WEBVTT - Inheritance Cons: Meet the Bakers and the 'Drakers' 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:06.559 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:11.800 with iHeartRadio. 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:17.200 It's not an uncommon fantasy you find out you have 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.040 a distant relative who has died and left you an 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:24.639 unexpected inheritance. It's also not uncommon for a con artist 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:28.400 to exploit that fantasy, contacting you about a huge fortune 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:33.560 because well, it could be yours. Spoiler alert on that one, 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:37.880 though it's not yours. In this episode, we're talking about 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.440 what are known as inheritance cons and we have a 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:44.560 two for one special Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky. 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:49.640 And I'm a Holly Fry. A little background first, According 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:53.239 to the Federal Trade Commission, often these kinds of scams 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:58.160 begin when you receive a letter from an estate locator, banker, lawyer, 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:02.040 or tax agent claiming you may be eligible for a 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.920 considerable inheritance. Today. This might also come in the form 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.800 of an email or a social media message. Sometimes the 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:14.039 con artist will tell you are legally entitled to claim 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:18.400 the inheritance. Other times they might tell you an unrelated 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:21.680 wealthy person has died without an heir and that you 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:25.760 could inherit the fortune through some legal chicanery because you 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.880 happen to share the same last name. However, it's sold 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:33.800 your inheritance. The letter will likely claim is difficult to 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:38.600 access due to some legitimate sounding reasons like government regulations 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:43.000 or taxes or bank restrictions, and with that being the case, 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.280 you'll be asked to pay some money and provide personal 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:49.680 details to make your claim and help facilitate the legal 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:53.680 and financial aspects of the transaction. And that is where 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.520 the con artist fleeces you out of your money. When 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.320 we're talking about a real inheritance, legitimate law for or 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.160 executors of will don't require you to pay a fee 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:07.400 to find out about your share of an estate. Let's 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.480 talk about how inheritance cons played out when it came 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:14.919 to swindling the Baker and Drake families, two big names 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:16.280 in this scam's history. 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.320 Imagine how the Bakers of the world felt when a 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.640 Colonel Jacob Baker died, leaving Inn, a state that included 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.120 most of the land that the city of Philadelphia is 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:31.960 built on. It was worth billions numbers not adjusted for 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:35.520 today's dollars. There was no known rightful heir, and the 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:39.239 estate remained unprobated. If you're waiting for the gotcha moment 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.960 here it is. There was a problem with the Baker estate, 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.160 and it wasn't the lack of an heir. The problem 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:50.200 was the story was a total fabrication. Colonel Jacob Baker 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:53.919 was a fictional character. There was no estate, no inheritance, 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.960 and a man named William Cameron morro Smith and his 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:01.200 associates collected millions of dollars from home hopeful heirs before 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.000 the so called Baker Airs swindle was shut down in 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:05.000 nineteen thirty six. 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:10.960 Cameron Smith began his baker Air swindle by publishing ads 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:14.679 in newspapers announcing the death of a wealthy colonel with 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:19.080 Jacob Baker from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and he gave his character 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:23.400 quite a life story. In his life, Smith stated Baker 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.919 had been a German born surveyor who settled in Pennsylvania 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:31.200 in seventeen sixty five. He had volunteered and served as 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.359 a surgeon in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.320 and as a reward for his service, he was given 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:44.320 some pretty extensive, expansive and expensive land grants, much containing 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:49.040 valuable coal, lead, and zinc deposits. The worth of this 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.960 estate over the years had grown upwards of three billion dollars, 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:57.400 according to Smith's ads, and equaled nearly the entire city 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:02.400 of Philadelphia in size inc ll It did significant city properties. 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.880 We're talking about Independence Hall, Franklin Square, and the US Mint. 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:13.040 But the ad stated Baker had no air. Smith marketed 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.280 himself as the guy who could happily help you claim 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.520 your right to that Baker fortune for a fee. Of course. 