The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1940-11-08
Women Swindlers
Go After the Big
Men, Survey Shows
Big lime Financial Frauds
Worked by So-Called
Weaker Sex.

NEW YORK.-Are women more
honest than men?
Ihls timeworn topic of debate has
nao new workout recently follow
ing series of big-time financial
swinoles by business women. culmi-
natlng In the arrest of Mrs. Mary
.. Roberts, 5l-year-old widow prom
ment In Scarsdale. N. Y. club and
soclal circles, on a charge Of for
gerry preferred by the son and heir
OF her employer, the late Samuel c.
1nomson, noted mining engineer.
according to District Attorney
1nomas E. Dewey. Mrs. Roberts ad.
United her populations from her en-
ployer amounted to a half million
collars. A wizard at bookkeeping,
she assertedly performed the re-
markable feat of keeping her opera
tions secret for 10 years. Thomson
died IN the belief that she was an
ideal confidential secretary. But his
son, Clifford, couldn't understand
why his fathers supposed $3.50, 900
fortune had Shrunk to $500 and
investigated.
however, the case of Mrs. Roberts
Is far from being an isolated one.
Some of the nations biggest swim
dies, involving as victims numerous
persons of national prominence,
have been charged within the last
few years TO clever, but unscrupu-
louS, business women.
Millions Taken.
Among them ale Edna V. O'Brien,
who, before she failed for a million
dollars, Swindled such notables as
Anne Morgan and the late Amelia
Earhart; Mrs. Margaret Robinson,
who as an investment counselor,
nlcked trustful investors for an esti-
mated $250,0OO; Ida F. Craven, who
sold hundreds of thousands of dol
lars worth of worthless mining
stock; and Mrs. Lillian S. Schrein,
who, by devious methods, got half
million dollars from Martin Beck,
Shrewd theater manager.
Another woman whose name is as
ISOLATED with the loss of a million
Is Mrs. Lydia B. Koch, recently in
dlcted for fraud by the federal gov
ernment after the courts had re-
strained her from selling securities
In New York state.
Peculiarly, supposedly moneywise
New York seems to be the happy
hunting ground of the big-time wom-
en- PonziS. And the shrewdest fnan-
cierS of the metropolis often appear
in the lists of victims.
Study of Dishonesty.
An exhaustive study of the fe-
male Ponzis has been made. in the
course of her duties, by Miss Bertha
Schwartz, assistant attorney general
of New York state. Confronted by
the recent instances of big-scale fem
mime dishonesty, she has concluded
that. while women are no less hon.
est than men, they can't be regard
ed as essentially more honest.
When it comes to mathematics,
the frail ladies apparently deal in
astronomical numbers. There was
Edna O'Brien, for instance. 1t was
through Miss Schwartz efforts that
Edna, one-time leading investment
counsellor, was sent to prison in
1885. Such names as those of Anne
Morgan, sister of j. p Morgan, and
the late Amelia Earhart, appeared
among her victims.
Miss O'Brien, 48, was accused of
having gotten away with $500, 900
from DR.. Mary Dunno Walsh of
New York city and 100000 from
the ST, 100000 estate of DR.. Walsh's
mother, a Baltimore resident.
But that's not all. A bankruptcy
schedule filed by Miss O'Brien listed
1864, 277 liabilities and S88, asa assets.
The liabilities, according to Miss
Schwartz, represented, for the most
part, money stolen from victims in
fake stock transactions. So Miss
O'Brien's illicit business was just
about in the million-dollar class.