The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-09-03
BAD SHOWING FOR WILSON
A Legislators Doings as an ATTORNEY for
Pensioners Causes His Arrest.
He Is Accused of Influencing Women to Deny
Second Marriages in Order to Secure Re-
instatement on the Pension Rolls

The peculiar methods of Representative
Lee +. Wilson, of Shelby county. fore
Swallowed last week in the case of Mrs.
Mary. NJ. Barton, eliminated in his arrest
by the federal authorities yesterday, on
charge of conspiring to defraud the gov
eminent. With him, as an alleged partici-
pant in fraud, was Mrs. Jennie Fox, also of
Shelbyville. She. too, was arrested. When
the Pension Bureau first had reason to
suspect Wilson. the Barton woman was
the only one involved, and upon this case
the officers worked till they became, as
they say, satisfied that Wilson had perpe-
trated fraud upon the department.
Other cases In which he had been inter-
ested as an attorney were then examined.
and the same methods were found to have
characterized all, or nearly all, where a re-
rating of the pension had been sought. In
fact, it is said. Mrs. Barton was
the first to open the eyes of
the authorities as to Wilson's meth
DDS. When asked regarding her case and
told of the means which had been employed
to annul her second marriage, Mrs. Barton
promptly disowned any connection with
the case, except to secure the benefits of
the re-rating. The authorities were so
much impressed with her honesty in the
matter, that they, determined not to make
her party to a criminal charge, whatever
might be their course towards Wilson.
The affidavit upon which Wilson and
Mrs. Fox were arrested charges them joint
~ with conspiracy and amounts, practical
ly, to an additional charge of perjury
against Wilson. 1t is alleged that Jennie
Fox was the wife of Oliver Snyder, Union
soldier, who died some years after the war.
AS his widow she applied for and in time
received pension, and this was continued
up, to the, time of her marriage
marriage, and recently Fox died, and the
woman was left a second time widow.
At this juncture the peculiar talents which
have distinguished Wilson in Shelby cOun-
ty as a pension lawyer were called into
play, and he and the woman went about, it
Is alleged, to secure a re-rating of her pen
sion, even at the sacrifice of her good name.
Wilson, it is charged, made oath in the
Shelby Circuit Court that Mrs. Snyder and
Fox were never married, and that the
three children born unto them were illegit-
innate. Sufficient evidence was produced
to deceive the department., and the woman's
Pc asn was re-rated, and she received
$l,DO back pay. the amount covering the
period of her marriage with Fox. The in
vestigation by the authorities, it is claimed,
showed that Wilson and the woman must
have been cOgnizant of the fraud that was
perpeUTateu anu 10 Was QeterullneQ 10 ar
rest them upon this case, which would be
sufficient to hold them pending further
investigations.
While the exact number of cases of a
similar character cannot be ascertained, 1T
is understood that as many as eleven in
which Wilson figured are subjects of sus-
picion and investigation, and the grand
jury will be called upon to sift the matter
to the bottom. 1t is not improbable that
some of his clients, like Mrs. Barton. trust;
cd mt ralxv fIa han Acfx- <>f ov,I
were not cOgnzant of the force and effect
of the pleading by which they were re-
stored to the list of pensioners, but 1T is be-
lieved that the majority will show cOllu-
arrests are likely to follow.
The defendants waived preliminary trial
yesterday, and gave bond in the sum OF
| 81 900 each to answer to the grand jury.