The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-07-09
FORGED A CLIENTS NAME
Captain Bryson's Lucrative Pension
Practice Again Causes Him Trouble.
A Defendant Learning the Cost of Wrong Do
ing Decides Not to Plead Guilty-A To-
bacco Mans Expensive Mistake.

William F. Bryson, of Roanoke. Hunting
ton county, is once again in the meshes of
the laws drag-net. 1t is not long since he
was fined $3.50 and costs by Judge Woods
in the federal court for transmitting false
certificates and affidavits of pension claims
to the department at Washington.
As he left the courtroom after
receiving his sentence he remarked with
an oath that he had his opinion Of Judge
Woods. He will soon be given an oppOr-
tunity to again face the Judge, the charge
against him this time being forgery. Bry-
son was q soldier and is = pension attorney.
but he will not be in the busi-
ness long. having been disbarred May 16
by the pension department. He is allowed
to close up all the claims he had on file at
the time of his diSbarment, and, as soon as
that is done. he says he will quit the busi-
less. This last indictment against him
named James F. Summers. of Mobiles
vile. When the latter was paid. recently,
the SIS fee was held back In accordance
warded to Washington. summers pro-
tested that he had made no such contract
with BrysOn and the Indictment was
secured against the attorney on the pen
SiOHerS an1OaVlt.
Deputy United States Marshal Conway
arrested Bryson at Roanoke. yesterday.
and brought him here last evening. AS
sistant District Attorney .COckrum was
somewhat surprised at the nerve" Of the
following telegram sent by Bryson from
Fort Wayne, yesterday afternoon:
Will be in with Conway, at $50 p. NJ. Meet
me at your office.
Mr.. COckrum was not sure whether
it was Conway who had Bryson
or Bryson, who had Conway, but he waited
for them. Bryson denies having forged the
pensioners name to the fee contract. though
he admits that it is his signature on the
document. He said 70 Mr.. COckrum in ans
wer to the latter's question, that he had
sent the contract to Washington. A mo-
ment afterward he was uncertain whether
he SO sent it, claiming he had so
many cases-probably a Thousand, possibly
fifteen hundred-that he could not keep
track of them all. He could remember lit
tie of the Summers claim, except that he
had written his application for a pension
and might not know the man again if be
saw him. Bryson was quite naturally very
much averse to going to jail, and being un-
notice he was placed in charge of
Deputy Marshal Robertson for the night.
To-day he hopes to get bond, so that he can
return home. He is q thin-faced man. ap-
long, struggling red beard. and is known in
Huntington county as Captain BrysOn. The
pension business, though brisk enough
with him. was, he says, rendered unprotita-
bic by the recent trouble he had with the
government. This cost him.. all told. about
$500, and now he has another and a more
serious charge to face. BrysOn served over
four years in the Union army.
Did Not Plead Guilty.
The family feud of the lows and the
Bssses was given another twist in the fed
araI corrt uaetardou yU;1;oo, IT TDur
father-in-law of Curtis Bass, who is under
suspended sentence for removing whisky
from a bonded warehouse, came here with
his attorney yesterday morning. to plead
guilty to two indictments found against
him by the recent grand jury. One was
for removing from his warehouse LIQUOR
upon which the tax had not been paid. and
in the other he was charged with selling
liquor at wholesale without a Ii
cense and putting up a sign as
a wholesaler and failing to post
a license in q conspicuous place. When
they cam here Tow and his attorney were
under the impression that a small fine
wOuld square the matter. When they
learned. from District Attorney Chambers.
that Tow was liable to be fined $1,000 for
each ~otfense. ana imprisonment besides.
they changed their minds about pleading
guilty, and concluded to take their chances
with a jury next week. They returned to
Mitchell in the afternoon. apparently, in q
very dissatisfied frame of mind.
A Costly Mistake.
Charles P. Staub. a retail tob acco-dealer
of Terre Haute, pleaded guilty, in the fed
eral court yesterday, to violating the In
ternal revenue laws and was fined $40 and
costs. in all S62.SO. The yearly tax, which
Staub neglected to pay, is $40. 1t ran
along from January to May before any
action was taken. Staub said he
forgot to pay it, but the internal revenue
collector charged that 1t was a willful viola
ton of the law and that the defendant re-
fused to pay the tax. The amount involved
for the four months was 80 cents, and it
therefore cost Staub just s62 more than had
realizes by this time that his mistake,
whether intentional or otherwise. was
rather an expensive one.