Oscar Hartzell
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Oscar Merril Hartzell (January 6, 1876 – August 27, 1943) was an American farmer, realtor, deputy sheriff, politician, and promoter. He became well-known as a con man who ran a confidence scam by claiming rightful ownership of the estate of Francis Drake.
Early life
Oscar Merril Hartzell was born in Monmouth, Illinois, on January 6, 1876, as the eldest child to John Henry Hartzell and his wife, Emma Louisa (née Shaw). He had three siblings: Clinton Sylvester Hartzell, Canfield C Hartzell<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> and Pearl May Palmer (née Hartzell).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
Hartzell was a high school drop out.<ref name=":2" />
Career
Hartzell worked on his family's farm, eventually inheriting it from his father following his death on September 14, 1905, at the age of 52. He was 29 years old at the time of his father's death. Due to difficulties running the farm, he fell into financial trouble. He moved to Des Moines, Iowa, where he worked as a realtor, and then as a deputy sheriff. He worked a number of jobs, including in politics and as a promoter.<ref name=":0" />
Hartzell was drafted to join the Army on September 12, 1918, during World War I.<ref>U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918: Oscar Merrel Hartzell</ref>
Sir Francis Drake estate scam
According to Hartzell, in 1915, he met con artists Oseida "Sudie" Whiteaker and Milo Lewis, who promised to turn his mother's $6,000 into $6M by giving him a share of the held fortune of the English explorer and privateer Francis Drake. When he realized the deal was a confidence game, he decided to use it to his own advantage, and joined in.<ref name=":0" />
Hartzell contacted many Iowans who had the surname Drake. He claimed he was a distant relative and had discovered that the estate of Drake had never been paid to his heirs, that it had gathered interest for the last 300 years and was now worth $100B. He invited all these families to invest in his campaign to sue the British government for the money and assured them that everyone would make $500 for every dollar they invest. He said the inheritance would include the whole city of Plymouth, in Devon, South West England.<ref name=":2" />
Tens of thousands of Americans sponsored Hartzell, sometimes with all the money they had. He later expanded his con to people without the surname Drake and outside of Iowa.<ref name=":2" />
Around 1917, Hartzell travelled to London in order to meet with the heir of the Drake estate. He ended up staying, and lived an opulent lifestyle. He continued to tell the families who had invested in the "campaign" that he was negotiating with the British government and needed more money for expenses. His agents in the Midwest, sometimes of whom believed in the scheme themselves, collected the money.<ref name=":2" />
On August 9, 1922, the British Home Office informed the American Embassy that there was no unclaimed Sir Francis Drake estate. Hartzell explained that the estate was not unclaimed because it belonged to Drexel Drake (a nonexistent Colonel) and therefore to Hartzell.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Since Hartzell had not broken any British laws the British police could not arrest him. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated and announced that Drake's wife, Elizabeth (née Sydenham; 1562–1598), had duly inherited her husband's estate in 1597, the year after Drake's death. That information did not stop the donations. When Ed Smith, Iowa Secretary of State, tried to convince the state legislature to act, the public and Hartzell's supporters protested, saying they could donate to whomever they wanted so the legislature did nothing.<ref name=":2" />
After the Wall Street crash of 1929 and during the Great Depression, Hartzell's followers seemed to become even more desperate and continued to send him money.<ref name=":2" />
On October 11, 1930, John Maynard Keynes, arguing in an article for deficit spending to alleviate the Depression, mentioned that Queen Elizabeth I had invested Drake's loot—which Drake had given to The Crown—for the benefit of the United Kingdom. Hartzell seized this as a proof of his claims and his agents in the United States spread copies of the article to his followers.<ref name=":2" />
Eventually United States Postal Service inspector John Sparks, with help from the British police, seized some of Hartzell's agents and forced them to reveal the scam. At the same time, Scotland Yard arrested some of his British associates. Britain deported him to the US and he was sent to Iowa for trial in 1933. By this time, according to U.S. officials, he had collected $80,000 from the scam.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Hartzell was tried in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1933. His followers sent him a total of $68,000 for his defence. He was convicted of fraud in November 1934, sentenced to ten years in prison, and fined $2,000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> By that time, he had run his scam for over 15 years. After losing an appeal in 1935, he was sent to Federal Correctional Institution, Leavenworth in Kansas. Even after his sentencing, some of his agents collected more donations—$500,000 for the next year.<ref name=":2" />
In total, Hartzell swindled at least $2M Template:USDCY from 70,000 to 80,000 people.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref>
Hartzell was eventually judged to be insane, being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was transferred to Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, a male federal prison in Springfield, Missouri.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Personal life
Hartzell married Daisey F Rees in Warren, Illinois, on November 20, 1895.<ref>Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940: NOV 20, 1895 WARREN — Oscar M Hartzell = Daisy Rees</ref><ref>Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940: 1895 WARREN — Oscar M Hartzell = Daisy Rees</ref><ref>Illinois, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900: NOV 20, 1895 1377920 - 1377922 WARREN — Oscar M Hartzell = Daisy Rees</ref><ref>Illinois, U.S., Marriage Index, 1860-1920: NOV 20, 1895 WARREN — Oscar M Hartzell = Daisey Rees</ref><ref>Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940: NOV 20, 1895 WARREN — Oscar M Hartzell = Daisey Reed</ref> During his time in London, he took a mistress,<ref name=":2" /> Inez Marian Collis,<ref>England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915: OCT 1892 1d 1128 LEWISHAM — Inez Marian Collis</ref><ref>England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007: OCT 1972 (aged 80) 7c 2498 WARMINSTER — Inez Marian Gunstone</ref> who was 16 years his senior. He had three children.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />
Death
Hartzell died from throat cancer at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri on August 27, 1943. He was 67.<ref>Missouri, U.S., Death Certificate l, 1910-1971: AUG 1943 28239 GREENE — Oscar Merril Hartzell</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was interred at Monmouth Cemetery in Monmouth, Illinois.<ref name=":1" />