1910. 
031 
OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY. 
More Lewis Money Deals. 
We present herewith a reproduction of 
one of E. G. Lewis’s famous interim re¬ 
ceipts. The history of this case is typical 
of Mr. Lewis’s form of operation. This 
receipt reached us with the following 
letter and statement: 
1 wish you would include my claim of 
$1,822.29 against E. G. Lewis with your 
others. The original account was received 
in certificates of the Development & In¬ 
vestment Company in the following 
amounts : 
Certificates No. 081.$100.00 
“ 693-094 200.00 
“ “ B717 100.00 
“ “ B795-796 . 200.00 
“ “ B845-6-7 . 300.00 
“ “ C189 . .. .. 100.00 
“ “ C1002 . 500.00 
Pass Book No. 1441—balance. 107.41 
Interest on same. 0.44 
Interest on the certificates. 90.00 
Their circular calling the certificates in 
January. 1909. made one believe that these 
would be paid at once. I forwarded the 
eight certificates, which were all past due, 
and the pass book, and requested a remit¬ 
tance in cash in accordance with the pro¬ 
mises in their circular letter. Instead of 
sending the cash they sent me this inteym 
receipt, and when I called their attention 
to this I received a letter dated October 0, 
1909, stating that the matter would be set¬ 
tled within 00 to 90 days. Since then I 
have been unable to get any reply to letters. 
The certificates were of course simply notes, 
but besides the interest on them the holders 
were to receive a share of the profits from 
the Development & Investment Company at 
the end of five years from the date of cer¬ 
tificates. All my certificates matured, that 
is were five years old, last one matured 
February. 1910. and shall be glad if you 
can help me get settlement. 
Cambridge, N. Y. e. a loomis. 
On receipt of the papers in this case 
we wrote Mr. Lewis demanding settle¬ 
ment of this overdue account, and told 
him frankly that no excuse or apologies 
would be accepted. He has had the use 
of Mr. Loomis’s money for more than 
five years. The notes which were issued 
in acknowledgment of the remittance are 
all past due, and a demand for payment 
had previously been made by Mr. 
Loomis. Lewis’s cunningly worded and 
elusive circular calling in the notes 
was a counterpart of the trick worked 
on Thomas Reverdy White, Stock- 
port, Ohio, as reported in The R. 
N.-Y. of May 14, the only difference 
being that Mr. White’s note was issued 
in exchange for deposits in Lewis’s de¬ 
funct bank, and Mr. White refused to 
send the note direct to Lewis. He had 
it presented for payment through his 
bank. Mr. Loomis on the other hand 
loaned this money outright and direct to 
Lewjis on his alleged certificates or notes, 
with the assurance of interest and par¬ 
ticipation in the profits of his Develop¬ 
ment and Investment Company, Mr. 
Loomis accepted his circular calling in 
the notes and promising either cash or 
stock in the Trust Company in good 
faith, and forwarded the certificates with 
statement of their amount and interest 
and expected as promised a prompt re¬ 
mittance for them. His disappointment 
and chagrin may be imagined when he 
received this interim receipt. 
When we presented a copy of Lewis’s 
notes held by the women at Tarrytown, 
N. Y., he wrote as apology to everyone 
who asked him for an explanation that 
he had wanted to pay the notes more 
than a year before, and would have done 
so if it had not been that a lawyer by 
the name of Johnson had demanded a 
fee for the collection of them. Of 
course we proved afterwards that Mr. 
Johnson was not a lawyer, but a post¬ 
master and that he never made any de¬ 
mand for a fee, but sent the notes 
through the bank for collection three 
times during the year, and payment was 
refused and the notes protested. Since 
then we printed an exact reproduction of 
a similar note held by Thomas Reverdy 
White referred to above. Now we come 
with a reproduction of this receipt, which 
was sent Mr. Loomis in exchange for his 
notes when he was expecting and had 
been promised cash. These notes were 
issued by Lewis more than five years ago 
for cash sent him. Will Mr. Lewis now 
explain why he does not pay these obli¬ 
gations long past due? Will some of the 
cheap papers which have hoped to profit 
in his new schemes come forward and 
make some explanation or apology for 
his failure to meet these accounts? For 
their information we will repeat that we 
have something like 50 complaints aggre¬ 
gating nearly $20,000 of similar claims 
against Mr. Lewis. If he has the im¬ 
mense properties and the business that 
he claims to have, and if the American 
Women’s League scheme is turning in 
the immense amount of business and 
money that he claims it is, why in 
the world does he allow himself to be 
branded as a defaulter and refuse pay¬ 
ment on just obligations? 
