David Lamar was born circa 1877. His exact birth date is unknown; his 1934 obituary reports that he was 65 years old. He appeared in New York City about 1893. In the 1890s "he had a Fifth Avenue house and was known for his trotting horses, his diamond studded walking stick, his appearances as a man about town." In 1899, Lamar claimed one of his most famous victims was 25-year-old
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Working through George Rogers, secretary to
Standard Oil founder
John D. Rockefeller, Sr., Lamar convinced the younger Rockefeller to buy stock in U.S. Leather, using money he had borrowed from his father. As Rockefeller Jr. was buying, Lamar was selling, and the younger Rockefeller lost nearly $1 million. On July 9, 1903, when his coachman James McMahon appeared in court to testify against Lamar on an assault charge, McMahon was stabbed and beaten by members of the
Eastman Gang as he entered the courthouse and he was unable to testify. His obituary noted two brazen swindle attempts in which he hired two men as "hold up experts" in lawsuits he brought against the
U.S. Steel Corporation and the
Great Northern Railroad and the
Northern Pacific Railroads; his "experts" were exposed as frauds. During 1915, Lamar acted as an agent for
Franz von Rintelen, a captain in the
intelligence wing of the
German Imperial Navy who operated covertly in
New York City. Lamar promoted
strike action and work stoppages in munitions factories by means of the ''Labor's National Peace Council''. From offices at 55 Liberty Street, Captain von Rintelen spent US$500,000, much of which went to Lamar, whose reports of his success were greatly exaggerated. In October 1916, while serving his Atlanta Prison sentence, he was working as a tailor. In 1923 after losing an appeal on a conspiracy charge, he fled New York City and was found 8 months later in Mexico and sent to the Essex County Penitentiary in North Caldwell, New Jersey, for one year for being involved in strikes in munition factories; he was released in 1924. In 1924 his first wife divorced him and retained custody of their daughter Dorothy. On November 22, 1925, in
Ridgefield, Connecticut, he married a stage and screen actress Edna Eck aka Edna Fretch; ==References==