Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-09-11
THE RAUM CASE.
The Commissioners Indorser on
the Stand.
NO CORRUPT CONNECTION EXISTING.
Raum RepeIs the Charges of Official Mis-
conduct and Denounces CoOper-The
Latter Insists Upon Having
the Books.

WASHINGTON, Sept O. When the
Raum investigation was resumed yes
terday, Pension Agent Lemon was
called to the stand and read a prepared
statement which was that as the first
charge did not concern him he had
nothing to say. As to the second charge,
which referred to himself, he said that
he had known General Raum for tweD-
ty-fve years His financial standing
was high and his indorsers were men of
reputation. So when he wanted money
to open up his mining property
witness indorsed two of his notes,
one for $1,000 and one for $40, 900,
which were subsequently extended. Re-
specting the charge that witness Sc
cured undue advantage from the COM
pleted files order he said that the COM
pleted files order was not novel in prin-
ciple, but that it had been the practice
of the Office for years toward the end OF
fiscal year to pick out such completed
cases and dispose of them. That had
been done by Com missioner Black 1t
was wise practice. The charge that
Commissioner Raum had given him any
undue advantage in the completed files
order was an unqualified falsehood, and
furthermore it would be an absolute
impossibility for the Commissioner to
favor him. He could not do it If
he would. He (Lemon) denied in the
broadcast terms that the order was
asked for or intended to apply to his
cases or in any manner to favor him
over other attorneys 1t was general
rule against which nothing could be
said except from ignorance or malice.
Witness had never asked any thing
from Commissioner Raum nor any other
Commissioner to which he was not en-
titled as an attorney. Unfair as Mr..
Cooper had been, he invited him to
come to his office any day and examine
every case and every employe. He
wanted him to come in at the front
door like man and not hunt up dis
charged clerks. That would obviate
the necessity for making baseless
charges.
At the conclusion of the reading of
the paper Mr.. Cooper asked what wit
ness fortune was to which witness
promptly replied: That is none of
your business" and returned the same
answer to the next question as to the
amount of his annual income.
Mr.. Cooper then asked of witness if
he had not been charged with forging
Mr.. Colfax's name to certificate. Wit
ness replied that he had not. If the
committee desired to go into that he
wished to be allowed to call witnesses,
as it related to transac ton twenty-five
years ago. General Raum had first
spoken to witness about money matters
in January before he became Commits
sioner. When witness proposition to
make an order like the completed
files order was under discussion,
Deputy Commissioner Lincoln had
that it's effect would be
to turn all of the force out of Office upon
cases, but that was a wrong
belief. The completed files order was
made January 6 and witness indorsed
the note January Z. He did not then
know that the order had been issued
The order was not subject of CONVEX
sation between himself and the Com
missioner when the Endorsement was
made. The effect of the order upon
cases in the ordinary files was beneficial,
as it reduced the files in number and
encouraged effort to complete cases.
Mr.. Lemons testimony having been
Mr.. Cooper renewed his re-
quest for the production of the books of
the refrigerator company, asserting that
they would show that the refrigerator
was fraud and that the Commissioner
had been manipulating from the PEN
sion Office fraudulent scheme. The
committee would not be doing it's full
duty if it failed to turn the light upon
that enterprise.
Commissioner Raum said he was pres
ent to answer charges of official miscon-
duct and had done so completely. The
committee had seen the stock book of
the company. He denied that the re-
frigerator was a fraud Mr.. Cooper
knew that he had sold no stock to
Pension Office employees. The men
who penned the lying articles knew
they were lying when they wrote
them. There was a conspiracy in
this and Mr.. Cooper was being
used as tool to break down his
(Raum's) credit. The committee saw
the papers day by day filled with lying
articles. Mr.. Cooper knew that the
charges were dismal failure and could
not be sustained, and he wished to drag
in other things so as by hocus pocus or
hook and crook to injuro him (Raum).
He should rest on his legal rights and
refuse to have his private business
dragged out by Mr.. Cooper.
Mr.. Cooper insisted on the necessity
for the production of the books as the
best proof of the stockholders and de-
clared that thf5 Commissioners testi-
mony had be'sn contradicted by Mr..
Smyser, who had also told the minority
of the committee that he had
not paid dollar into the stock.
The committee, after a private con-
decided that it would reserve
its decision upon the question until it
should have an opportunity to ascertain
the extent of its powers to compel the
production of private papers.