Oscar Hartzell and Sir Francis Drake
Oscar Hartzell was a con artist who developed a scam which was focused on people with the surname Drake. It was a scheme which he learned when another con artist attempted to lure him into it, and Hartzell, who was a part-time sheriff’s deputy in Iowa, quickly realized it for what it was. Rather than arrest the con artist, he ran him out of town, as it were, and took over the con. It was based on Sir Francis Drake and the estate which was allegedly never paid to his heirs, remaining in British banks under the control of the British government.
Hartzell began looking for people with the last name of Drake in Iowa in 1919 and informed them that as a distant relative of Francis Drake he was preparing a lawsuit to force the British government to release the estate, which had collected interest for over 300 years and was by then worth over $100 billion (about $1.5 trillion today). In addition to the money, the estate included the city and port of Plymouth, England. According to Hartzell, every investor in his scheme would see a return on their money at the rate of 500 to one.
People in Iowa fell over themselves to invest in his scheme, which he soon expanded to other states. There was no requirement to prove any relationship to the British seafarer, possession of the name was sufficient. Hartzell continued seeking Drakes until 1924, when he informed investors that he was relocating to London to seek out solicitors to initiate the lawsuit. He moved to London and set himself up in luxury, after hiring agents in the United States to continue to solicit funds from investors, claiming that more money was needed as he negotiated with representatives of the British government and banks.
The British government informed the United States through its embassy that there was no estate. Hartzell meanwhile remained in England, safe from arrest because he had not broken any British laws. In the United States, the FBI announced that Sir Francis Drake’s wife had inherited the mariner’s estate in 1597. Donations to Hartzell’s scam continued. It took action by the United States Post Office to arrest several of Hartzell’s agents in the US. When they confessed to the scam the British gained authority to arrest Hartzell and send him back to the United States in 1933.
How much Hartzell scammed from his supporters will never be known, but while he was awaiting trial yet more donations came in, meant to provide him with a defense fund. Hartzell was convicted of fraud in 1934, having run his con for fifteen years. He was sentenced to ten years in Leavenworth, and died there in 1943. During his time in prison, another $500,000 was collected from people named Drake, who refused to accept that the whole thing had been a con from beginning to end.
