Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1919 — OLIVER BOBS INTO LIMELIGHT [ARTICLE]

OLIVER BOBS INTO LIMELIGHT

SENSATIONAL CHARGES TO BE FILED AGAINST ONION MAN, ’T!S SAID. i Like Game Purtelie’s mythical rail- , road, Ed Oliver and his Newland; onion land come to the surface ever so often. Gene had ideas; so does', Ed. Gene’s ideas looked promising on 1 paper so did Ed’s. Gene talked in i millions, so did Ed.. Gene was sin-! cere in his convictions in his prop-' osition, maybe Ed is and maybe he, isn’t anyway, both are passe now, Back again basking in the spot-' light is Edward Oiiver, founder of, Newland, alleged millionaire, 1 dreamer, the man whose attempts at 1 deals in frenzied finance if carried out would eclipse the combined oper-j ations on Wall streets, the husband of Mrs. Warren Springer, who has also managed to keep the glare of the spotlight focused oh her for many years through donations to various institutions throughout the country. She, too, was supposed to have millions. It’s not for us to say that the Olivers haven’t millions in American dollars—maybe they have, but from the way they have been forced to step around in local courts for these past few' months to meet the various suits lodged against them, I one is rather inclined to be—er—shall we say skeptical. Seven criminal charges, which it is understood will be filed against the svelte and debonair Edward some time today, are said to be of so sen- 1 sational a nature as Will set the entire confryside agog with excitement when jevealed, the result of OlrveFs latest exploits in the onion Country to the north. Many actions have been filed against Mr. Oliver before but it is understood that the latest court actions will far surpass anything that Edward has ever found himself confronted with before. Perhaps Mr. Oliver will extricate himself from the embarrassing position in which he has been placed, but from 4 the gossrip of the street it appears that the plaintiffis have sufficient cause for launching criminal proceedings against the handsome Colonel. Long has Edward dealt in Newland onion land, always it has been a land of mystery and always a veil of secrecy seemed to surround it. . Far and wide has it been heralded as the land of possibilities, the land where millionaires were to be made over night—in truth the only rival of the celestial abode of bliss, the modern Elysia. But somehow or other things never seemed to materialize. Land seekers laid down their cash for this diamond studded country only to meet with regret and broken hearts. There were' crop failures, poor markets when the land did produce fruit—always something that occurred with uncanny frequency. Some few braved the deluge of reverses, others gave up in disgust and turned ' their thoughts to other things. Maybe if fortune had srpiled the land which *Mr. Oliver has fathered would have fulfilled all promises, but it hasrix.’ It might well be termed “The Land of Sorrow.’’ The result of all this brought suits, lots of them, but never could it be shown that Oliver had been anything but fair in his dealing^. Even Oliver himself found that the profits derived from the land were insufficient to rtieet his obligations of operating it and aS the months went by he continued to dispose of as much of it as possible. As debts soared, so soared the scale of the land. In this way it is said Oliver managed to meet his creditors but was unequal to the task of apneasing the anger of those who had purchased the land of muck.

A few weeks auo in an effort to dispose of the land by the wholesale, Oliver, through the medium of the Chicago Tribune, started an advertising campaign to lure land seekers to the Indiana paradise. They came, many of them, attracted by the glowing tributes of the land of such wonderful promise. With them came as UStlal—-tfoilb 1 e for Oliver; So the story goes they were to our wonderful little city, show® the sights and beauties, the moderiß up-to-date homes. Wall Street Row,] the pretty, fertile farms, in fact everything oif interest and of a pleasing nature to the eyepiece—but Newland onion land, that would have spoiled it ajl; at least that’s the wav the story goes as told by one prospect lured from the busy city of Chicago by Oliver and Co’s advertisements. But it appears that there has come a day of reckoning and that Oliver and his associates, whoever they may be, must now explain their actions. ■> Not so long ago a prospect stepped into Oliver’3 office in Chicago and inquired about the Tribune advertisements. Mr. Oliver gladly explained things to him with the promise of a trip to the onion fields at any time suitable to the prospect and his family. They came to Rensselaer a few , days later to the prospect, the above mentioned proceedure j was followed. He saw no land but 1 was impressed with the beauty of the surrounding country and was prevailed upon by his wife to lose no time in giving up the city for the land of perpetual bliss. Accordingly, the prospect closed up what interests he had in Chicago and shipped his household effects, valued at several hun-, dreds of dollars by an automobile truck to Newland, or as near Newland as the condition of the roads would permit. The truck-stalled and it was impossible to. move the goods any farther. A rain set in and it was imperative that the goods be' moved to some place of shelter if they were not to be rendered absolutely worthless. The house Mr. Oliver had promised them was not vacant, there was no place to move the goods except to a barn, which was done with the result that much of the furniture, including a piano, was ruined by the rain. The owner of the .goods had previously offered the driver of the truck SIOO to return the goods to Chicago immediately but that individual made the excuse that he had other work to do in another section of Indiana and could not return to the city at that time. Later, however, the prospect secured a truck and had part of his furniture that had not been ruined returned to Chicago, leaving the remainder which i had been ruined in the Oliver barn. He bought no land but it is understood is among those who have filed [ complaints against Oliver and will attempt to recover damages to a sum exceeding his actual losses. The climax of the Oliver opera- ! tions is said to have been reached last Saturday when it is said that with the aid of two “strong-arms” from Chicago he moved the household effects of a family named Grimm out of a house .which they had been occupying for four or five years. It ; seems that Oliver had ordered the | family to be out of the house by , Saturday and that when he found j that they had not complied with his order he became enraged and took (unto himself and his men the task oTcleaning out the house. His order came as a result of his having another “prospect” ready t© move into the dwelling. It seems that some few years ago Robert Grimm purchased a farm of Oliver which was to be paid for in yearly payments, Grimm was inducted into the military service, and at the present time is in France, consequently had been unable to meet his obligations to Mr. Oliver. The farm since the departure of Grimm has been operated by his father, who when ordered by Mr. Oliver to vacate the premises refused to do So, saying that Oliver was indebted to j them. Whereupon Oliver and his as- ‘ sociates, according to the plaintiff,