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.800 That fee seems to have been somewhere between a dollar 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:27.320 and twenty dollars, and occasionally higher. It seemed to many 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:29.680 like a reasonable price to pay to help get that 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.960 huge inheritance, and just like that, Smith's con was up 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:34.480 and running. 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:38.200 Smith told those who paid into his scam that their fee, 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.680 paid up front, of course, would be pooled and used 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.359 to find the legal and rightful heir or heirs to 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.640 the Baker fortune. There would be lawyers to pay, there 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:51.920 would be genealogists to pay. Anyone with the surname Baker, 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.240 living domestically or abroad was welcome to make a claim. 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.000 Just make that checkout to the firm of William Cameron 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.760 Morrow Smith. The the first group of potential Baker airs, 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:06.320 once legally organized with Smith's help became known as the 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:10.600 Baker Airs Association, and though the original group began in Pennsylvania, 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:14.080 local associations quickly popped up around the country as well 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:19.280 as across Canada. These established groups would typically collect dues 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.800 from members and also organize events to attract new do 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:27.240 paying members. Press coverage of the Airs Association meetings paint 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.080 a picture of how members and attendance were united in 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.200 a quote sense of outrage at being denied their birthright, 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:37.799 a shared resentment that transcended class and gender. 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.120 Just as those associations were literally all over the map, 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:45.680 they were also all over the place when it came 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:49.560 to their rules. Some required proof of lineage to the 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:54.680 Baker family, others allowed anyone, meaning non Bakers to buy 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:59.720 in regardless of ancestry. Hundreds of people with and without 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.159 the life lass named Baker paid to be part of 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:06.039 this scam, hoping to be the colonel's heir, and the 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:10.240 con even went beyond North America. Families in England and 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:15.200 in other European countries were filing claims with Baker Associations 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:19.400 in the United States and Canada. Because Jacob Baker wasn't 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:22.760 real all the fee payments and dues sent across the 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:26.920 Atlantic went to lining the pockets of Smith and his accomplices. 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.240 Though Smith had published ads and newspapers to garner attention 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:35.560 to his inheritance scam, he and his accomplices used the 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.760 Postal Service to solicit money through the mail. So we're 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.480 talking about those fees people paid to join the club 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.720 because anyone who thought they might be a Baker descendant 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:50.279 paid an enrollment fee and then monthly dues. Inheritance scams 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:52.640 like this one can also be a type of advanced 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:57.080 fee scam, give me money before I give you nothing 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.279 in return. The reality is but as we say to see, 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.440 with Smith and his use of the Postal Service to 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:06.440 collect fees, his scam could also be considered mail fraud. 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:11.000 Mail fraud can include a few types of schemes, including 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.280 things like financial fraud, scams to get you to pay 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:19.160 for free services, or sweepstakes fraud. It also includes cons 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.960 like phony inheritance scams, and that's because they often come 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.400 with this caveat you need to first send a payment 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:30.360 before any money can be released to you. The United 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.240 States Postal Service has a law enforcement arm called the 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:38.320 United States Postal Inspection Service or the postal inspectors. Using 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.360 the postal service in part of any scheme to try 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:45.320 to procure funds through dishonest means is a federal offense. 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.360 So whether Smith's con had been successful or not, just 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:53.800 making that mail fraud gesture was an offense. And the 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:55.960 reason we bring all this up is it was a 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:59.800 team of postal inspectors who brought down the Baker Airs swindle. 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:03.520 We're going to take a break for a word from 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.560 our sponsors, and when we're back, we'll talk about how 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:11.600 postal inspectors were the key to ruining William Cameron Morrow Smith's. 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:30.760 Common Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's meet Postmaster Inspector Alfred T. 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:34.040 Hawksworth and how he and his team took on fraud. 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:41.400 In nineteen oh two, postal inspectors started investigating inheritance schemes, 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:45.120 but for many years they had little success in stopping them. 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:50.520 Of the Baker Air swindle investigation Postmaster Inspector Alfred T. 