P. L. Tuohy, Philip Bulfer and L. E. Burnett Are
Found Guilty of Systematic Fraud by Means of "Fake"
Contracts--Their Clerk Is Fined $250--Many Poor People
Appear As Witnesses on Fraudulent Employment Bureau Also
Operated.
June 11, 1907, one of the most persistent and systematic "confidence"
gangs that ever operated in Chicago was broken up for a few years at
least, when Patrick L. Tuohy, Philip Bulfer, L. E. Burnett, and J. C.
Daubach were found guilty of obtaining money under false pretenses by
a jury in Judge Ball's court.
These men were organizers and managers of the Chicago Mercantile and
Reporting Agency, with offices at 171 Washington Street. It was a
"fake" employment agency with a side line of swindling by means of
getting contracts on carbon paper. Bulfer, Tuohy and Burnett were
sentenced to the penitentiary, while Daubach, who was only a clerk,
was fined $250. The sentence in prison is from one to five years.