Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-04-29
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison
WASHINGTON. April 30.

|
Mexico. where flowers blcEcn. the
birds sing sweetly, the sun shines
brightly and worry is unknown.
That is where he was heard from
last True, Mr.. Fuller may be liv-
ing under some other name now,
which is somewhat of pity, for
under the proud name of James
George Fuller or slight variations
thereof, M. Fuller built up for
himself quite an amazing criminal
record.
II began in 1925 at Science
tady, NY, and ended just re-
Gently in a blaze of glory in
Washington. DC. where he
worked several con games that
took in some of the biggest
and the sharpest and the
shrewdest men i'm the country.
! That's what Mr.. Fuller is prob
ably laughing about today, even
though he had to take 1t on
the lam.
At the tIop of Mr.. Fuller's list Of
victims was that stalwart son OF
South Boston, ex-Gov. James G..
Curley of MASSACHUSETTS,, and ex-
mayor of Boston. To Jim's credit
he told the story on himself, under
oath and before the Truman cccn-
mittee of the United States Sem
ate, investigating national defense.
That took courage, for it's hard
for an ex-governor to confess that
he has been taken in. But Jim's
sad experience is a good moral
lesson to other big shots who listen
to the siren songs of promoters
with fancy schemes for even such
noble motives as helping the war
effort while getting rich at the
same time.
But as the governor tells it, Full
Ter was a charming man, who
could talk on any subject-music
or the arts. He must have been
slick. He talked Curley into be-
ci,.ning president of a company to
develop a kalunite mine in Utah.
to serve without pay, to put no
money in-just to lend his name.
the good name of Curleyo to the
letterhead. Kalunite isn't in the
dictionaries, but it's supposed to be
stuff that aluminium could be made
of and purely from patriotic mo-
tives. Fuller was interested in help
ing the government in wartime.
For decoration to his firms
letterhead, Fuller got Donald
Wakefield Smith, former Ma
tional Labor Relations Board
member, and he filled up his
directorate with hot shots from
Reynolds Metals, BOhn Alumni
mum, Trans-LuX, and similar
first-linc q Tnpanies. For Mt
torney, he retained, but never
used. no less legal light than
the Washington representative
of WHY'S Overland, General
Electric and Pan American
AirlineS.
Fuller got out of the District OF |
Columbia jail in June, 194l, where |
he had been residing since Febru-
airy on two charges involving false
pretenses and bad checks. In July
he met Curley at Washington's |
sWank NARROWER hotel. The Kalu-
mite company which Fuller then
formed was apparently just front
to establish his character and as
sociates-all leading citizens.
With that backing Fuller formed
another company, Engineers Group |
Inc. which really did business. 1t
set up as a kind of agency which |
offered to help building contractors
get FILA loans for housing develop
ments to be built as defense E,Is-
ing projects. Fuller talked several
building firms into giving him a
contract, which was signed late in
September The private building
firms advanced Fuller some S2l ,OOo.
but they never got any contracts
nor their money back.
Curley got suspicious in NoVem-
Der. There was a matter OF giving
Fuller $50 shares of brewery stock
to be used as collateral for a loan
which Curley wanted to make.
Fuller blandly offered to get the
money for him and Curley turned
over the stock. Curley finally go'
check for $500, but it bounced.
He got another check, and 1t also
bounced. Curley came TO wash
ington and after some difficulty
he got the stock back, but he had
to make good on the bad cheek.
Then Curley learned that Fuller
and other business in Engineers
Group CurleY resigned as presi-
dent of the K1lunite company In
Deceuher a sadder and a wiser
man.
The Engineers Group, Inc.
victims didn't get wise until
January, when their lawyer
came TO Washington from New
York. seized the books and
found everything all wrong.
About that time exit MIR. Fuller,
no doubt laughing.
In all those dealings, no one mac
ever thought to check up on Full
Ier's record which would have
shown arrests and Jail sentences
for grand larceny. forgery, diso--
derby conduct, false pretenses ana
general principles in Schenectady
Los Angeles, New York, Pontiac,
Chicago and Washington.
The whole story might never
have come out but for one slip.
Fuller, in one of his kilograms. gave
the Truman committee as refer
dice. The telegram 81 to the
committee and they started check
ing. 49,.
Scrap metal dealers still give
price administration enforcement
its worst problem. Auto breakdowns
In 1871 numbered 81 million, about