Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1914 — Hammond Merchant Tried to Steal a Stock of Goods. [ARTICLE]

Hammond Merchant Tried to Steal a Stock of Goods.

A Hammond merchant after purchasing $9,000 worth of high class merchandise during the month of December, tried to settle with his creditors for 25 cents on the dollar. Creditors hired lawyers to look after their interests and one of them went to Hammond and in company with an officer went to the store. All the merchandise exhibited was of a cheap kind, while the better class goods he had purchased were no where in sight. The books showed that the charged articles were all of the poorer quality. Three bright headed nails were noticed just beneath the show window and a board held by them was removed and it was found that about $5,000 worth of goods were concealed. In the basement empty boxes which had been nailed together concealed a ledge in the Wall and here a lot more goods were concealed and the merchant who was trying to defraud his creditors is apt to get a trip to the penitentiary. •