Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1917 — Crook Who Operated In This Vicinity Dupes Kansas Town. [ARTICLE]

Crook Who Operated In This Vicinity Dupes Kansas Town.

Probably many local people will remember Morgan W. Cozart, who was in this vicinity about three years ago. Cozart organized various stock companies in. this section of the state, with the result that several were victims of his He is a slicker from start to finish and since having, left here has operated with equal success in other places. His latest ex pipit was in Kansas. Cozart was the organizer of the Tishimingo Tie Co. also, which as a result of his dealings was forced into the hands of a receiver. The following is taken from the Indianapolis Star: “Equaling the operations of ‘Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford,' of fiction fame, Morgan W. Cozart, want**throughout the United States on numerous charges, and who operated extensively in Sullivan and this section of the sta e three years ago, new disappears f:«m Wellington, Kans., after pullin ' a slicker on the citizens there. The operations in Kansas opened with his joining a Baptist church in Wellington, subscribing $15,000 to the building fund, buying a fine home there, giving the name of W. G. Russell, and selling stock in an oil company, which he organized among Wellington men. He was the town’s idol because of liberality with money, paying bookblacks $1 for shines, paying fines cf both parties when he had two fights and contributing to everything. He refused newspapers his picture. A banker learned his churdi introduction was a forgery _ and the Mississippi Federal authorities located him. While he was in the height of his glory and while his wife and child were just east of Sullivan visiting, Coazrt, alias Russell, disappeared from Kansas. * “It is thought he is in Canada. His wife is there waiting for him. It was said he took thousands of dollars from in and aiound Wellington. Many charges are filed in different sections of the country against him, but he appears too slick for conviction. “Cozart wnt to Sullivan three years ago, giving C. W. Morgan as his name. He sold insurance. He was apprehended, arrested by federal authorities from Mississippi on the charge of using the mails to defraud. He gave bond, returned to Lafayette, organized the Tishimingo Tie and Stone Co., sold stock with marvelous ease, erected a small plant at Merom; proposing to manufacture cement ties for railroads. The Tishimingo Tie and Stone company was thrown into the hands of a receiver and it will be operated by other parties in, the spring.