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:55.240 Hawksworth of Philadelphia stated quote. For about seventy years, rumors 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:59.000 have been repeated about a mythical Jacob Baker estate in Philadelphia, 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:04.839 which for various reasons, has been unprobated. Numerous heirs. Associations 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:08.440 have been formed with the idea of forcing distribution of 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:13.000 this non existent estate. The promoters in the three associations 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.400 indicted today claimed it to be worth anywhere from one 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:20.080 point eight billion to three billion dollars. It is the 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:23.920 biggest mail fraud case I believe the Department has ever encountered, 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:29.840 involving both in of persons and money. The sheer number 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.360 of people involved in this scam was more than the 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:36.000 Postal Inspectors had ever seen in this sort of case, 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.559 and after spending more than eighteen months on the investigation 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:43.480 with a great deal of travel around the country following Leeds, 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:48.000 Hawksworth was the first person who named William Cameron Morrow 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.319 Smith as the head of the racket. 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:55.559 Smith and his associates had forged a few important documents 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.560 for their swindle, probably in case any one of the 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:03.240 Bakers asked for coro reading documentation, and that included creating 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:05.960 an alleged will of Jacob Baker as well as a 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:10.440 few other estate related letters. Things really started moving against 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.520 Smith when Postal Inspectors were able to get their hands 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.640 on that alleged will and with it soon discovered well. 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:22.280 They discovered some interesting things through forensic analysis which did 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:24.800 exist at the time but wasn't nearly as helpful as 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.680 it can be today. They concluded that the paper the 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:32.840 will was written on was manufactured in eighteen ninety. Jacob Baker, however, 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.880 Smith had claimed, had died in eighteen thirty nine, so 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.960 the paper, they concluded, had been artificially aged. Then there 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.480 were the signatures of the witnesses to the will, which 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:48.240 through handwriting analysis, inspectors also concluded had been forged. 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:53.200 With a now questionable will in hand. Inspectors then searched 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:58.120 the land's title records of every county in Pennsylvania looking 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:02.600 for the colonel's estate. They reviewed roughly seventy five years 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:07.679 worth of information, According to Postal Inspector Hawksworth, His department 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:11.959 investigated the estates of more than two hundred deceased Jacob 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:16.040 Bakers in Pennsylvania and found them all closed and legally so. 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.440 They concluded no such a state belonging to a Jacob 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:24.160 Baker ever existed in the state. And then they proved 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:28.360 something huge. There was no one named Jacob Baker from 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.640 the state of Pennsylvania who had served as a commissioned 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:35.680 officer in the Continental Army or Navy during the American 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:39.920 Revolutionary War. And on top of that, even if there 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:43.200 had been a Colonel Jacob Baker, which there had not been, 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.760 there was also no record of the United States Government 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:51.480 or Continental Congress giving any land grants regarding wartime service 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:55.800 to anyone with the surname Baker who resided in Pennsylvania. 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:57.640 Nothing matched up. 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:05.559 Directly to Hawksworth's investigation. The decades long Colonel Baker's estate 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:10.240 con topple. On December fifteenth, nineteen thirty six, and this 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:12.640 is many years after Smith had taken out his initial 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:17.800 newspaper advertisement, a federal grand jury returned three blanket indictments 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:21.440 accusing twenty eight persons in three cities of promoting a 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:26.720 male fraud scheme, a scheme in which, according to Thomas W. Lanagan, 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:30.280 who was the special assistant US Attorney, more than three 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.439 million dollars had been collected through fraudulent means from more 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:38.280 than three thousand people. That's roughly sixty five million dollars 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:43.200 in today's money. The Baker Airs swindle had grown large 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:46.440 over the years, and there were numerous regional associations in 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.840 addition to outposts set up by Smith's scronies in numerous states. 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:55.880 The indictments focused on three specific associations headquartered in the 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:59.280 Pennsylvania cities of Johnstown, Altoona, and Pittsburgh. 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:04.720 Smith was residing at the Posh Powaton Hotel in Washington, 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.599 D C. When he was named by authorities as the 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.800 leader of the first group of Baker swindlers to be indicted. 