Sweet Scandal of the 1880s

things look good to the public.

The unsavory and mysterious cast of characters continued to relieve investors of hundreds of thousands of dollars and enjoy all of the fine things that New York City and the world had to offer. They spent lavishly, with Henry purchasing expensive carriages and pure-bred horses and Olive enjoying the finest clothing and jewelry.

However, at the very peak of their scheme, it all came crashing down when one of the key players died.

One of Henry Friend’s greatest loves—alcohol—ruined his health, and after six weeks of acute alcohol sickness, he died of the disease on March 10, 1888. By coincidence, one of the worst blizzards in history, the Great Blizzard of 1888, hit the East Coast the following day. Family members and corporate officers conspired to ensure that a death certificate was not issued, in order to avoid scaring investors. Henry was secretly buried in New York City during the storm.

But when company officers then anxiously asked Olive to provide Henry’s secret process, she could not, and the hoax became manifest. It didn’t take long for the scammers to become inextricably tangled in the web of deceit they’d woven. News of the scandal spread quickly. Olive sold Henry’s beautiful carriages and horses. The Electric Sugar Refining Company stock price collapsed, but not before Olive used her inheri- tance to build a refuge for evading authorities: a big, fancy Victorian-era Eastlake (or “Stick-style”) home on 80 acres back in Milan. Her mother, father-in-law and other co-conspirators followed; some of them sought refuge for a time in Ontario via their return to Milan.

But the family couldn’t evade the law for long. On the evening of February 16, 1889, Olive and the others were arrested at her beautiful new home during a surprise nighttime operation by local deputies. They were extradited to New York City and housed in a “miserable, dingy old prison” in lower Manhattan called “The Tombs” to await the trial, which began in May 1889. William was the only defendant who served time; he spent six years in Sing Sing Prison. Olive and Emily pleaded guilty and were sentenced to time already served, but before they arrived in Milan, their homes were possessed by the courts and their money gone.

The scandal was covered by national and international news media including numerous articles in the New York Times and newspapers in the Midwest.

To add to the mystery of Henry’s place of origin and multiple spellings of last names—as well as Henry’s surreptitious death and burial—no photograph of either Henry or Olive is known to exist.

Those who perpetrated the great “Sugar Swindle” are long gone. Fol- lowing Henry’s death at the scam’s high-water mark, Olive and her third husband, George Halstead (sometimes spelled Holstead) moved to Ontario and then to Fort Street in Detroit, where Olive died in 1902 of heart disease at age 49. She is buried in an unmarked grave in Evergreen Cemetery in Hillsdale County.

After William Howard returned to Milan from Sing Sing in 1895, he and Emily had a few years together before Emily died in 1898. William remarried the following year (his third wife) and lived in Milan until passing away in 1917 at age 83.

Olive’s Milan home is now a museum called the Friend-Hack House, managed and beautifully maintained by the Milan Area Historical Society. In 1991 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The home’s near-twin, which Olive had built for her mother, is a private residence about two miles northwest of Olive’s home.

No electric sugar refining machine has ever been found.

Tony Ettwein

You may not end up where you thought you were going, but you will always end up where you are meant to be. – Author Unknown

Soon one will be able to hear and express “ooohhs and aahhhs” during fireworks displays. I write this month’s “Piece by Piece” reflecting on responses I received to my “ooohhhs and aahhhs” to those in service roles taking care of me during recent travel.

I was destined for Washington with a layover in Denver when Mother Nature decided it was best that I spend the night in Denver and then continue my journey to WA the next morning. I knew this to be the plan when still in Michigan, as did the airline attendants also headed West once we got the much-awaited clearance to fly.

During the flight as the steward offered something to drink, we engaged in a brief friendly dialogue. Me, being me, as I’ve written about in a previous article, decided the steward should be a recipient of one of my “thank you for being you” notes I like to give when traveling. When he came back down the aisle collecting empty wrappers and cups, I handed him my handwritten note and turned back to what I was reading. A few moments later he returned expressing his gratitude, sharing how he had been moved to tears.

Fast forward a few hours to a line of weary travelers waiting for taxi rides to hotels scattered in a radius near the airport. Some travelers with their luggage; others, like me, reuniting with luggage at the final destination the next day. A taxi driver with an SUV offered to take strangers comfortable in joining each other. He points to me, destined for a hotel out of the way of everyone else, exclaiming “come on, I gotcha ya. I’ll get you there.”

Nearly midnight when dropping me off, he was not deterred when I said 6:00 a.m. to his declaration he would pick me up the next morning. A twenty-minute drive found both of us still in meaningful conversation minutes after arriving at curbside the next morning. His parting words included “thank you; so inspirational” and both of us expressing gratitude for thunderstorms, tornado watches, and flight delays.

Two days later I was on another flight from Spokane, WA to Portland, OR when that inner whisper nudged me to write a note for a stewardess for her kind and gracious energy. Once again, I heard the words “you made me cry”. Moments later found her and I embraced in a hug.

I reflect on negative sentiments I overhear related to industries whose very foundation is serving people. Restaurants. Hospitality. Retail. Transportation.

I’ve read about how we can sense someone’s heart up to 15 feet away. I can’t walk in anyone else’s shoes to know for sure. But that inner whisper says those serving are grateful to be seen, heard, and valued from a heart sincerely saying, “I see you” and “thank you for seeing me”.

Christine Hassing https://christinehassing.com

As a kid attending grammar school in Detroit, I was able to walk home for lunch. Aside from getting a good lunch, I had a chance to watch Soupy Sales. He had a noon TV show geared toward kids, although there were plenty of adults who enjoyed his show. One of Soupy’s standard reminders was the title of this article. It reminded his viewers to take their vitamins!

So that’s what this article is about: vitamins. More specifically it’s a quiz about how well you know your vitamins. Let’s get started.

1. Which vitamin can help lower blood pressure?

1. Iodine

2. Iron

3. Potassium

4. Selenium

5. Zinc

2. Which can prevent dry eye disease?

1. Fish oil

2. Vitamin A

3. Vitamin C