"Selling" Trinity Church

Trinity Church (Broadway and Wall St., Manhattan) stands on one of the most valuable plots of land in the U. S. Yet a clever group of swindlers is reported to have made a fortune out of questioning the validity of Trinity's title to the land it occupies.

The scheme consists in informing gullible individuals that they (the gullibles) are descendents of one Anneke Jans Bogardus, wife of the Rev. Everardus Bogardus, who owned the valuable plot some two centuries ago. For a modest fee to cover the expenses of investigating the title, the swindlers hold out to their prospects the possibility of sharing in the sale of the property for many millions of dollars, should it be found rightfully to belong to the Bogardus heirs. For many years the clique lived off the "fees" obtained from the "heirs."