Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1909 — WILLIAM D. OWEN ARRESTED IN GEORGIA. [ARTICLE]

WILLIAM D. OWEN ARRESTED IN GEORGIA.

Former Tenth District Congressman and Secretary of State Who Pro* moted the Fraudulent Übero Company. Dispatches from Augusta, Ga., state that William D. Owen, formerly from Logansport, and a member of Congress from the old Tenth District from 1885 to 1891, and later secretary of state, was under arrest there awaiting requisition from Massachusetts where indictments have been against him since 1905 for fraud in connection with the Consolidated Übero Co. Owen was at one time a Christian preacher and left that to enter politics. He had quite a firm hold on the people of this district and served three terms in congress and was nominated for the' fourth time, but was defeated by Dr. Patton, of Remington, the democratic nominee. ’ ' / ■ In the fall of 1894 Owen was elected secretary of state and during his term of office he invested heavily in Mexican plantation lands, and brought back some glowing accounts of the

vast resources of that country that he induced many of his political acquaintances to invest their money there. Judge U. Z. Wiley, formerly judge of this circuit, and a resident at that time of Fowler, was among the investors. The Indiana men formed what they called the Übero Company, issued stock and began preparations to raide coffee, pineapples, bananas, etc. After Owen’s term of office expired he transferred his scene of operations to Boston, Mass., and organized one or two other Übero companies, and later mergel all of the companies except the Indiana one under the name of . the Consolidated Übero Company. He associated himself with F. E. Borges, of Logansport, and they advertised the merits of the Übero company in glowing circulars and are reported to have sold about >1,500,000 worth of stock. They announced that the land owned by the company was planted in tropical fruits, also coffee and other things, and promptly declared a 10 per cent dividend every 6 months. This -fine return attracted other investors, until the United States government made an Investigation and found that the company had falsified to their investors and that the land was not in cultivation and that the dividends they declared were faked up' for the sake of getting more suckers and that it was paid, out of the capital stock. The postofiice department issued a fraud order against the company and a Boston grand jury returned indictments for fraud against Owen and Borges. Owen in the meantime announced that his health was falling and that a trip abroad was necessary to restore it, and he left the country and when sought by the officers could not be located. It was not thought he would ever return to America, as he had taken the money of the concern with him. Borges was found to have a criminal record, having already served a term in the penitentiaries at Joliet and Pittsburg. He was convicted on the Massachusetts Indictments and sentenced to a long term in the penitentiary. Owens’ whereabouts remained unknown and -if it is true that he has been arrested it is probable that he will get what he ought to have, a number of years behind the bars.