Omaha daily bee., 1883-08-01
PENSION FRAUDS.
How Bogus Claims Are worked Through
Tricks, subterfuges, and bubbles.
Washington Post.

Washington Post.
There are more tricks practiced on
the procurement of pensions than in the
whole of the other departments put to-
gether," said a pension office examiner
the other night.
''1n what direction are these mostly at
tempted2"
1.-THE great bulk of them are colored
cases. Not that colored people are given
to fraudulent practices, but many of them
are easier victims to designing lawyers,
and it is less difficult to personate a dead
negro than a dead white man. AS soon
as a colored case comes before the Office it
is subjected to an extra amount of scruti-
ny. A large proportion of the colored
widows drawing pensions have remarked,
and quite a large number of claimants
are not the relicts of soldiers at all, hut
mere dummies put up by some wicked
lawyers and others in place of the wild
ows who have long ago married and re-
linquished their claims"
Glow is this fraud managedF"
Easily enough. A decent time is al
lowed to elapse after the marriage, and
uiiO III ilISlbCilCu Nv Nv tDtll
donment of her claim. Then another
colored oma is obtained who makes
the necessary affidavit before a convnient
notary who certifies to her identity, and
the rest is simple straightforward work,
which is frequently put into the hands of
a decent attorny to carry through all in
good faith. Where a woman is about to
remarry who is likely toformally% renounce
her rights, a member of the gang will
protfer his services to make the announce
ment in due shape, SO as to leave her free
to contract the new relation in safety.
This is the prelude to the proceedings l
have spoken of. She receives a sham
permit to marry from the pension, with
perhaps a small extra payment that has
been promised her as a result of having
the thing done properly"
"ls the law which limits the attorneys
80 in each case ever evadedl"
"They get at that very easily. The COM
mon way is to have the pensioner declare
before witnesses that he wishes to make
his attorney a present of, say 90 per cent,
in addition to the $40 allowed. Then
again, many of the dishonest lawyers have
three, four, and sometimes five so-called
firms. One will open correspondence
with a would-be pensioner, or one who
desires his allowance increased. After
obtaining half the fee in advance fornec-
essary expenses a long delay ensues.
Then here comes a circular from another
of the ring stating that he has special ia
c%ilities for procuring the passage of the
claim, which is represented to have been
shelved. In case of u favorable response
the next circular in the series is sent to
him by the third conspiritor, and so on
s%ioner's patience gives out. AS a matter
of fact there is no need for attorneys ser
vices to procure pensions, Every facility
is offered by the officn ~ the applicant
has only tS fill the furnished hin
and tell ti{e truth ny ory of reasons
for asking Che bounty!! must get al
this certified to in accordance with in
structions, ana then his case will g,
through and be acted on just as speedily
as though he had hired a dozen lawyers
OF course ignorant men sometimes fail tt
comprehend the simplest instructions
and much delay and trouble is caused
Hence the employment of a lawyer i
rather favored by those who have thu
cases to pass upon, as less labor is involv
ed as a rule in the cases prepared by pro
fessional hands"
Does all this exhaust the possibilitiea
OF fraud by attorneys?"
by no means. Men will go into a small
town and, after getting the signatures of
number of leading citizens, look up tn,
xvar rarn,la fn, 1l.l ,A..lLo.lna
Among the latter are sure to be fount
the names of men entitled to pensions VIII,
have never applied for them. Applica
tions will be made out in these names
and the signatures of the necessary III
Der of persons of the place forged to tn,
Certificate of service, etc. The rest O.
the process is easier than with a genuin,
CASE"
"Are these men ever caught ant
punishedf
"They are, quite frequently. But in
nocent frauds are sometimes even more
severely dealt with. Two cases / re
member. One was a preacher, a man Of
irreproachable character, who had been
chaplain in the army, but with littl.
knowledge of the world. In his frs
steps to getting a pension he consulted
with former comrades and neighbors al
to what facts they would swear to fol
him. Then he got the necessary blanks
and went ahead. But he found that te
get his friends signatures to their state
ments would cause considerable de-
lay. To obviate this he signed tn,
names himself and sent on the papers
The similarity of writing was detected
and the result was the states prison fol
two or three years, though the men
whose names had been forged, promptly
expressed their readiness to sign tn,
papers, while admitting that they hat
not done SO.
Another case having the same ending
was that Of a man who kept copies of hi
papers, which were afterward lost in tn,
Office. He was requested to send anothel
set, and, simply enough, sent his copies
the names of which were held TO be for
geries, and he was duly convicted ant
imprisoned, So much for law and jus
tice. Washington Post.
High License and Prohibition.
Indianapolis Times.
The difference between high licens,
and prohibition was never better illus
trated anywhere than in Kansas Cit
last Sunday. 1t is well known that Kan
sas City is part in Missouri and part il
} Kansas, with nothing but an imaginar,
} line dividing the two. This line rum
along the center of a street. In Nilsson
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