Oscar Hartzell and the Francis Drake Fortune
I found the doings of this forgotten con man to be particularly entertaining. You can read his entry in the book depicted below. Here's the link. A short precis from his Wikipedia page. According to Hartzell, in 1915, he met con artists Oseida "Sudie" Whiteaker and Milo Lewis, who promised to turn his mother's $6,000 into $6M by giving him a share of the held fortune of the English explorer and privateer Francis Drake. When he realized the deal was a confidence game, he decided to use it to his own advantage, and joined in.[2] Hartzell contacted many Iowans who had the surname Drake. He claimed he was a distant relative and had discovered that the estate of Drake had never been paid to his heirs, that it had gathered interest for the last 300 years and was now worth $100B. He invited all these families to invest in his campaign to sue the British government for the money and assured them that everyone would make $500 for every dollar they invest. He said the inheritance would include the whole city of Plymouth, in Devon, South West England.[1] Tens of thousands of Americans sponsored Hartzell, sometimes with all the money they had. He later expanded his con to people without the surname Drake and outside of Iowa.[1] Around 1917, Hartzell travelled to London in order to meet with the heir of the Drake estate. He ended up staying, and lived an opulent lifestyle. He continued to tell the families who had invested in the "campaign" that he was negotiating with the British government and needed more money for expenses. His agents in the Midwest, sometimes of whom believed in the scheme themselves, collected the money.[1]
I found the doings of this forgotten con man to be particularly entertaining. You can read his entry in the book depicted below.
Here's the link.
A short precis from his Wikipedia page.
Here's the link.
A short precis from his Wikipedia page.
According to Hartzell, in 1915, he met con artists Oseida "Sudie" Whiteaker and Milo Lewis, who promised to turn his mother's $6,000 into $6M by giving him a share of the held fortune of the English explorer and privateer Francis Drake. When he realized the deal was a confidence game, he decided to use it to his own advantage, and joined in.[2]
Hartzell contacted many Iowans who had the surname Drake. He claimed he was a distant relative and had discovered that the estate of Drake had never been paid to his heirs, that it had gathered interest for the last 300 years and was now worth $100B. He invited all these families to invest in his campaign to sue the British government for the money and assured them that everyone would make $500 for every dollar they invest. He said the inheritance would include the whole city of Plymouth, in Devon, South West England.[1]
Tens of thousands of Americans sponsored Hartzell, sometimes with all the money they had. He later expanded his con to people without the surname Drake and outside of Iowa.[1]
Around 1917, Hartzell travelled to London in order to meet with the heir of the Drake estate. He ended up staying, and lived an opulent lifestyle. He continued to tell the families who had invested in the "campaign" that he was negotiating with the British government and needed more money for expenses. His agents in the Midwest, sometimes of whom believed in the scheme themselves, collected the money.[1]
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