- 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.
- M. J. Beck, "Benedict & Co.," 225 Dearborn street.
- W. J. Mason, "Benedict & Co.," 225 Dearborn street.
- "Mid-Continent," 185 Dearborn street.
Prey on Chicago Teachers.
From papers found in the Mid-Continent offices it appears this company had been doing a loan as well as an investment business. A letter addressed to Chicago school teachers invited deposits for investment on which 2-1/2 per cent monthly interest was guaranteed.
If the teachers needed money it was offered them at 3 per cent a month. The company's methods and those of the banks were compared in the letter, to the disadvantage of the banks.
Medical students, stenographers, maids in hotels, women of various classes, farmers in many sections of the country and hundreds of men in different employments in the city were disclosed as the dupes.
The following telegram from St. Louis to a Chicago paper briefly outlines the situation on the second day of the raiding there:
St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 11, 1903.—Runs were made on the E. J. Arnold Turf Investment Company, the International Investment Company, The Christie Investment Company and John J. Ryan & Co. yesterday by hundreds of men and women who during the last six months have invested their savings with these co-operative bookmaking concerns in the hope of enormous profits. The International and Christie companies paid all the stockholders who appeared, at first. Then they decamped.
Arnold & Co., in accordance with their announcement which caused the panic among the "turf speculators" yesterday, refused to pay back any stock certificates, although still claiming to be perfectly solvent, and determined to pay the usual weekly dividends until affairs of the company are wound up.
At the offices of John J. Ryan, owner of the Newport (Ky.) Race Track, a riot was averted by the presence of the police; and the excited investors, who were reminded that their stock certificates are payable only on thirty days' notice, went off in a state of rage and anxiety at once amusing and pitiful.