The Portland daily press., 1879-02-12
Captain George Prince.
TEN YEARS AT HARD LABOR I'm
STATE Prison.
What the Washington Papers Say AbOut
Him,

day afternoon owing to the fact that the cap
tain had made an offer of $4,000 to settle tn
civil suit on which both his, and his wife
property in the National Bank at Bath ha
been attached by the government. The propo
siton was telegraphed to Hon. Kenneth Ray
nor, dolicitor of the Treasury. but the an'we
was not received until p. m. 1t was though
best to postpone the sentence in the erimina
suit until the civil suit was determined.
At $50 p. m. several bankrupt case
having been finished, Capt Prince came into
court accompanied by several of his relatives
and took his place in the dock. He appear
ed calm and collected. D istrict Attorney
Lunt moved for sentence
Gen. 9. P, Mat,ooks, counsel for Capt
Prince, then arose and spoke substantially al
follows: He said his client had made full CON
fession. of his crimes aud exonerated everybody
of any completely in them. He-Gen. Mat
tocks-had advised him to make some plea in
mitigation of his sentence. To this his client
had replied there was nothing for him to say
He could only refer to the facts that for twelve
years Captain Prince had been secretary and
three years president of an insurance comuany
IN Bath, and it was the universal testimony
that during that time he had never been accus-
ed of wrong doing, and it was generally sdrnit.
ted the affairs of the company had been well
managed. UD to going ipto the army he had
handled large sums of money and never deviat-
ed from the paths of rectitude. His character
and standing were good and he was respected
by everybody. He entered the army and, al
though writer in one of the newspapers has
criticised his army record, he had made no
claims to any such record but had simply
stated he was ruptured while in the service.
What led to the commission of his pension
frauds was this: While raising bis company
at the beginning Of the war he incurred ex.
penses which he understood the state had
promised to reimburse him. Many officers
raised companies with the like understanding.
This promise, it afterwards proved, had bsen
made without authority, and the bill so incur
red had to be met. To meet these great ex-
penses Capt Prince took his first false step.
He stands here today with no other crime
charged to him except this which grew out of
small BEGINNINGS. and finding the process of
getting out OF the tolls not an easy one, he kept
on until the bulk of his pecul ationslhad swelled
enormously. 1t also appears in evidence that
when he was in Boston, and found the detec-
tives Oh his track, he logged for the time to
come when the whole truth would be known.
Early after his arrest he and his friends deter
mined to make restitution to the government
He has made an offer TO return $4,000. The
property which was attached in B4tn belonged,
one half to his wife, the other half to himself.
L am aware, your Bonor, this offer does
not entitle my client to a light sentence, but it
Is fact in the case and the District Attorney
will bear me out in it. l also informed that
officer, as soon as could, thereiwould be no
trial so as 20 make as little expense to the gov
ernment as possible.
May it please you Honor this man is 81 years
OF age, aud has been married thirty years.
His wife is compelled to suffer greatly from
nis disgrace, ani considering the facts that
both stood so high in the community, that this
is the only offence charged against him, that
he is disabled man, l appeal to your humani-
ty to consider that one year to hum will amount
to as much as four to younger person. No
attempt has been m ade to escape from this jur-
isdctloD, and no effort made to put the govern
pent to the expsnse of a trial with the hope
that the law would afford some loop-hole of es-
cape.
District Attorney Lunt then said the Court
had heard the Indictment and that it disclosed
one of the most stupendOuS frauds attem pted
on the pension bureau. Trae The prisoner b ad
offered to pay the government about all that he
was able and the Depart nent of the Interior
had declined to recommend the acceptance of a
compromise of the civil suit against him, and
II such sentence was imposed as his stupendous
crime deserved, at his time of life it would not
expire until less vigorous man had succumb.
ed to the infirmities of age. He would leave
the matter in the hands of the Court to inflct
such sentence as he deemed proper.
Judge Fox said that an examination of the
Indictment, to which the prisoner had pleaded
guilty, showed that it consisted of twenty vio-
lations of the pension law, each of which
should en.itle the criminal to years sentence.
This is the most extraordinary case that ever
came to the knowledge of the Court of one pei
son committing so many frauds of the kind.
The fraud is in it'ef stupendouS and it has
been committed by man who has enjoyed
such opportunities for his own advance ment
and the respect and esteem Of the community
as are granted to but few. He has abused the
confidence of the public to a greater extent
than the poor man who might have been
drawn into the meshes of crime by reason of
the pressure of circu Instances. IhiS man mad
a reasonable competence and must have known
what he was about, and must impose sentence
that shall teach others to abstain from such at
tempts. In consideration of his age shall not,
as 1 otherwise should, impose the full penalty
of the law I sentence the prisoner to ten
years at hard labor in the state prison. Mr..
Marshal, the prisoner is rsmanded to your
charge.
The prisoner showed no signs Of emotion.
Thus ends this case which, in all its features,
has seemed more like an Arabian Nights tale
than a latter of fact If the history of all the
frauds involved in it could be written 1t would
make true story that would surpass the most
exciting novel by Wilkie Collins.
District Attorney Lunt is entitled to great
praise for the manner iu which he has worked
up this csse Commissioner Bentley, of the
letter of the 7th inst, received. The detection
and swift punishment of the Prince frauds are
worthy of congratuation all around. The
promptness and ability with which you have
handled this very delicate, as well as difficult
case are admirable"
The whole time from the arrest of Captain
Prince to his sentence to state prison was q
days
The Washington Star has been looking up
Princes record while clerk in the pensou
Office, and fuds that he began his fraudulent
Ianssctions while there-much earlier than
was represented By him in an interview last
week. He was an examiner Of widows CLAIMS
GA the 10 va desk AL claims of that class 10 that
State baing assigned to hIm. He frsudulently
used genuine impressions OF seals that were
egitmately before him by steaming them oil
and repasting, and frsudulently altered
genuine transcripts from marriage records &C
correspond with things alleged in the fraud
ulent declarations for pensions which he pre-
pared In these declarations he stated the
residence of the supposed applicant to be in
Iowa, and the claims passed into his bands fol
examination aud allowance; the forsed sigma
lures aud fraudulent papers having been pre-.
pared with sufficient skill, the crime was not
rejected by the reviewing clerks who finally
approved them. He selected the names o1
officers only as the basis OF his claims, because
of the higher rate of pensions. and those
personally known to him to have left DO one
eutltad to pensions, to avoid conflicting
claims Having secured the allowance of the
claims he crew the pensions bieDnially ant
later quarterly by continued forgeres.
He resigned his clerkshlp October 18, /. 1866
In the earlier vouchers he used genuine seals
stolen from the Pension Office; later he had
manufactured seal purportIng to be that o.
Lake county, Ohio still later he secured the
appoirtment of himself as justice of the peace
Ali the other statements made by the Stal
have already been Published.
REAL ESTATE TRANsFERs.-The following
transfers of real estate were recorded In this
county yesterday:
Portland-Mary E. Rundett to Chas. T.
Rundlett, and buildings on LAFAYETTE street.
Gray-Desire L. GliDes to Emery Osgood,
acre of land.
Bridgton-Joanna Harmon to Richard Cald
we'll homestead farm of Josiah Harmon.
James L. Merryman to Joseph Barlow, lo1
of land.
BATH LOCALS.