John R. Sutton

JOHN R. SUTTON
1890-1946
AKA John Redondo B. Sutton

John Redondo B. Sutton
from his 1920 Passport Application
Collection of Paul Corrigan, 6-17-09

Biographical Notes
from Paul Corrigan, 6-18-09 John R. Sutton worked for a time at Pearson Engineering Corporation located at 115 Broadway in New York City and it was during that time that he met a Wall Street player by the name of Alfred E. Lindsay. Lindsay was running a business called Pacific Mineral & Chemical Company which was doing quite well and he asked Mr. Sutton to come work with him as Vice President. Mr. Sutton agreed after doing some, but as he later regretted, not enough due diligence. While Lindsay made the business money through the selling of stocks it was Sutton who gave the business the respectability it needed for Lindsay to bring the money in. Sutton viewed Lindsay as a Wall Street player but the truth was soon to come out that Lindsay was a brilliant con man with a gift for high stakes swindles.

The Pacific Mineral & Chemical Company was a real Company only it did not belong to Mr. Lindsay. Lindsay pirated the title of the successful California corporation and opened an office in New York claiming to be the actual company.

On September 25, 1922 then Major Sutton was placed on trial in the Court of Special Sessions accused of publishing a false statement to deceive prospective purchasers as to the value of the stock in the so-called Pacific Mineral and Chemical Company of which he was Vice President.

He was convicted and sentenced to a short term of incarceration on Welfare Island as the Judge knew that the honorable Major Sutton had been duped by the master con man Alfred E. Lindsay. Lindsay on the other hand received a sentence of five to ten years hard labor in Sing Sing for cheating a score of widows out of a million dollars or more.

Side note: On July 14, 1919 then Major Kilmer married Mrs. Esther Wadsworth Kilmer, who obtained a divorce from Willis Sharpe Kilmer, a member of the wealthy family of manufacturers of patent medicine at Binghamton. Mrs. Kilmer, it was announced at the time, gave up alimony of $25,000 a year which was contingent on her remaining unmarried.

JOHN R. SUTTON
     Lieutenant Colonel John R. (Redondo B.) Sutton, an EB from the very first group passed by the Towers committee, FAI pilot 316 of 1915, treasurer of the EBs in 1931, died recently in Mexico where he had financial interests.
     Colonel Sutton, born February 17, 1890, was educated at West point, graduated in 1913 and selected the Coast Artillery. Early in 1914 he applied for aviation training at the San Diego school of the Signal Coprs, was successful, and in August of 1914 2/Lt. Sutton was on flying status. He was rated Junior Military Aviator from June 16, 1915, and detailed in the Aviation Section with rank of First Lieutenant. In 1916 he returned to the Artillery and was stationed at Manila. That fall he resigned.
     At the outbreak of World War I he was commissioned Major in the Reserve and put on active duty, remaining in the Reserve until 1935, when he is no longer resident in the States. In the 30s he was active in the New York EB organization and a special partner in a brokerage firm. Then for a time he maintained headquarters in the Clark Hotel in Los Angeles.
from CHIRP - APRIL, 1947 - PESCO, CLEVELAND, OHIO - NUMBER 35
courtesy of Steve Remington - CollectAir

Editor's Note:
If you have any more information on this Early Bird,
please contact me.
E-mail to Ralph Cooper

Back Next