Black Hawk Trader

The bankers of Belvidere, Ill. are worried. For the past fortnight savings accounts in Belvidere have been shrinking at an alarming rate. More than $310,000 has been withdrawn and found its way into a small strongbox over which one-time Sheriff Albert Johnson and onetime Patrolman Charlie Smith stand guard.

Master of the strongbox is Albert William Benham. For 20 years Citizen Benham worked for National Sewing Machine Co., lived in a modest home. He is a fat, jolly, robust man now going on 46. Recently he mortgaged his home and that of a friend for $4,000. Nobody paid much attention. A lot of people are mortgaging things these days. Then suddenly Citizen Benham zoomed to fame. From a few friends Mr. Benham solicited funds to be invested. Soon he was inviting all Belvidere and nearby cities to give him money. His terms: profits of from 20% to 50%; to anyone bringing in new capital, 10% commission. How he earns the profit remains a mystery. He keeps an office in a small garage, will have no traffic with banks, operates under the name of Black Hawk Finance Co. Some rumorers say that he has made money in the sugar market; others say that he finances Chicago bootleggers and narcotic dealers.

To these reports Mr. Benham answers that his method is simply finding buyers and sellers, making quick turnovers. He tells, for example, how he found a man who had to sell a car in a hurry for $400, then found a man who wanted to buy one for $700. Another story is that Mr. Benham locates companies about to go bankrupt, arranges to sell their inventories to going concerns.

Belvidere bankers, the local chambers of commerce and the Chicago Association of Commerce all have doubted this explanation. But up to last week they had failed to find the actual means by which Black Hawk Finance finances itself. "Let them investigate," shouted florid Financier Benham to visitors. "I have nothing to conceal."

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