Phony Millionaires Spend Themselves Into Poorhouse

A Gainesville jury tried to decide on June 30, 1967 whether Ernest and Margaret Medders were a couple of folksy con artists or bumbling bumpkins caught up in an incredible charade.

The strange saga began in 1961 in Memphis, Tennessee, where the impoverished parents struggled to support ten children. Ernest was a four-grade dropout, who worked days as a mechanic