Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-28
EX-DEPUTY MARSHAL DRAPER Returns in Custody of Marshal
 Ware of Texas. HAS NOFEAR OF CONVICTION It Was an Inviting Speech That Led to Charlson's Arrest-There Was Heavy
 Crookedness.

R. c. Ware. United States marshal for the western district of Texas, reached Birmingham yesterday morning, having in charge A. H. Draper, eX-deputy United States marshal at Anniston, who is wanted here on the charge of embez- zling papers belonging to the govern ment. He came by way of New Orleans, over the Queen and Crescent railroad to this city. Failing to make connection In New Orleans is the reason why he failed to reach here at the time expected.
 A State Herald representative met MT Draper in the office of the Unlted otates marshal and had a chat with him. lie was very communicative, but appeared somewhat nervous. He acknoWledged that he left here with Charlson ana also that he was instrumental In ms cap ture. Draper says, however, that he is not guilty of embedding the papers with which he is charged, and has no fears or being convicted; that the strongest eVi- dence against him is that he left the state with Charlson, and he will be able to show why he did so. lie corrooorates Charlson in the statement that they went to Monterey, Mex, and that he assisted Charlson in running a restaurant Tn that city. -,,.
 Draper's story is about as follows;
 q was a United States deputy mar
 
 years before I left the state. After the expiration of my term of office engaged in the buying of government scrip. | bought a great deal in Birmingham ana some from MT. Charlson, put very nt.le. lust prior to our leaving I had some little family trouble, and as Charlson had previously asked me to go With nm to Mexico. I decided to do so. He said he would secure me a good job and that we both could make money. When we I and Charlson had only about $l15 we went into the restaurant business, that is, Charlson did and I assisted hlm. l could not speak the Spanish language and Charlson could and, therefore had to work at a disadvantage. We made some money but not much, and Charl- son would not allow the business to ac- cumulate, and spent all the money about as fast as we made it. We had some per, sonal feeling over business matters, and r determined to leave him and go to Tex as. I did not think Charlson had treated me right, and shortly after my arrival In Texas, in conversation with gentleman, I told him of the charges against Charl- son and where he could be found. The conversation was purely accidental. and I did not think at the time what the re- suit might be- The gentleman informed the United States officials of the conver- sation, and you know the rest"
 ''Didn't you know that there was an ln- dictment against you also?" ;
 ''No but I expected after the arrest or Charlson that he might tell something that would lead to my arrest, put know ing that any charge that might De made could not be sustained I had no uneasi- ness as to the result and was uncon- cerned about the matter. could have evaded arrest if l had so desired as l clearly suspected what would happen.
 'What did you do in Texas?"
 q was running saloon and grocery store combined for widow lady. de- termined when I left Alabama never to return until I made some money, and when get out of this am going straight back
 The Texas Marshal's Version.
 Marshal Ware said he knew nothing Of the case against Draper until he received a telegram dated at Birmingham from Deputy Lancaster, who brought Cnarl- son here, directing his arrest. That Dra- per was the main factor in having Chari- son arrested and he received the entire reward, paying the officials half to aid in making the arrest and delivering the prisoner safely to the Alabama officers; that Draper told him, however, that he did not leave Alabama with Charlson but met him in Monterey, Mexico; that after leaving Alabama he worked awhile on the levees on the Mississippi river in Louisiana He said there was no basis for a charge against him and considered 1t only the work of Charlson, he having suspected him of being instrumental in his arrest; that Draper made no effort to escape or evade arrest and seemed per fectly confident that nothing would come of the charges.
 Draper was born in Macon Ga, where he lived until he was about 21 years old, when he removed to Houston county, Georgia, where he resided until fifteen years ago when he came to Alabama. He is 50 years old. He has wife and six sons living in and near Oxford, Ala. He was carried before Commissioners Wilson and his bond fixed at $500. A relative of the prisoner was in the city yesterday prepared to make the bond, but returned home on learning that Draper had not arrived. He says that he will have no trouble in making his bond; in fact the Texas officer recommended that Draper be released on his own recognizance pending the arrival of his bondsmen, that he appeared more than anxious to get home and he could not be run off.
 Explanation of the Charges.
 The charges against Charlson are for forging fictitious af1davits against the government while United States commits sioner and collecting money fraudulently. The charges against Draper are for em- bezzling a number of these papers, which the officers have been unable to find.
 The manner of committing these forg- cries against the government as charged against Charlson and his accomplices is alleged to be as follows The law allows the commissioner to pay for the attend ance of four witnesses upon the trial of each case. As a rule, there are never more than two witnesses present. and 1t is only necessary to subpoena two. The papers of Commissioner Charlson show that four witnesses attended each case tried before him. When 1t leaked out that there was some crookedness in the commissioners office an examiner was put to work and soon discovered that from one to two witnesses names had