Stripped of all romance and disguise 
this is what Lewis did: Borrowed the 
savings of poor women and a few men 
by making promises of sharing profits 
with them; and gave his note for the 
money. He defaulted in the interest on 
THE RURAL 
these notes, and when the notes became 
due, he defaulted on them and let them 
go to protest. Then he refused to an¬ 
swer the letters of his creditors. He still 
continues to borrow money from the 
same class of people on the same kind of 
promises made his old victims five to 10 
years ago. Would any honest man bor¬ 
row a working girl’s savings when he 
owed thousands of dollars that he ad¬ 
mitted he was unable to pay? 
We have been calling attention to 
these large accounts simply because they 
give a better idea of the extent of his 
obligations than the smaller ones, and 
yet it is the small accounts running from 
$2.50 up that speak most eloquently of 
Mr. Lewis’s heartless exploit of poor 
women, working girls and old men and 
inexperienced people generally. We have 
induced him to settle a few insignificant 
accounts, but he thinks that we will get 
tired of the effort and leave him free 
to continue to gather in the savings] of 
poor people for his personal benefit, but 
if so he reckons badly. There is and can 
be no dispute about his obligations. Mr. 
Lewis has the money belonging to these 
people. His whole energy seems to be 
devoted to the task of collecting the sav¬ 
ings of poor country people to use for his 
personal benefit. His American Women’s 
League is only one of many in the past. 
He seems to have worked this game with 
impunity. People who have sent in 
money are spread all over the whole 
country, and are not in position to en¬ 
force their claims. It is doubtful that 
they can be realized upon by legal 
process. Six years ago Lewis wrote Mr. 
Loomis a glowing account of his many 
enterprises and promised him a hand¬ 
some profit on his investment within 12 
months of that time. He has been mak¬ 
ing similar promises now to people 
whom he has appealed to* for more 
money. He has defaulted on the obliga¬ 
tions in the past, and we can only leave 
it to the judgment of the people to say 
whether they are satisfied to intrust him 
with their earnings for the future. In 
the meantime we want Mr. Lewis to pay 
up these old obligations, and he is going 
to hear from us regularly until he 
does so. i 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—George J. Smyth, acting 
surveyor of the port, was recalled to the 
stand when the trial of Charles JR. Ileike, 
secretary and treasurer of the American 
Sugar Refining Company, and five ex-em¬ 
ployees of the Sugar Trust, was resumed 
before Judge Martin in the Criminal Branch 
of the United States Circuit Court May 18. 
Smyth testified of the progress of the 
weigh books of the Steamship Olinda, on 
which 11,496 bags of sugar arrived at this 
port from Cuba on April 5, 1907. It is on 
this cargo that the government predicated 
its first count in the indictment, alleging 
that the six defendants conspired to de¬ 
fraud and did defraud the government out 
of duty on some 57,000 pounds of sugar at 
the Williamsburg docks of the Ilaver- 
meyers & Elder refinery. Mr. Hyatt pro¬ 
duced a sketch or plan he had made of 
the Ilavemeyers & Elder docks, showing 
five of the sixteen scale houses. Next a 
cloth was raised that hid a massive frame, 
eight by ten feet, behind the judge’s bench. 
Under objection by tire defence the witness 
identified the massive drawing on the 
frame as a correct plan of a scale such as 
is used for weighing sugar on the Have- 
meyers & Elder docks. He said that on 
November 20, 1907, he was telephoned to 
come to the Havemeyers & Elder docks. 
He went there and found two special 
agents, Parr and Brezinski, in No. 1 scale 
house. His attention was attracted to the 
stanchions of the scale, and on examination 
lie found a piece of steel about six inches 
long in it. Hyatt, the “square” weigher, 
as he was called, tall, spare, and gray¬ 
haired, was the man whose appearance at 
the docks, as has been told before, meant 
the ringing of a bell, whereupon the little 
secret steel device would be removed from 
fhe holes in the stanchions and hidden. 
