice the value of their common
holdings and were told that divi-
dends would soon be paid on the
preferred in such amounts as to pay
the balance owing on the contracts.
Visited by Statesmen.
Persons replying to the mail and
advertising campaign then were Wis
tied by statesmen who accepted the
securities and forwarded them to
Crumpton & Co., the indictment
further stated, adding the charge
that there was nothing to indicate
the company had any of the securi-
ties.
More than 400 persons were in
duced to turn over holdings of Sc
curities and cash." Mr.. Haigler ex-
planned today, land the company
realized approximately $4,000 in
this manner. But the value of the
securities, at the time of the in
dictment 1.-TWO years later, had ap-
preciated to a figure of about $780,
OOO."
At the time of his arrest, Lang
was working for memorial park
concentrating the name of Robert
E. Baker. According to investigators,
he readily admitted the alias, was
arraigned before a United States
commissioner as B. Edwin Lang
and did not contest removal pro-
ceedings to the District for arraign-
ment Is Frank j. Hill.