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Monday, December 16, 2019

J.C. Sikes To Represent Cotton Mills in Fraud Case, Dec. 16, 1919

From The Monroe Journal, Dec. 16, 1919

Mr. J.C. Sikes to Represent Cotton Mills in Fraud Case. . . Leaves for Anniston To-morrow Where Savage Case Will Be Tried. . . Monroe Men Subpoenaed as Witnesses.

Mr. J.C. Sikes leaves tomorrow for Anniston, Ala., to represent a number of cotton mills and brokers in the Savage cotton case, the biggest cotton fraud ever perpetrated in the United States. Messrs. J.L. Everette, W.J. Hudson, John Fairley, C.B. Barden, and other Union, Gaston and Mecklenburg county men who have been subpoenaed as witnesses will accompany Mr. Sikes to attend the trial which begins in Federal court Thursday morning.

About two years ago these various firms purchased enormous amounts of cotton from the Savage Cotton Co. In some way this company managed to send a bill of lading with draft attached and after paying for the same the Monroe men, along with mills and brokers all over the country, found that the cotton was not up to sample, and in many instances there was no cotton at all.

The Icemorelee mill placed its case in the hands of Mr. Sikes, who immediately went to Anniston and discovered the fraud, and was subsequently employed by the other firms. He found that the company had been organized with almost no capital.

The United States Railway Administration has also made investigation, as railroad employees were implicated. The case is entirely without parallel in the history of this country.

The firms which Mr. Sikes will represent are the Icemorlee cotton mills, J.M. Fairley & Sons, N.P. Sloan & Co., and J.I. Westervelt Mfg. Co., both of Greenville, S.C.; Entwistle Mfg. Co., Rockingham; Roxboro cotton mills, Roxboro; Kinston cotton mills, Kinston; Buffaloe Mfg. Co., Shelby; Beame Bros., New Orleans; Indian Creek Mfg. Co., Lincolnton; Melville Mfg. Co., Cherryville; and H.F. Lamkin & Co. of New York City.


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