Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 246, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1915 — WAS IT REGULAR? DON’T LOOK RIGHT [ARTICLE]

WAS IT REGULAR? DON’T LOOK RIGHT

Man Claiming to Be Internal Revenue Colelctor Made Rich Haul At Parr and Fair Oaks. A man giving the name of J. B. Freeman and claiming to 'be an internal revenue collector and whose transactions have all the earmarks of being a fake made a rich haul in Jasper county Friday. What the total amount of his collections were is not known but at Parr he got SSO of W. H. Myres and $25 of Ed Gilmore, who is in partnership with Perry Griffith. He i:ad also visited the soft drink dealers at Newland, Gifford and Fair Oaks. Freeman informed the dealers that their soft drink products contained more than the percentage allowed for soft drinks ana to'protect themselves from federal prosecution it would bo necessary that they take out a government license and that he was there to see that they did so. He charged Gilmore $25 for the current year. He charged Myres SSO for last year and this year and added $lO as a fine for not having paid his last year’s license during the year. He gave each a receipt on an ordinary sheet of white paper and told them the licenses would be sent to them in about three, days. He boarded the milk train for Rensselaer and presumably took the evening train to Chicago. , ■When W. L. Wood, of Parr, learned of the transaction he pronounced it a frau dand he telephoned the editor of The Republican. Clarence Fate was in the Gilmore store when Freeman called and he shook hands with Freeman and says that he was acquainted with him as an internal revenue collector and remembers that he used to come to Rensselaer as an inspector of war tax revenues, seeing that tobacco, chewing gum, etc., was stamped. Notwithstanding this testimony on the part of Mr. Fate everything else indicates that Freeman is a smooth confidence man and that those who paid him the money are out that much cash. Even if he was right and the men had taken out government licenses this of itself would make them liable under the state laws to prosecution and they seem to be in deep water no matter whether Freeman was a swindler or not.