This device cost the government millions 
NEW-YORKER 
of dollars in revenue. He illustrated, by 
the plan of the scale, how the checker would 
press downward on the steel device, thus 
causing a shrinkage of about eight notches 
on the scales proper when a “draft” of 
sugar—three bags—was being weighed. 
Each notch represented two pounds. He 
also indicated, on a photograph shown him, 
how the checker and government weigher 
sat side by side while weighing sugar. It 
was testified May 19, by another witness 
that a cloth bag weighted with lead was 
used to falsify the weights until the scales 
were boarded up. when the steel spring de¬ 
vice was invented. A pardon from the Presi¬ 
dent of the United States was put into the 
hand of Oliver Spitzer in the Federal 
Building at New York, May 23, and the 
next minute he was testifying for the 
prosecution in the sugar underweighmg 
trials and confessing to systematic under¬ 
weighing by the sugar trust for many 
years. For all the defence know, until 
he appeared, Spitzer was in prison in At¬ 
lanta under conviction for the frauds com¬ 
mitted at the Ilavemeyers & Elder dock. 
But President Taft signed his pardon on 
May 19. the day following a confession 
Spitzer had made to Special Prosecutor 
Stimson. The pardon was kept a secret 
until the very moment that Spitzer was 
called. As a witness Spitzer described in 
detail the weighing frauds and gave evi¬ 
dence apparently connecting Gerbracht, the 
general superintendent, and Bondorhagcl, 
the cashier, who are among the present 
defendants. He did not directly implicate 
Ileike, secretarv of the company, with whom 
he said, he had only a slight acquaintance, 
Ileike lading in the Wall street office all 
the time. After testifying at. the trial lie 
went before the Grand Jury, and the in¬ 
dictment and arrest of James O. Bre¬ 
zinski, once a secret service man, employed 
in tin' sugar cases, followed. It was de¬ 
veloped by the lawyers for the defense 
May 24 through the testimony of a clerk 
of the American Refining Company, on 
the stand as a witness for the prosecution, 
that in each instance where he had noticed 
discrepancies between the city weighers’ 
reports on sugar cargoes and the Govern¬ 
ment weigher’s reports it was H. O. llave- 
meyer. the head of the Trust, now’ dead, 
who directed him to report the differences 
to Cashier Bendernagel, one of the present 
defendants. Much of the testimony offered 
on behalf of the Government was directed 
to prove the knowledge of the frauds which 
were being practiced daily was common 
among clerk", and subordinates, not only 
on the docks, where the cheating took place, 
but in the Wall street offices of the Trust, 
and that high officials gave orders and di¬ 
rections which showed them acquainted with 
all that went on. 
Ex-Gov. Frank West Rollins of New 
Hampshire, pleaded guilty in the Criminal 
Branch of the United States Circuit Court 
at New York to smuggling on >an indictment 
which the Federal Grand Jury had returned. 
Judge Hand forthwith sentenced him to pay 
a line of $2,000. 
Storms in Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado, 
May 20, killed four persons, damaged prop¬ 
erty and crops to the extent of $1,000,000 
and injured a score of persons. Cattle by 
the' score were killed. Four villages were 
swept in Pauls Valley, in Oklahoma. In 
Texas the Collins irrigated farm, perhaps 
the finest of its kind in the country, is 
said to have suffered a loss of many thou¬ 
sands of dollars. Two victims of the storm 
lost their lives in Colorado, one was killed 
in Oklahoma and a third was killed in 
Texas. The town of Maysville. Okla., is 
reported destroyed, ivhile McCarthy, a town 
of 100 inhabitants, and Madill, about tbe 
same size, are reported to have suffered. 
