MYTHICAL ESTATE

Southland Times, Issue 22732, 7 November 1935, Page 11

MYTHICAL ESTATE

DRAKE FORT"NE FABLE. Photographic copies of the will of Sir Francis Drake, written 340 years ago, were brought into, the Federal Court at Chicago, when 29 men were charged with defrauding investors of £300,000. The case arises out of the mythical £70,000,000 estate supposed to have been left by Sir Francis Drake. Thousands of people have been induced to part with money toward a fund to be used in establishing the claims of the heirs of this fabulous fortune. In some cases investors have been , promised anything from £lOO to £2OOO in return for each pound invested, After hearing preliminary argument the judge fixed the date of the trial for November 18. The leaders of the extortion plot, according to the prosecution, are Oscar M. Hartzell and Canfield Hartzell, former lowa farmers, who are now in prison. Oscar, who was deported from England, where he went ostensibly to press his claim to the “estate,” is serving a ten-year term after being found guilty last year of fraud in connection with the Drake estate hoax. Canfield is being held in New York. Other defendants were agents who circulated over the country, selling ‘'prospects” in the Drake estate.