Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-08-03
FRAUDS ON THE PENSION
OFFICE.

Arrests of Prominent Wen i'm the
Country Implicated in Defrauding
Pensioners and the Governments.
frederick Il. Butler NJ. c., of Ten
neSsce, Concerned Largely in
transactions of this Kind--PrOsc-
cutiOns 80 be Instituted against
him by the Commissioner of PEN
siOns.
Correspondence ofthe Cincinnati Commercial.
WASHINGTON, July 31.-The frauds in
the Pension Office turn out to be more
extensive than at first supposed, and their
investigation promises to involve some
very prominent men. DR.. Van Aernam,
the present Commissioner of Pensions,
has devoted much time and attention to
reforming the irregularities in the pen
sion system, and to place the protection
of the Government between its pensioners
and dishOnOrable claim agents and LAWYERS.
Since September last several hundreds of
thousands of dollars have been recovered
by him through his detectives and agents
from dishonest claim agents and attorneys,
and handed over to the rightful pensioners
or placed again to the credit of the
pension.
The Commissioner has had the painful
duty of oriering the arrest of very promi-
nent persons throughout the country as
being connected with these frauds, and in
many cases of convicting them. When
he entered the Pension Office everything
was in confusion, aud illegal claims that
had been collected for years past were
yet on the books as genuine
The arrest and conviction of Reynolds,
in Western New York, for drawing as at
torney the pension of widow, long since
dead, was one of the results of his new
system of reform. This was followed by
similar successes in various parts of the
country, and yet the frauds continue and
are being brought to light every day.
| The books of the Office show that
each days work is carefully footed up,
and the memOrandas of false vouchers
| frauds by attorneys, non-dependence OF
| perjury by the pensioner, widow again
! married, pensioners dead, ETC., are to be
! seen in abundance. For the month of
! June the Commissioner record shows the
| following results: Pensioners, sixty-five
! arrested, out of which twenty-five were
| convicted, four acquitted and four es-
capped, and thirty-five are yet to be tried;
! attorneys, forty arrested, out of which
! eighteen were convicted, eleven acquitted,
three escaped, and twenty-one trials pend
| ing. Pensioners worthy widows have
obtained 500, l03.44, through fraud; of
this amount the Commissioner has re-
! covered 81, 1887.
Various attorneys or claim agents have
illegally charged or withheld Sc, 1872 Sc.
/; Nearly all of this sum the Commissioner
/ has recovered and caused it to be placed
in the hands of the proper parties. An
instance of this kind occurred yesterday
! A prominent lawyer of Boston withheld
thirty dollars from a pensioner. The
lawyer was compelled to return the money
to the Pension Office. In his letter to
Commissioner Van Acrnam, he states that
he had rendered the money to the pen
siOner-of course, after the fraud was
! discovered-and that the latter refused to
receive it except through the Pension Of
flee. The lawyer inClOses the thirty dol
lars to the pensiOner. This is almost an
everyday occurrence. 1t is understood
from the officer of the Pension Bureau
that the most stupendOus frauds have been
brought to light in the last six months in
the Southern States.
One of the parties charged with being
concerned in these frauds is Mr.. DENLY,
of Georgia, man said to be of some
prominence in the locality where he re-
sides. The Commissioner has one of his
agents investigating the matter. Another
person, and one of far more prominence,
because he is a member of Congress, is
Rodney Il. Butler, of Tennessee. His
connection with the cadetship business,
and the report of the Committee thereon,
is of too recent occurrence to refer to;
his complications in the frauds of the
Pension office, which Commissioner Var
Aernam states, are far darker than any
cadetship matter could be. An agent i!
now in Tennessee making thorough in
vestigation of the various frauds will
which it is alleged Butler is connected
preparatory to a legal prosecution
Money obtained on check, forged attor
: neyships, non-existence of alleged pen