Omaha daily bee., 1892-04-08
Representative Cooper of Indiana Mixed Up
in the Pension Scandal.
RAUM is MAKING A TELLING DEFENSE
Democratic Congrcssmen's Names Used to
Further the Interests of Pension Sharks
MIR. Enloe Has stirred Ups Pretty
Mcss-Senatorial Developments.

| questions and Mr.. Enloe then, over the OBJ
| lection of Counsel Payson, put in evidence
| part OF the testimony on the subject, Mr..
| Enloe asked if the completed files order had
| not resulted in the passage of 10000 of MIR.
| Lemons cases. Mr.. Enloe also asked IL Mr..
| Lemon had not left Washington for Europe
| Immediately after this investigation was
| ordered.
Mr.. Raum said he had no personal knowl-
| edge as to when MIR. Lemon went abroad,
| but had heard that since the investigation
mad begun he had gone to Europe.
| MIR. Enloe asked If MIR. Lemon had not
| gone without any other notice to his en-
| ployes than note announcing that he was
| going to Europe
Mr. Raum replied that be knew nothing
| about the matter
| Mr. En!oe next asked IL Raum had yet
! paid the noto indorsed by Mr.. Lemon.
| 1t Was Private Business.
The commissioner said that was private
| business and declined to answer.
A decided sensation was sprung when Mr.
Enloe asked If the secretaries OF congress-
men ever sold information CT the status of
claims to pension attorneys
| Mr.. Raum had a bundle of papers and was
| evidently prepared for just this sort OF thing
| for he produced them and read letters in
| which the charge was made that Samuel r..
| Hersey, private secretary OF Representative
| Cooper of Indiana, had, through Rogan & Co.,
| of Kenton, o., and H. Z. Petis of Columbia,
| carried on quite business Of this sort,
| charging SS for each claim. IL was then
| shown that Hersey had called up these cases
on congressional slips signed by Representa-
| tive Cooper, one of the prosecutors in the
| Raum case. Hersey also worked for Mr..
Brookshre of Indiana and MIR. Gantz OF
| Ohio, but it was not shown that Hersey's
connection with them had been the same as
| with Cooper.
| There were, the commissioner said, q
| thousand pensions all over the northwest, IN
| which Hersey was involved 1t was on this
| matter that Mr.. Lineweaver whose absence
| has been frequently inquired about, had been
engaged. The papers relating to the affair were
| offered in evidence by Mr. Raum, but have
not yet been admitted in evidence, the COM
| mittee desiring to examine HerSey on the
| matter In effect the substance OF them is
| covered in letter from the commissioner to
| the secretary of The interior, dated April 5.
recommending Hersey's discharge.
Information offered for Money.
| The letter shows that on February % re-
| port was received from j. q. Greene,
supervising special examiner of the pension
| office, with reference to a complaint received
| from John r. Wblttinghlll of Indiana, for
merly of the Ninth kentucky volunteers.
In this COMPLAINT WittInghill said he had re,
ceived letter from Rogan & Co. of Kenton-
/
| Wittinghill the exact status of his claim ana
| the testimony necessary to it, Whlttinghill
asked if it was fraud, if Rogau could fur
nish the Information why could not
sion office without expense. The
| papers show that on September l6,
| of last year, the commissioner wrote
| Whittinghill, saying that he was advised
working and the position or affairs. and
asked him to forward 50 TO them, for which
the pension office would reimburse him.
| This was done and on November Whiting
hill received q reply giving HIM as full and
| accurate n statement of his claim as if the
| man had held the papers before him.
! Meanwhile the case had been put aside to
| ascertain what would come of it, and it
| turned out that on November IL the papers
| in the case were called for by Hersey upon a
| congressional slip of Representative Cooper
| OF Indiana. The commissioners letter said
| that he did not know that it was any more
| than a coincidence and could not determine
| whether there was any connection between
| Rogan and the Cooper slip. So on Novem-
Der % Whittinghill was requested to CORE
| spond with Ropan & Co. relative to the claim
| of Henry Behrens of the Ninth Ohio IN
fantry, the claim having been selected at
| random.
On December % the claim was called up by
| Hersey on congressional slip Of Mr.. Cooper
| and was carefully examined February s,
1892. Rogan, writing from Chicago, for
| warded status of the claim.
| How the Cases Were Called Up.
| In the meantime the commissioner had re-
| ceived letter dated December %, 1891, from
| Representative Williams of Ohio calling
| attention to tue fact that certain Ohio pen
| sion attorneys were having all their cases
| called up Tor status and reported upon by
| HerSey on Mr.. Cooper's congressional slips
| The matter was placed in Greenwalt's hands
| and he obtained from the office in which
| Rogan had formerly worked letter presum-
l hlNr ant ttnIF IA trtn pntNine
| latlng TO claims. One letter gave a complete
| status OF the claims of Mrs. Elizabeth Mof-
| fett OF Eli2abethtown, Ind, called up Octo.
ber II, 1891, on MIR. Cooper's congressional
| slip
| AT Greenwats request Lineweaer was
| appointed to assist him. In Ohio he took
! tho depositlons OF j. Z. Garfield, John Arm
! strong and ID. f, Darst. He also took those
| of John Il. Morgan of Bloomington, Ind.
| These papers, the commissioners letter said,
| showed that Hersey had secured information
on pension claims through A. M. Peel and
| that Hersey ana he were brought together
| by Cooper, who had been acting under MIR.
Compton when the latter was postmaster at
| Columbus. He was related TO Cooper by
| marriage and was a confidential man and
! chief clerk of Marring & Slusher pension
| attorneys. Peel furnished Greenwalt with
several original letters received from Hersey
| giving reports of the status of tho cases.
Ine plan was, tho commissioner said. that
hogan wrote to pension attorneys and claim
| N'N" hAN SSShiSu lutlE DuSlHSSS anu LOT
warded II TO Peel who. in turn, corresponded
| with Hersey, who used the slips OF certain
members of corLress whom he represented
as their clerk, Hersey drew the cases and
| aseertained their status, ana the fees were
| divided between Hersey, Peel and Rogan.
The deposition of James p Morgan of
Bloomington, Ind, shows that he was taken
to Hersey's Office by Mr. Cooper, and intro
duced TO Hersey, and informed that "if he
had anything worth paying for Hersey will
attend to 1t for you" Morgan testified that
after his return home he wrote to Mr.,
Cooper forwarding a list of twenty i've
cases, in which he desired their status the
letter closing: al Will pay such compensa-
tion as is proper for the status OF these
claims Would have written to Hersey, but
| / did not get his address,"
The letter tho commissioner SAYS, was
turned over TO Hersey, who acknowledged
its receipt, and on February is, 1892, for
warded statement Of the status Of a mum
ber OF claims and added, "state what YOU
consider reasonable amount for compensa-
tion. shall be glad to correspond with YOU
| further with view to our mutual interest
For these statements / send you remit
what YOU think fair compensation for the
labor involved"
/ Tan