Religion: Trustee

The stocky, white-haired, ruddy-faced gentleman who in 1926 began selling stock in Automotive Royalties Corp. had a good list of prospects. Most of them were old folks and clergymen who had subscribed to a series of books on dietetics written by one Eugene Christian. They liked ruddy-faced Clark W. Parker: he told them frankly that he had been born 69 years ago in a Michigan log cabin. His voice was impressive, his bearing dignified. He was a trustee of Manhattan’s interdenominational Church of the Strangers. His corporation sounded good — motors and things. And all he would think of accept ing (at first) was $100 of their money.

Clark W. Parker and his son Wyman stood before Federal Judge John Munro Woolsey in Manhattan last week, were fined $11,000 each and sentenced to five years in Atlanta Penitentiary for conspiracy and using the mails to defraud. Worthless was not only $1,250,000 worth of stock in Automotive Royalties Corp. but also that of two previous companies Mr. Parker had formed. Many a mulcted clergyman sadly agreed when Judge Woolsey called him “an enemy to society.” Swindler Parker shrugged.