Paoli was also damaged. A heavy snow¬ 
storm prevailed May 21 from northern 
Wyoming into southern Colorado. The 
weather was comparatively warm and most 
of the snow melted as it fell. In Denver 
the snow was as heavy as any of last 
Winter. The storm will be of great benefit 
to ranchers and stock men. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The so-called but¬ 
ter trust, with headquarters at Elgin, Ill., 
is proving a hard proposition for the De¬ 
partment of Justice, and it was considered 
doubtful May 18 if the Government can 
take action ' against it. When a special 
committee of the Senate began Investigating 
the high cost of living months ago it found 
that a few men meeting at Elgin daily 
practically fixed the price of butter for the 
whole country. The Department of Justice 
immediately seized upon this information 
and sent special agents to Elgin to investi¬ 
gate. Also it ordered the United States 
District Attorney’s office at Chicago to get 
busy with its probe. After weeks of prob¬ 
ing,’ however, the Department admitted to¬ 
day that it doesn’t know exactly how to 
proceed. So l'ar none of the legal sharps 
have been able to find a law under which 
proceedings that have a chance of success 
might be brought. The Sherman anti-trust 
act, it was said, would not apply. It is 
possible that if the Department finds it 
impossible to take proceedings againsl the 
butter trust the State of Illinois may insti¬ 
tute proceedings. 
A controversy has arisen between some 
of the railroads and large live stock shippers 
in regard to the space in the cars which 
must be afforded animals in transit from 
one State to another so as to make unload¬ 
ing unnecessary and still comply with the 
twenty-eight hour law. This law provides 
that when the animals are carried in cars 
“in which they can and do have proper 
food, water, space and opportunity to rest” 
they shall not be required to be unloaded. 
The Department of Agriculture has been 
appealed to by both railroads and shippers, 
and to-day the position of the Department 
is tentatively announced as follows: “If 
cars are not loaded beyond the minimum 
weight fixed by the tariffs the Department 
will not for the present raise the question 
as to whether sufficient space is provided 
for the animals to rest, but railroads which 
load beyond tbe minimum and do not un¬ 
load for rest will have to fake their chances 
of prosecution in the courts. It is tin? 
intention of the Department to institute 
a number of test cases and secure rulings 
from the Federal Courts as to what space 
must be afforded. It is claimed by the 
Department that this is the only course 
open, since no power is given the Secretary 
of Agriculture by the law to make rulings 
and regulations regarding space to be af¬ 
forded in cars. In all cases where live 
stock is not unloaded en route into properly 
equipped pens for rest, water and feeding 
the cars must be provided with facilities for 
feeding and watering in transit and live 
stock must when so fed and watered re¬ 
ceive* proper feed and water.” 
At a small meeting of Farmers’ Union 
members held in Fowler, May 6, the opening 
gun was fired in a campaign which the 
California Farmers’ Union. Inc., is to carry 
on for the purpose of erecting a raisin 
seeding house. The new plant is to be used 
by all Farmers’ Union packing houses in 
that section for seeding their goods and 
when built it will be the only house where 
Farmers’ Union goods will be seeded. 
FIGURING IT OUT. 
Last Bummer an Indiana farmer delivered 
1,600 watermelons in a car for $14. a little 
less than one cent apiece. For those same 
watermelons we paid here in the market 
in Iron River 50 cents apiece. Now, should 
the farmer produce twice as many water¬ 
melons for the same cost, or the .same 
amount of watermelons for one-half this 
cost, it would not have affected the price of 
watermelons in Iron River. However, had 
the consumer here received the benefit of 
this cheaper production they would cost a 
little less by one-half cent apiece, or forty- 
nine and one.-half cents. Some time ago I 
bought some cracked wheat, for which I 
paid the storekeeper here five cents a pound. 
There is probably less labor expended on 
the cracked wheat after it leaves the farmer 
before it reaches the consumer than any 
other wheat product. Taking for granted 
that the farmer received two cents per 
pound for this wheat delivered at the sta¬ 
tion and supposing the farmer should pro¬ 
duce and deliver at the station twice as 
much wheat for the same cost or produce 
the same quantity of wheat at one-half the 
cost, it would make a difference of one 
cent a pound on the farmer’s end, or a 
reduction of 50 per cent, while to the 
consumer the reduction would only be 20 
per cent. There is no question but what 
improved methods and increased production 
on the part of the farmer would in none 
of these instances make any difference 
to the consumer. The first transaction 
above is an extreme instance, of course, but 
illustrates the point that you try to make, 
so clearly that, anyone who runs may read. 