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:15.040 He was listed with the association out of Johnstown, and 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:19.440 emeryle Liken Biddy, age sixty eight, of Altoona was listed 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.040 as the leader of the second association, and two women, 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.960 a Missus Margaret Lighthill and A Bertha Ross Dodson, both 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.360 homemakers living in Pittsburgh, were listed as the leaders of 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:35.319 the third association. Other defendants named included mister and Missus 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:42.480 William S. Miller of Indiana, Pennsylvania. David J. Anderson, Fred F. Sprangle, W. H. C. Sprangle, 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:47.400 fred Dore Henry Wolford, all of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. N. H. 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:52.640 Blow of Davidsville, Pennsylvania, George Felix Kinkel, Mister and Missus 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:56.839 Milton E. Best and Lewis C. Walkinshaw all of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:01.720 Roy L. Biddle of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, John A. Biddle and 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:07.480 Woren H. Biddle of Altoona, Pennsylvania, Jacob Latshaw of Loisburg, Pennsylvania. 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:12.439 And A. C. A. McCallum of Mendon, Missouri. Unlike all 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:15.040 of the others, McCallum was actually named in two of 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:15.880 the indictments. 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.000 More than five hundred people agreed to testify in front 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:24.280 of a federal grand jury against Smith, the Baker Airs Association, 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.520 and its defendants. According to court records, some of the 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:31.560 purported heirs had paid fees totaling as much as nine 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:35.360 thousand dollars. One man had mortgaged his home to contribute 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:39.000 seventeen hundred dollars. Another hopeful heir had sent in six 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.360 thousand dollars to Smith. As we mentioned, depending on the 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:46.760 association you were with, fees varied, and apparently by a lot. 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:52.240 Many convictions were handed out. In nineteen thirty six. Smith 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:55.720 was charged with conspiring to take possession of an estate 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.920 on December twenty second, nineteen thirty three, January twenty fifth, nine, 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:04.280 eighteen thirty four, April sixth, nineteen thirty four. The list 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:06.440 of dates is extensive, and we won't bore you with 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:08.800 all of them. But the thing to note here was 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:13.720 Smith was not convicted, not at that time, but that 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.560 didn't mean that the case against him was completely dropped. 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:20.120 In the next move against him, any and all documents 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.720 relating to the Baker estate remaining in the hands of 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:26.680 any of the defendants were impounded by the court. That 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:30.200 was followed by court order for all files and papers 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:34.760 deposited by Smith at the Fidelity Philadelphia Trust Company to 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:39.000 be turned over to postal inspectors. Also by court order. 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.200 All evidence related to the case was then sent to 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:46.480 a man we mentioned earlier, Thomas W. Lanagan, special assistant 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:50.720 US Attorney, who was located in Washington, d C. In 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.880 nineteen thirty seven, in the case of the United States 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:58.359 versus William Cameron Morrow Smith, Smith was convicted of defrauding 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:02.960 at various places on humorous dates. Authorities noted that any 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.680 officials or leaders of any other Baker associations in other 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:10.080 parts of the country might be indicted later as well, 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:14.040 and they were across all of North America. That list 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.320 includes a man named W. H. Baker. We finally found 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.080 one who supplied the long con with a fake Baker 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:26.160 family genealogy. The fakest family tree you ever did see. 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:28.360 We're going to take a break for a word from 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:30.960 our sponsor, and when we're back, we're going to talk 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.720 about another inheritance scam, one based on a real and 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:50.240 famous person rather than a fictional one. 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.960 Welcome back to Criminalium. As we said at the top 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.520 of the show, this is a two for one inheritance 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:02.200 scam bonanza. Cameron's Smith was not the only swindler running 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:05.919 a long con inheritance scam in the early nineteen hundreds. 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.400 Let's talk about a man named Oscar Hartzel and how 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.280 he defrauded hopeful heirs to a three hundred plus year 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:16.120 old famous and this time real fortune. 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.639 Around the same time as William Cameron Morrow Smith's KHN 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:24.440 the early nineteen hundreds, a scam was pulled on persons 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.280 with the last name Drake, heirs of the Elizabethan explorer, 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:32.200 Sir Francis Drake. Drake. If you weren't familiar with him, 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.720 really had a big life. Will hit a few highlights. 