Arrested For Fraud

The Electric Silgar Refiniag company frauds, which made euch a stir in this vicinity a short time ago and in which a nnmber of prominent citizens of Washtenaw county were charged with being implicated, were brought up again on Saturdav in a way that was not pkasant to the Friend side of the case. The first surprise was in the fhape of a bilí in chsncery which Chas. R. Whitman, attorney for the Electric Sugar Refining Co., deposited with the county clerk ou Saturday. The bilí had been filed on the 13tb, but was allowed to remaia in the office only long enough to get the clerk's filing, as an object was to keep the affair secret until another matter was disposed of. The bill is against Olive E. Friend and Wm. E. Howard as defendants, and Emily Howard, Orin A. Halstead, Emily Halitead, George Halstead, W. D. Harriman, Emxet F. Pyle, Mell. Barnes, Walton J. Barnes and Wm. H. Hack, as codefendantp, all the partías excepting W. D. HarriniaD, beicg residents of Milan. The bilí gt forth that Olive E. Friend and Wm. Howard had obtaiued money by false represen tatione, consoiracy, fraud and embezzlement trom the Elecric Sugar Refining Co., and that their money had been invested by them ir. land?, houses, household furniture, and in fact, that all the property which these defeudants are possessed ot has been purchased with money ohtained in a fraudulent manner from the Electric Sugar Refining Co. The bill further asserta that after the sugar refining frauds had become known to the public, the defendants mortgaged and deeded away their real estáte and personal property without consideration and for the pupose of defrauding the company. Mortgagee were given to W. D. Harriman, E. F. Pyle, W. H. Hack and others the bill state?, without any consideration being given in exchange. Thpy also allege that the deed given by Wm. E. Howard to his wife, Emily Howard, was without consideration. The bill asserts that this was a conspiracy to defraud the Electric Sugar Retineiy Co. The bül prays the court to set aside these mortgages and deeds, declaring them nuil and void, as they were given after the fraud had become known: It also as-ks that the court compel Olive E. Friend and W. E. Howard to cor.vey their titles in all of their property to the Electric Sugar Refinery Co. on the ground that their property had been purchased with money traudulently obtained from the Electric Sugar Refining Co. and in a lieu of which the cotnpany now wants the property. A temporary icjanctioo was issued by Judge Kinne restraining the def'endants of disposing of any of this property. The eecond surprise in the case came Saturday night in the shape of a telephone message from Hilan stating that sheriff Dwyer,and deputy Bheriffs Sutherland and Brenner had just arrested Mrs. Olive E. Friend, Wm. JË. Howard, Emily Howaid, Orín A. Hulstead and George Halstead, and had left that place with theirprisoners tor Ann Arbor. This report was verified by C. R. Whitman, attoruey for the Electric Sugar RefiDing company, who gave a history of the criminal proceedings in the case. Mr. Whitman went to New York in January and took charge of the case at that end of the line. Officers of the Electric Sugar company, and Lawson N. Fuller, a respected citizen there who had been induced by the Frisnds and Howards to mortgage his home for $35,000 and to invest it in the company, and who is now reduced to poverty, appeared before the grand jury and gave testimony on the strength of which three indictments were issued against the Friend crowd charging them with obtaining money under faise pretense8. Two were issued on the Fuller case and on the company's case. These indictments were kept a profound secret, cot a single persen except those interested in the case being aware that any criminal proceedings were thought of. The case was placed in the hands of lnepector Byrues, of New York, one of the sharpest criminal officers in the country, and he detailed two of his best detectives, Huland and Creed, to work on the case. These detectives watched the parties for whom the warrants were issued and followed their every move unti! the arrest was made. District Attomey Fcllows, of New York, took the indictments of the grand jury to Gov. Hill acid obtained requisitions upon Gov. Luce for the parties indicted. On the strength of these requisitions and the indictments, Gov. Luce issued warrants on Feb. lst for the arrest of the parties. The trouble was to get them all on Michigan soil at the game time. Howard was at Windsor and had not made a move to cross the river. It wag finally decided to arreet the others, and if Howard could not be caught on this side, to arrest him in Canada on the warrant sworn out by the Liverpool stoekholders. But luck was with the officers, for when they reached Hilan they found that Howard had arrived there on the morning train. Mr. Whitman had lost track of Mrs. Friend, but suspected that she was concealed in her house at Milán. To be sure of this, however, on Saturday morning he began hantering Mr. Sawyer for keeping his cliënt concealed so that the papers in the civil suits could cot be served on her. Thia Sawyer denied and 6aid that he would produce her if Whitman wouM gree not to serve another attachment oq her property. This was agreed to, aud Sawyer wrote a letter to Wm. Huck, Mrs. Friend's unele, telling him to have Mrs. Friend open a window and accept tbe papers that were served upin her. The officers that arrested the party were not aware that there any whrranta to be served until the moment they were ready to start for Milan. They supposed that they were going to serve the civil papers only. Arriving at Milan, Mrs. Friend, aceording to her inptructions from her attorney, raised the window and Sheriff Dwyur served the papera in the civil snit. As he ñniahed, deputy Sutherland jumped through the open window and arrested Mrs. Friend and George Halstead before they had time to recover from their surprise. 3VIr. and Mrs. Howard were arrested at their hou?e and Orin Halstead was captured a short time thereafter. Alter given the prisoners time to pack a few necessaries, the party started on the drive back to Ann Arbor, arriving here at 11:30 that night. The prisoners were placed in jail aiid their attorneys notified. Messrs. Sawyer and Knowlton immediately proceeded to get out a writ of habeas corpus for Mis. Friend so that the New York detectives, who arrived in Ann Arbor on Sunday, could not spirit the prisoners off to New ïork without a heari-a, the writ being made retiirnable on Monday morning at ten o'ctack, but the attorneys not being ready for argument, the case was acjourned uniil the same hour on Tuesday. Wrils of habeas corpus were also obtained for the other tour prisoners and they were made returnable at the same time that the Friend writ was. On Tuesday morning the habeas corpus cases were called butan adjournment was had until next Monday morning at ten o'clook to give the attorneys time to prepare their cases, and they will probab y be finally disposed of at that time. The prisoners are still in the county jail and will remain there. The management of the case anJ the arrest of the entire party reflects great credit upon C. R. Whitman, who has had it in charge. The obtaining of the indictments and requisitions in ach s prominent case without allowing the matter to beeoine public, w as an undertaking of no small dimensión?. It had to be done carelully. Everything possible was done to throw the Friend sido and their attorneys off the track in regard to proposed criminal proceedings, with what success the arrests have proved. Coiterill, who has been here ever since the collapse of the company, left for New York as though he had given up all hope. It had been a diffieult case, and reflee's great credit on Whitman, who h")8 managed it from the beginning. He was the happiett man in the city at the success of his plans, while his opponents on the case, Sawyer & Knowlton, were rather eist down for (he same reason. The criminal cases against the entire party who are claimed to be implicated in the frauds, will be pushed to the extreme limit. Whitman's orders from the company were to save what he could of tbe property lor the company, but above all to punish the crimínala. The crowd took their arrest philosophically, Howard apparently feeling his position the most keenly.