Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-25
COMPROMISING A FELONY.

COMPROMISING A FELONY.
That Il the Charge Against Policeman
Block Sworn to by MIR. Lowenstein.
A sKSsAIIoNAL SEQUEL 10 THE sEArox silver
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. ALLEGATIONS OF THE PAwx-
BROKER WHO WAS CONVICTED OF REcEIvrNo THE
STOLEN PRoPERrY-wHAr THE ACCUSED SAYS.
An AFFIDAVIT was fled in the Police Court this
afternoon for . warrant against Officer Sigmund
J. Block, who is at present detailed at police
headquarters a. inspector Of pawn shops. The
affidavit was prepared by Messrs. Cook and
sutherland and was sworn to by Ferdinand
Lowenstein, who was recently convicted of o
charge of receiving the silverware stolen from
the house Of Mr.. Malcolm Seaton, Is published
| in TIE STAB at the time.
THE AFFIDAVIT
| sets forth that the said Sigmund ]. Block, on
the 18th June, 1889, made complaint in the
Police Court charging q person designated
Crank Brainard" with feloniously taking and
carrying away one silver vase of the value of
| e100, and one silver tea pot of the value of
$40, and 'of the goods and chattels of one
Malcolm Seaton;" that when the said Block
made the said complaint as aforesaid against
Brainard he well knew that the person charged
| not Frank Brainard, but one Frank Mon
roe, and that the name Frank Brainard"
was fictitious one, adopted with the
knowledge Of Block for the purpose
concealing the personality and identity Of the
said Frank Monroe and for the purpose of aid
ing and carrying out illegal plans and schemes
On the 22d Of june Block appeared in the Po-
lice Court and made complaint against him,
Loewenstein, with feloniously receiving the
articles referred to, well knowing the same to
have been before then stolen, being the same
property which Block had charged Frank
Brainard alias Frank Monroe, with stealing
Ferdinand Loewenstein was bound over therein
to answer the said complaint as made against
HIM by Block and to appear in the Criminal
Court to answer.
June 5, 1889, an indictment was found against
Loewenstein, on which he was tried for receiving
stolen property, and verdict of guilty rem
dered on the 18th of July, from which an APP
peal has been taken to the General Term.
THE IMPUTED MOTIVE.
1t ia further stated that at no time was it the
intention of Block to prosecute Rrainard alias
Frank Monroe, but governed by malignant
motives and personal considerations, it was his
intention to have Loewenstein pursued for the
alleged crime with which he was charged and
convicted, and to secure and bring about the
release and escape of Frank Monroe from the
charge of grand larceny made against him on
the 18th Of June that from the time of the
making of the said charge Of receiving stolen
goods against this complainant until the
rendition Of the verdict on the 18th of july
Block was engaged in carrying out his scheme,
plans and purposes for the safety and escape of
Frank Monroe, and. accordingly, on the 18th of
July, after Monroe had been, in accordance
with the wishes and Recommendations of Block,
called and used as a witness on the trial of said
indictment against Lowenstein, without wait
ing for the verdict of the jury he applied to
the court and had the charge against Monroe
nolle pressed by the assistant district attorney.
and thereupon applied for and obtained from
the deputy marshal of the United States an
order for the release of Monroe from Jail, in
which he had been incarcerated. and
upon obtaining the said order he placed
it in the hands of an agent acting for him for
the purpose of having the said Frank Brainard
released from jail, which was accordingly
done Monroe was brought from the Jail to
the police headquarters and detained there
under the control of Block until the evening of
the 18th of July, when Block conducted him
lMonroe) to the depot of the Baltimore and
Potomac railroad and purchased tickets for
Monroe to New York and for himself and
others, and conducted Monroe to New York.
OFF FOR NICARAGUA.
That after their arrival Block purchased for
Frank Monroe ticket ON the steamer Hondo,
bound for Greytown, Nicaragua, and furnished
him with money and placed him on the 18th
instant thereon, and in this manner connived
at and assisted Monroe to go at large without
any effort or attempt whatever to secure an in
vestigation OF the crime charged against him.
and encouraged, aided and assisted him in
leaving the United States for the purpose of
escaping an investigation of the charge, and
rendering it impossible to try him at any time
or have any subsequent proceedings for an in
vestigation of said crime. and to enable him to
entirely escape the ends Of justice.
The complaint further says that at and after
the charge of grand larceny was made on the
18th OF June against Monroe 1t was not the de-
sign Of Block 70 have Monroe prosecuted and
indicted for said crime, but to have him used
as witness in charges he subsequently made
against the complainant for the alleged re-
ceiving Of stolen goods. and that in pursuance
Of said purpose no effort was made by the said
Block to furnish the Police Court o. the u s.
district attorney any facts information or state
ments to enable Monroe to be held for the grand
jury, and that Block failed to give known facts
and reasonable causes Of suspicion in his possess
sion and within his knowledge to the assistant
attorney or to the judge or any other proper
person that would have tended to have estab-
lished directly the guilt of Branard or Monroe,
the fact being well known to said Sigmund j.
Block that the said Frank Brainard alias Mon
roe was guilty of the larceny of the property.
WHO MONROE IS
1t is stated that Monroe was regular and
AoDibual thiSi, ouu tudb vi Vic lOtu OI June
Block had information and knowledge that
other property had been stolen by him, and
that if certain of his relatives. among them
Malcolm Seaton and other persons well known
to Block had been called as witnesses or their
attendance secured as such and properly ex-
amined in relation to the larceny of the said
property complained of, testimony showing the
larceny of said property complained of could
have been obtained. well as from other
persons. The complainant states that he could
also have testified as to the identity of the said
Frank Brainard as the person from whom he
obtained the said vase, claiming it to be his
own, and that he had a right to dispose of it,
and that by proper efforts disclosure of the
existing facts known to the said Sigmund J.
Block, and the facts which he well knew could
easily have been obtained, and there would
have been no difficulty in holding him on the
charge of grand larceny.
WHO FURNISHED THE MONEY?
But all these matters and things were, in ac-
cordance with the plans and schemes, hidden and
concealed from the Police Court and its proper
officer and assistant district attorney and sup
pressed by Block. and that in so doing he was
cooperating with the said Malcolm Seaton i'm
carrying out the plans mentioned; and
that he received and obtained money
and compensation as to enable him.
without expense to himself, to protect the
said Frank Brainard from the charge
and to enable him to go at large: and that the