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.040 He was an English admiral in Queen Elizabeth's Royal Navy 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:42.359 and was knighted in fifteen eighty one. He was the 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:46.520 first Englishman to circumnavigate the Globe and considered an English 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:51.000 hero for defeating the Spanish Armada. He was also reviled 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:54.720 as a pirate or technically privateer, as he got paid 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:59.120 for his piracy by the Queen. He died in fifteen ninety. 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:03.879 Six, so fast forward a few centuries to the nineteen hundreds, 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:08.399 when his estate unexpectedly came back to life, kind of. 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:15.600 In nineteen fifteen, an Iowan named Oscar Merril Hartzell was 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.800 conned out of six thousand dollars with the promise of 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:22.320 a peace of the unclaimed six million dollar fortune of 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:27.440 Sir Francis Drake. After realizing that he had been ripped off, Hartzell, 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:31.400 a former deputy sheriff, decided, if you can't beat him, 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:35.560 join them, So in nineteen nineteen he launched his own 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.480 confidence scam, and he didn't really stray from the one 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:44.040 he'd previously fallen victim to. It was an inheritance con 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:46.960 in which he claimed the estate of Sir Francis Drake 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:51.600 had not been rightfully distributed. He began contacting people with 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.520 the surname Drake across North America out of the blue, 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:58.280 explaining that they could be an heir to a large fortune. 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:03.520 Though Drake had died centuries earlier. His estate, Hertzel explained, 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.200 had never been closed. With the interest that it gained 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:10.040 over the last three hundred years. It was now estimated, 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.359 he said, to be worth one hundred billion dollars, and 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:15.199 all you had to do to get a share of 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:18.479 those billions was to join him in a lawsuit against 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:22.560 the British government. And to do so you just needed 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:27.439 to send him money, and hopeful Drake Ears did just that. 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:33.320 Hertzel's Drake estate swindle was nothing new, nor was he 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.720 the best at it. Promoters of a Drake estate scam 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:40.959 began appearing in the American Midwest around nineteen hundred. In 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:45.639 early versions of the scam, con artists primarily swindled just 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:50.040 people with the surname Drake. In later years, scammers widened 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:54.040 their audience to basically anyone willing to pay to get in. 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:59.200 The most successful Drake estate scammer unaffiliated with Hartzell, was 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.639 a woman named Sue D. Whittaker, a raven haired widow 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.280 in her mid thirties. She ran her version of the 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.720 con like this. The rightful heir to the Drake fortune 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:11.600 had immigrated to America during the eighteenth century. The line 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:14.560 of descent she claimed could be traced to a man 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:18.560 named George Drake of Roachport, Missouri, who, as chance would 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:21.480 have it, was a cousin of hers. So what luck, 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:27.479 as you can imagine. 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:28.800 As there was no actual inheritance from the Drake estate, 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.760 there was no lawsuit to file or fund, and Hartzel 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:35.800 took the money that potential and hopeful heirs had sent 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.959 and relocated himself to London, where he used the fees 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.800 paid by his marks to live luxuriously in the city. 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:48.680 He explained to hopeful Drake airs that his relocation from 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:51.720 Iowa to Britain was going to help his negotiations with 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:55.000 the British government. He also told them that he needed 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:57.760 them to send a little more money to help cover 0:20:57.840 --> 0:20:59.280 his expenses. 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:03.359 Once in London. It didn't really take very long for 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:07.360 Hertzel's con to be discovered. By August of nineteen twenty two, 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.520 the British Home Office, alerted to Hartzell and suspicious of 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:14.679 his activities, informed the American embassy that there was no 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:18.640 unclaimed Sir Francis Drake estate, yet there was an American 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:23.560 man claiming otherwise. In response, the United States Federal Bureau 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:27.199 of Investigation opened an inquiry, and they concluded that Drake's 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:31.160 wife had in fact duly inherited his estate in fifteen 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:34.199 ninety seven. There was nothing to see here. This was 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:38.560 a long closed deal, but that information didn't stop people 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:42.680 from donating to Hartzell. In total, he swindled at least 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:45.480 two million dollars, which is not adjusted for today's money, 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.720 from about eighty thousand people and possibly as many as 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:49.920 one hundred thousand. 