I am always impressed with the fact 
when I go to Chicago or any other large 
city and see the immense amount of money 
expended on automobiles, luxurious hotels 
and other places that all that money comes 
out of the difference between what the pro¬ 
ducer gets and what the consumer pays— 
the 49 cents in the case of the watermelons. 
Statistics clearly show that for every man 
that produces a dollar there are fiv.e non¬ 
producers. When one gets all these things 
thoroughly in his blood it is almost im¬ 
possible to keep from becoming a Socialist 
or some other ist. I. w. byebs. 
Michigan. _ 
CROP NOTES. 
In regard to fruit in this part o-f Ohio, 
it is very difficult to learn how much dam¬ 
age has been done by frost, as the condi¬ 
tions are very spotted. From what I have 
noticed the crop will be very fair, perhaps 
60 per cent, of a crop. e. v. 
Ashtabula Co., Ohio. 
We all expected an early Spring, but 
the season has been the reverse. Seeding 
has just commenced (May 21). By six 
weeks’ time the apple blossoms will be 
out. Young pigs are scarce at $3.50 apiece, 
three weeks old. Lambs are plentiful; 
good cows are in good demand. Potatoes, 
50 cents per bushel; butter, good, 25 cents; 
eggs, 16 cents. This is an ox county; 
nearly every farm lias a pair of oxen to 
break up the land and remove the stones. 
Nova Scotia._ w. it. 
VIRGINIA FRUIT NOTES.—Information 
received by the secretary as to the prospects 
of the fruit crop of Virginia has been fur¬ 
nished by meml>ers of the society from all 
parts of the commercial fruit belt. These 
replies have been grouped and averaged with 
the following results. Upper Valley, Roa¬ 
noke to Augusta County, southern boundary, 
75 per cent, for Winter apples. Piedmont 
section North, from north State line to 
south Bedford County, 75 per cent, for 
Winter apples; except Winesaps reported 
irregular, bul appear more promising than 
at May 1. Where Pippins bore heavy last 
year, a light crop now. Middle Valley, 
Augusta County to Rockingham including 
both counties, 77 per cent, for Winter ap¬ 
ples. Ifiedmont section South, south of 
Bedford County, to State line, 33 per cent, 
for Winter apples. Winesap short crop. 
Lower Valley, from southern boundary of 
Shenandoah County to W. Va., 60 per cent, 
for Winter apples, York Imperial, very 
short crop, southwest Virginia, south of 
Roanoke County to State lint', 50 per cent, 
by reports to May 10. Advices dated May 
16 say heavy frost, fruit badly damaged, 
extent' not yet known. All sections report 
a full crop of peaches, cherries, and all 
stone and other Summer fruits. Much more 
general spraying, and better care of orchards 
evident than ever before. 
WALTER WIIATELEY. 
Secretary. 
INTERIM RECEIPT 
.1 
Amount $. /J— f / J — 
Registered <Nh. 16469 
Serriori! nf JtU 
g>atrittg£ (Urufit (Enmpattg 
for the purpose of payment or exchange, as already indicated by the party to whom thia receipt is issued in the ’ Liquidation 
Blank,’* (with which said property was transmitted) and in accordance with the plan and subject lo the terms of the Official Pros¬ 
pectus for the organization of said Company (a copy of which is on the reverse hereof). The property above described, so 
received in trust, is to be held and transferred in accordance with the order of the Board of Directors of said Trust Company in pur¬ 
suance of the plans for final organization thereof as recited in said prospectus. 
This receipt and the rights thereunder arc not transferable except by written consent of the Treasurer of said Trust Company, 
in which event a new receipt in lieu hereof will be issued upon the surrender hereof and payment of a transfer charge of one dollar. 
/ 
The Lewis Recipe For Unloading Personal Obligations 
lis receipt was sent in exchange for notes or certificates when the holder expected cash 
e if you can find the length of t he “ interim. 1 ' It might extend for 1,000 years ! An in term 
n 4-Vv*X 4 4 ,,.i oin.nfa ” Tl™* rmvt ilAflirAfl is t.hA pash riflvrrifint, tn Mr. IjOOinis 
1 the interval between events 
et us see if we can hasten that 
3 IHK 1 mi. it VALA-Jivt i,w/v j t ->» 
The next desired event is the cash payment to Mr. Loomis, 
event.” 
