The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Electric sugar scandal blows up
PUBLISHED: May 1, 2008
Editor's Note: This is the fifth in an eight-part series on the Great Electric Sugar Scandal that rocked Milan in the 1800s.
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In the spring of 1888, William E. Howard and his wife, Emily, were calmly shopping for farmland in Milan to build a home for themselves. They had so much cash between them that they probably needed large suitcases to hold all of their money.
They couldn't place any money in the bank because the Electric Sugar Refining Co. might bring lawsuits later and get their money back.
So the Howards spent their loot on acres and acres of prime Milan farmland, storing the extra money in bags. I wonder if they placed some cash in Canadian bank accounts or quietly slipped some to Uncle Henry Hack.
We'll probably never know.
In the case of Emily Howard's daughter, Olive Friend, she had started in May 1887, buying 37 acres on County Road from Uncle Henry Hack. Olive's deed, on file at the Register of Deeds office, says she paid $1,712.50. In today's dollars, she spent about $35,000.
She bought some smaller pieces of land from him as well, so her original farm turned out just a little larger. Olive had a gorgeous home built there in the spring of 1888, with name-brand architecture, including an outhouse with architectural features that match the home.
This was no ordinary outhouse. It had three holes.
As Olive's house neared completion in March 1888, her mother and stepfather wanted a house just as nice. They bought "The Old Sawyer Farm" from Emily's nephew, Allen Burnham. This farm was located on the northeast corner of Platt and Arkona roads.
Allen Burnham got that farm from his father, William Burnham, Emily's older brother. The farm included the usual farmhouse, located near the corner of the two roads. That same farmhouse is shown on a York Township real estate map prepared in 1874 when William Burnham owned it.
The farm was for sale in 1888 because Allen was moving his family to North Dakota. On April 17, 1888, Howard purchased the farm from Emily's nephew, all 120 acres. The official deed gives the sale price as $600.
The Howards loved the farm, but not the shabby old farmhouse. I believe they either demolished the house or had it moved away.
Howard and Emily wasted no time building a new house just exactly like Olive's. Because the two houses look so similar and have the same architectural style, I'd say the Howards used the same architect who designed Olive's house. I think they snatched up Olive's builder just as soon as the other house was done.
The resulting new home on Platt Road was a palace. The carriage house, barn, and exotic birdhouse all matched Olive's fine home, featuring lovely and elegant gables and copper weathervanes. Even the outhouse featured roof gables, and it was a "three-holer" just like Olive's.
Today, the home built by the Howards at Platt and Arkona roads is occupied by the McGovern family. Drive by slowly and appreciate the historic beauty of that gorgeous home. The McGovern House is another Hack House. Both were built in 1888 with electric sugar money.
According to the New York Times, the Howards spent about $12,000 on their house and farm. That was a vast amount of money in 1888, more like $250,000 in today's dollars.
The Milan residents involved in the Great Sugar Scandal were smart to get out of New York City in 1888. After they left, it took a long time for the corporate officers to wake up and realize some folks were missing. They didn't notice until late December 1888 that the Milan gang had disappeared. At that point, William Cotterill, president of the Electric Sugar Refining Co., took a train out west to find Milan Village and see for himself what was going on.
One of the people Cotterill spoke to in Milan was Emily Howard's brother, Lyman Burnham. They met in late December. Lyman told Cotterill without mincing words that the sugar refining machine was "humbug."
Burnham didn't risk much by telling Cotterill the truth in December 1888. He and the other Milan residents involved in the scandal had already gotten their money. They were all safely out of New York and living in Milan. Burnham probably felt it was too late for Cotterill to undo the losses to the Electric Sugar Refining Co. The horses were out of the barn, so to speak.
Even so, Lyman's revelation may have been a turning point for Cotterill. Up to that moment, Coterill was apparently hanging on for dear life to the idea that professor Henry C. Friend really did invent the wonderful sugar refining machine.
As children, we learn that Santa might not come down the chimney, the tooth fairy isn't real, the Easter Bunny is fiction, etc. But when Cotterill had to learn that the wonderful electric sugar machine didn't really exist, I'm sure he was devastated.
Shortly after that, Cotterill heard that his company was supposedly sent a paper with the secret formula for Friend's wonderful machine, but it was "in cipher." Cotterill still hoped it was true. He really wanted Santa Claus to come down the chimney with Friend's sugar refining machine fully working.
Milan residents were buzzing. Olive Friend, her mother Emily Howard, William Howard, the Halsteads and, yes, even Lyman Burnham, had come back from New York with enough money to qualify as filthy rich. The neighbors had to wonder where all that money came from. Soon the news came pouring out of the newspapers in New York, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Bay City, Adrian and all over the country.
The news stories gushed forth starting in late 1888 and continued through 1889, with the big trial in New York and the lawsuits flying everywhere. The Big Sugar Scandal was big news. Milan was big news.
Thanks to the Detroit Evening News, Jan. 6, 1889.
Martha Churchill is a member of the Milan Area Historical Society. She can be reached at milanhistory@yahoo.com.
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