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.879 The con finally came to an end, just as it 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:57.560 did with the Baker Airs swindle, when the United States 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:03.400 Postal Services Postal Inspectors got the case for mail fraud. Hartzell, 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:06.600 like Smith, had collected fees sent through the United States 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:11.520 Postal Service. Postal Service inspector John Sparks, together with detectives 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:15.400 at Scotland Yard, arrested some of Hartzell's associates on both 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:19.480 sides of the pond. Some of them cracked under questioning. 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:23.560 Scotland Yard, too, had been keeping a file on Hartzell 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:29.240 containing detective reports, witness statements, newspaper clippings, and a chronology 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:31.640 of Hartzell's life while he lived in England. 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:35.879 As a result of those years, of investigation, Hartzell was 0:22:35.880 --> 0:22:39.800 extradited from England to the United States on January ninth, 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:42.720 nineteen thirty three. He was arrested upon his arrival on 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:45.399 a French ocean liner in New York City and held 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:50.119 on ten thousand dollars bond. His Drake followers, ever loyal 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:53.480 to the possibility of fortune, began to hound their local 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:58.480 senators and congressmen, who called them drakers, to set him free. Instead, 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:02.040 Hartzell was put on trial in Sioux City, Iowa. In 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:06.680 anticipation for and throughout his trial, his drakers sent him 0:23:06.760 --> 0:23:10.280 roughly seventy thousand dollars for his defense, which is a 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:12.680 little bit more than a million and a half in 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:14.520 today's money. 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:18.359 On November fifteenth that year, Hartzell was found guilty on 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:22.720 twelve federal charges of quote, using the mails to defraud, 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:26.800 and collection of funds for his enterprise. In federal court. 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:30.160 George C. Scott, judge of the United States District Court 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:33.120 for the Northern District of Iowa, sentenced him to ten 0:23:33.200 --> 0:23:36.800 years in a federal penitentiary and fined him with two 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:40.240 thousand dollars. Yes, in case you are a history buff 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:42.919 and you're wondering This is the same George C. Scott, 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:46.000 who had also served in the United States Congress from 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:49.880 nineteen twelve to nineteen fifteen and again from nineteen seventeen 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:53.159 to nineteen nineteen, and of course not at all to 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:55.840 be confused with George C. Scott, the actor who was 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:59.879 not born until nineteen twenty seven. Hertzell was in prison 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:04.760 at Levenworth Penitentiary, at least initially. During his incarceration, he 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:08.040 was determined by prison doctors to be, as was written 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:11.879 in his file, mentally unfit, and he was transferred to 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:15.719 the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, and 0:24:15.760 --> 0:24:18.520 that was his home when he died in nineteen forty three. 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:23.840 What can we take away from this scam? Junk mail 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:25.879 has been around for a long time, apparently, is what 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:29.560 I take away from it. But Quiff's aside, the tricks 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:35.959 confidence artists use help them exploit some common negative human characteristics, 0:24:36.080 --> 0:24:42.480 such as greed, vanity, opportunism, desperation, and often just naivete. 0:24:42.520 --> 0:24:46.600 There is no profile of an inheritance scam victim or 0:24:46.680 --> 0:24:50.120 simply a confidence trick victim other than just being human. 0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:53.639 But while you're busy being human, it doesn't hurt to 0:24:53.680 --> 0:24:55.880 ask a lot of questions if something sounds too good 0:24:55.880 --> 0:25:00.520 to be true, because it almost always is. Except for 0:25:00.560 --> 0:25:05.200 this drink that Holly has for maybe yes, we'll see 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:05.840 no pressure. 0:25:12.720 --> 0:25:17.040 I'm calling this one association dues. And I wanted to 0:25:17.040 --> 0:25:21.800 come up with something that is super duper delicious and yummy, 0:25:22.200 --> 0:25:24.439 but then also starts to taste a little different as 0:25:24.480 --> 0:25:27.160 you go. We haven't done like a flavor release ice 0:25:27.200 --> 0:25:31.000 cube in a minute, we haven't. And this one's very simple. 0:25:31.080 --> 0:25:32.920 You might actually even like it better as the ice 0:25:32.960 --> 0:25:37.080 cream health. But to start, you're going to combine half 0:25:37.080 --> 0:25:39.439 a cup of lemon juice and in this case, if 0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:41.560 you want to do fresh squeezed, great, but if you 0:25:41.600 --> 0:25:43.920 want to just do the squeezy one, that's also fine. 0:25:43.960 --> 0:25:46.280 I'm not going to judge. Because you're taking that and 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:48.040 combining it with half a cup of water, and you 0:25:48.080 --> 0:25:50.439 want to mix it well together, put it into your 0:25:50.480 --> 0:25:53.440 ice trays and freeze it so those are getting ready. 0:25:53.800 --> 0:25:57.040 In the meantime, once you have ice, you're ready to 0:25:57.040 --> 0:25:59.280 make a cocktail. And for this you're going to pre 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:02.119 chill your classes and while you're doing that, into your 0:26:02.160 --> 0:26:06.160 shaker will go half an ounce of lemon juice, half 0:26:06.200 --> 0:26:09.600 an ounce of Marisquino liqueur, and an ounce and a 0:26:09.640 --> 0:26:12.720 half of gin. And then you're also gonna throw in 0:26:13.400 --> 0:26:16.919