This, it must be remembered, is strictly in accordance with Lawrence & Co.'s plan of operations, as set forth in their circular; the customer's money was wanted; an ostensible profit made, and original capital and profits again invested, together with the additional funds sent by the sanguine customer. It was a scheme of consummate ingenuity. How successfully it worked will be shown further on. Suffice it now to say, that, by means of these and similar glowing statements of gains, the victim was bled of every dollar that could be possibly squeezed out of him; and when at length he could not, or would not, remit more, Lawrence & Co. sent him this or a similar letter, thereby giving him what they used to call THE ROYAL BOUNCE. OFFICE OF LAWRENCE & Co., BANKERS AND BROKERS, NEW YORK, November 22, 1879. Dear Sir-We regret to have to inform you that, owing to the terrible fluctuations in the stock market during the week, and the great demands upon us for money, together with the unusual stringency of the money market, we have been forced to close out all the stocks we have been carrying, with our own capital, and have had to do so at a great loss to us. Feeling that we have done all that we could, even to inflicting additional heavy loss upon ourselves, we can only hope to be able to retrieve our losses, as well as to help you recover your losses, by new ventures, where, with a brighter outlook in the stock market and renewed efforts, the losses may be soon forgotten in the larger gains. Respectfully, LAWRENCE & Co. CHAPTER II. WHO WAS LAWRENCE & CO. Who and where was the firm of Lawrence and Co., to which the mails were weekly bringing in drafts, checks, and money orders? THE FIRM AND THE OFFICE. Secking out their office, we should have found it, not as represented in their letter headings, occupying the elegant white marble building of Drexel, Morgan & Co., and including the whole block between Wall Street and Exchange Place, but instead, in two small rooms in the second story of a building around the corner, and facing on Exchange Place. [See page 69.] The firm in September last was Benjamin R. Buckwalter, a man who has for years perpetrated different money-making rascalities. But little is known of Buckwalter's early life. He came from Newark, Ohio, where he was in the Sewing Machine business, and afterwards in the same business in Newark, N. J. Later he is found dealing in the manufacture of quack medicines. Buckwalter was the "Dr. Gounod, Paris et New York," of Sandaline notoriety. Those who know say that the portrait of the benevolent old gentleman, which formed so striking a feature of the advertisements of this Sandaline, was originally a likeness of a celebrated Union general, to which the fertile Buckwalter added a pair of spectacles. [See page 36.] This venture, however, was not profitable but, one of his former clerks reported, resulted in a loss of $35,000. Buckwalter's first appearance in Wall Street was about 1875, when he established the firm of Buckwalter & Co., which was followed by Bradley & Co., and afterwards by Lawrence & Co. This last concern evidently gave Buckwalter much anxiety; he was continually putting new men in charge, and assigning it first to one and then to another under some bill of sale or agreement. In order to protect himself, in case his swindling was detected, he SANDALINE (Compound Fluid Extract Sandalwood.) Price, 81.00. 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Supplied through Druggista or direct. Thousands of written testimonials on record of truly wonderful cures, open to inspection of all. Correspondence or personal calls receive prompt attention at our parlor offices, E. J. Gouned v@g "1 No. 5 West 14th Street, NEW YORK CITY. usually made out these papers and sometimes had them filed at the County Clerk's Office, so that a suit to recover money or a judgment in a civil suit only would lie against an irresponsible clerk, while he himself, who took all the proceeds, could escape. Indeed, he was always sure to doubly intrench himself behind the protection of these bills of sale. We find that on September 1st, 1879, a certificate was on file in the County Clerk's Office, to the effect that one party had the sole right and control of Lawrence & Co., while at the very same time Buckwalter executed another bill of sale to another individual. This last bill of sale under the celebrated articles of agreement, which is a most extraordinary document, is given further on. In 1878, Buckwalter employed a man, whom we call John Doe in the following agreement, to conduct this business for him, giving him authority and sole right to the name of Lawrence & Co. This individual in the spring of 1878, one morning was found missing, having drawn the funds in the bank, and taken with him such papers and documents as he saw fit, leaving an authorization to one Benedict to carry on the business for him. Benedict assigned his powers and rights to one Dibble, and then the "Dibble" was to pay for about 10 days, when Dibble assigned to Buckwalter again. Buckwalter by a series of threats and terrorisms forced this former clerk back into his service. Opposition concerns sprang up about Lawrence & Co. like mushrooms. Benedict started the firm of Benedict & Co. with John Doe. Dibble and one Sniffen started Adams, Brown & Co., and then Dibble sold out to Buckwalter for $5,000-and Sniffin remain awhile. Then Dibble started the firm of Dibbell & Co. Broad st.,) with Buckwalter as partner with a half interest. After a little, Dibble bought out Buckwalter and then started another firm of Dibbell, Morgan & Hatch. Then Benedict started Allen, Jordan & Co., and sold out afterwards to Buckwalter with one of his former clerks (John Doe) as partner. Then Buckwalter buys out the half interest of Doe in each Barnes, Garrison & Co. and Allen, Jordan & Co. for $2,000, and yet in the agreement Doe is represented as owning a half interest. in each. Later, one Clarkson, a former clerk in Adams, Brown & Co. starts another concern as E. W. Ward & Co. Evarts, Barnes & Co. springs into existence and copies Lawrence & Co's. circulars almost verbatim, as did Simpson & Co. Through information gathered in the main from Buckwalter's runaway assistant, Thatcher, Belmont & Co. was foisted on the community by one Chandler of Philadelphia and Weed of Connecticut. The above are a few of the "celebrated Banking houses" of the great metropolis, if their circulars and advertisements are to be believed. Verily, it was a "wheel within a wheel," or "diamond cut diamond." The clerk learns the business, starts for himself, doubtless with the names collected by Buckwalter's schemes, and then forces Buckwalter to buy him out. Who would not deal in stocks-" combinations," "syndicates," "mutual capitalization plan," "guarantee system," etc.? About the time that "Sandaline" proved such an utter failure, Buckwalter transferred certain of his clerks down to the office of Lawrence & Co. Indeed, while the machinery by which the swindling of Lawrence & Co. was practiced upon the public was, as we have seen, very simple, that of the office itself was very complex, in order to secure to Buckwalter the funds which were received by his clerks and tools. As a legal curiosity we give in full the voluminous articles of agreement between Buckwalter and his clerks. Memorandum of Agreement-Made at the city of New York, this first day of September, A.D., 1879, between BENJAMIN R. BUCKWALTER, of the city of New York, of the first part, and "JOHN DOE and RICHARD ROE, of *These being young men, whose peculiar circumstances Buckwalter took advantage of, we omit their names for their friends' sake, while, at the same time, we condemn their acts, and their connection with this disreputable business. |