Gambling and Bookmaking Charged Against the "Get-Rich-Quick"
Syndicates, Including Bennett's.
True bills were voted against proprietors of "get-rich-quick" turf
concerns by the grand jury. Indictments were returned in court, and
capiases for the arrest of the accused persons placed in the hands of
the sheriff. Those against whom bills were voted are:
Frank E. Stone, alias Eddie Dunne, Security Savings Society, for
bookmaking. W. R. Bennett, Security Savings Society, for bookmaking.
W. I Bennett, Security Savings Society, for bookmaking. D. W. Moody,
Security Savings Society, for bookmaking. Louis Morrison, alias L. M.
Morrison, Co-Operative Trust Company, for bookmaking. Edwin E. Farley,
for keeping a common gaming house and poolroom. Charles Carroll, for
keeping a common gaming house and poolroom. J. W. Turner, alias J. W.
Taylor, for keeping a common gaming house and poolroom. Miss S. Beck,
stenographer for W. R. Bennett, for bookmaking.
One puzzling feature of the prosecution of the turf people is that
although the bills accuse them of keeping common gaming houses and
operating poolrooms, officers and lawyers interested in the cases say
the promoters of the concerns never really attempted to win their
advertised profits by betting on the races. It has been alleged that
not one of them speculated with deposits, but simply sent dividends
back to investors out of their own money. It is now suggested that
the accused persons will either have to admit they were gambling or
confess that their alluring statements about winnings on the race
tracks were glittering frauds.
The turf swindle was prosperous until February, 1903, when the crash
among the St. Louis contingent precipitated a "run" on all of the
concerns then in operation. As it was not the policy of the swindlers
to pay, they either closed their doors and fled or the police
conveniently interfered with their business.
Prior to the crash at St. Louis there were several notable failures
and disappearances. On July 9, 1902, the Al Fetzer Co., of Hammond,
Ind., "failed," and about a week prior Turf Commissioner W. W. O'Hara,
of Cincinnati, absconded. Both of these events shattered many dreams
of riches. In the Fetzer case heavy rains were said to have broken the
sure-thing combination by which the company was to win fortunes from
bookmakers on the race tracks.
The amounts lost by the credulous investors in Fetzer's scheme,
which, it was declared, "could not lose," reached into the hundreds
of thousands. The towns that suffered the most were Hammond, Ind.,
and Appleton, Wis. It was reported that the people of the latter town
had suffered to the extent of $50,000, and dozens of small cities are
believed to have fared almost as badly.
The clients of the concern in Appleton included a number of well-known
business men and people of all classes. They lost from $25 to $200
each. A poor widow who had put in all her savings was left penniless
and was obliged to seek aid from the city authorities.
Fetzer conducted a large part of his business through the mails. He
advertised extensively in the newspapers and found many who were
willing to "play the game." Dividends of $5 a week for $100 invested
were promised and were paid punctually up to about July 1, 1902. He
said he had a system of playing the races that could not be beaten,
and the success of the early investors convinced the doubting ones
that his system was all right. The information of the "snap" spread
rapidly and Fetzer's business increased accordingly. No one thought
that dividends of 260 per cent were improbable when they read of the
"long shots" that won races on the Chicago tracks.
Fetzer attributed the downfall of his business to the rainy weather
and said that he had been unsuccessful in picking "mudders." His
system of betting, which was to make everyone rich by the end of the
summer, went to pieces with each succeeding thunder shower, and the
investors received the doleful information that the company had lost
its own capital, as well as the money entrusted to it.
An investigation into the affairs of O'Hara at Cincinnati revealed a
state of affairs almost beyond belief. More than 4,000 letters which
were received within a week after O'Hara's disappearance were opened.
They were from every state in the country, and many were from Canada.
Amounts from $5 to $500 in checks and mail and express orders were
enclosed. The total amount of the money in the letters opened was
$5,518, and Inspector Holmes stated that O'Hara got away with $7,500
which came in the mail the same week, making a total of over $12,000
for one week's business. O'Hara's books showed that from July, 1900,
when he commenced operations, until he skipped out in June, 1902, he
had received from credulous "investors" the enormous sum of $465,000.
The inevitable crash came early in February, 1903, and the police
and grand juries at Chicago, St. Louis, New York and other cities
got busy, but the money had been transferred to the pockets of the
swindlers, who had the choice of paying lawyers and possible fines or
traveling in foreign climes until the excitement blew over.
February, 1903, Detective Clifton R. Wooldridge raided and closed the
following named turf investment companies in Chicago:
H. B. Blackstone, E. J. Arnold, 95 Dearborn street.
Harry Brolaski, "Brolaski & Co.," 356 Dearborn street.
Henry Thompson, "Brolaski & Co.," 356 Dearborn street.
Mattie Woodin, "Benedict & Co.," 225 Dearborn street.