Originally published August 10, 1932
William Willoughby Identifies Two Whom He Claims Gyped Him For $7,000. Arrested Gang Carried Big Assortment of Bogus Stock Certificates.
Three men and a young woman were arrested in Winnipeg Friday as alleged members of a confidence gang. The names of the four as they appear on the police docket are John Bernard McKay, John Corbett, William F. McKelvey and Gwendoline Corbett. They drove an expensive automobile, and stopped at one of Winnipeg’s leading hotels.
They appeared in court Monday, and John and Gwendoline Corbett were identified by Mr. Willoughby as the pair who defrauded him of $7,000 at Sault Ste. Marie recently.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials Monday intimated the four would be returned to the Ontario city to face fraud charges. Willoughby picked the Corbetts from a police line-up Monday morning. A wealthy Manitoba farmer, Willoughby states he met the Corbetts when they came to inspect a farm he had for sale.
He accompanied the Corbetts to Sault Ste. Marie to close the deal, Willoughby stated, where he was interested in certain transactions and was persuaded to draw $7,000 from his bank account, which he handed over to the Corbetts and never saw again.
Papers seized in connection with the arrest of Corbett and his alleged companions include a wide assortment of bogus stock certificates, false bonds, seals, files and papers purporting to belong to the International Turf Exchange.
The Corbetts will be taken to Brandon for trial on the alleged Willoughby swindle.
