Purchases "Guaranteed."
"The Mercantile Finance Company positively guarantees to allow its customers the privilege of exchanging any stock purchased from it for stock of any other company which may be in the said guarantee fund. Such exchange may be made and repeated as often as desired during a period of five years following the date of the original purchase."
The tremendous activity of Inspector Ketcham, ably assisted by Wooldridge, has been at the bottom of the exposure of this whole abominable swindle. But this is by no means the first case in which these two men have joined hands and caused an upheaval in pseudo-financial circles.
These two men first began to work together in the famous Wild Cat Insurance raids. These raids furnish one of the most dramatic chapters in the financial history of the United States if not of the world. The Wild Cats had stolen millions of dollars. Their methods involved brutal filchings from the poor, heartless commercial brigandage and finally the running to earth and conviction of the ringleaders and promoters of the concerns. The work was all done by Wooldridge and Ketcham.
It would be improper to close the story of the great Rhodus frauds without some mention of Attorney Patrick H. O'Donnell, who, by his wise counsel and careful review of the matters submitted in evidence, materially assisted the two men who had most to do with the unearthing of the frauds.