This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Drake of the Drake Estate Scam and Hartzell’s Downfall
An Iowa based fraud scheme around Sir Francis Drake estates lured donors with a phony British heir. Oscar M Hartzell peddled shares, collected hens cows and coins to fund a supposed court battle. He was deported 1933 after Scotland Yard and U.S. authorities exposed the tale.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Oscar Merrill Hartzell
London
Sir Francis Drake
Hartzell
American Express
England
Drake
Sadie Whitaker-Louis
Oscar
Hastrell
John B. Dorman
Des Moines
A. T. Butler
Burke's Peerage
O. M. Hartzell
Plankinton
South Dakota
R. C. Drake
Sir Francis
U. S. Postal Dept
Iowa
Fletcher
Baron
Isregards Fletcher
Wesley
Scotland Yard
Authur Bishop
America
Achaneiand
Washington
Brown
Minnes
Ota
Texas
Sioux City
Francis
Somerset House
Thomas
True Believers
Mid-West
Spencer
Picayune
Illinois
New York
Minnesota
Kansas
Wisconsin
Chicago
Philip Sullivan