Loses All of Savings.
Julius Radisch, 2509 South Halsted street, a German who lost $700 in the wreck of the National Fireproofing Company, told the police of the unique methods used by Johnston in selling him the stock. He asserts that Johnston told him that the stock would pay at least 8 per cent dividends, and as proof of the prosperity of the company took him to the downtown district and showed him several skyscrapers which he claimed were owned by the corporation. Radisch also says that Johnston also pointed out a bank where he said the company had immense sums on deposit. The story told by Radisch is peculiarly a sad one, as the money lost by him in the crash of the Fireproofing company represented the savings of a lifetime of hard labor. Shortly after the discovery that his money was lost his wife died.
FORGED NOTES CAUSE FIVE ARRESTS
$10,000 STOLEN FROM BANKS
THROUGH PLOT OF SWINDLERS
Prisoner accused as principal in mammoth swindling plot in which many banks are victims, and a facsimile of one of the notes by which money was obtained.
BOND USED BY THE SWINDLER. GEORGE F. JOHNSON
One Capitalized at $1,000,000.
The concerns most frequently used by the men in their transactions, the police say, were known as National Fire Proofing Company of New York and the Federal Trust Company of South Dakota. The fire proofing company was stated to be capitalized at $1,000,000 and the trust company at $100,000.
Offices for each concern were at 1138 Broadway, New York. From there, it is charged, circulars and pamphlets were sent out to investors in all parts of the country, and it was also a practice of these concerns, it is alleged, to open accounts with banks and exchange bogus notes for good ones.