Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-31

u uuuuTSuS Oh pages.
A pension attorney Of Oklahoma CITY
Okla, admitted to practice before the de-
partment, and representing claimants be-
fore the pension Office. He forged the
claim, amounting to s2i6. and obtained the
| money on the same. He demanded and re-
ceived illegal fees, was tried and convicted
! of the ofense, and is now in the peniten-
| tiary. He has been disbarred from practice
before this bureau.
An attorney of Fayetteville N. Y, re-
Gently diSbarred. The facts in this case
were that pension had been granted to
| an tllegitimate child of soldier. and the
attorney In question obtained knowledge of
this fact while acting as the attorney for
the legal widow of the soldier He made
! a demand upon the illegal pensioner for the
sum he had received from the government.
and entered into an arrangement with him
| by which the fraudulent pensioner should
retain one-third Of the money received,
and the attorney was paid two-thirds.
amounting to over $1,000. which he agreed
| to pay to the widow. Instead of doing this.
! he converted the money to his own use.
concealed the facts from his client. and
| pretended that he was having all sorts of
difficulties in trying to collect, warning his
! correspondent of the danger of discovery.
The money has not been recovered from the
| attorney, but he was disbarred.
A Number of Crimes.
An attorney of Knoxville. Tenn, was
| tried and convicted Of having received an
| AhC5dl Leg VI INV. ne dlSO prosecuted luo
claim of an alleged widow Of soldier. well
| knowing that the soldiers first wife, from
whom he had not been divorced was still
living. In another case he altered alfi-
davits and filed them as evidence In a PEN
sion claim In another case he received an
Illegal fee of SIS. In two other cases he
| filed false and fraudulent affidavits; in an
| other case he received an illegal fee of $780,
| In another case he received an illegal fee
| Of SIS He employed an attorney to defend
| him in the proceedings against him pend
| ing before this bureau, but the attorney
| withdrew from the case giving as his rea-
| Son that he had found said attorney TO be
! untruthful. Enthusiastically and wholly I'M
| reliable. The attorney was disbarred upon
| the first case but, in view of papers filed
| in his defense, was restored and given an
| other chance to practice. The evidence &C
! cumulated against him, however, and he
| was again dSbarred
| An attorney of Redwood, Ohio. who was
| also a notary public under the laws of said
| state, impersonated a government officer
and committed forgery in numerous cases,
| and also procured the execution of false
| vouchers. He was tried and convicted for
| impersonating a government officer. Upon
| the recommendation of this bureau the
J governor of the state of Ohio revoked his
| commission as notary public, and he was
disbarred from further prac tice as pen
sion attorney.
Given "a Second Trial In Vain.
An attorney of New Haven, Conn, was
| charged with demanding and receiving an
illegal fee of $3.50 in one claim. He was in
dicted and convicted for the offense and
| was disbarred from practice. He filed
many strong testimonials and evidence in
his defense, promising to obey the law if
res tored, and the Secretary of the Interior
gave him another trial. After he had been
restored to practice he was indicted for re-
ceiviDg another Illegal fee of $50. He was
convicted, and sentenced to pay a fine of
fnr li,,,r
fees in that and two other cases. and as
consequence, was disbarred.
An attorney of Cleveland, Tenn, retain
ed from a pensioner the sum of 500, giving
a rote signed by himself and wife, and
made payable four years from date. the
pensioner waited until the note became
due. and when payment was demanded the
attorney alleged that he was entitled to
that amount for his services in prosecuting
the claim He was sued upon the note and
Judgment rendered against him. There are
numerous other cases in which he has OBJ
tanned money from pension claimants upon
different preteXts. He disbarred.
At attorney of Cambridge, Ohio, forged
the names of certain witnesses in pension
claims to letters addressed to this bureau,
which letters were written in answer to
bureau inquiries to test the knowledge of
ah!dnts as to certain statements made by
them IN support of pension claims. In an
other case he addressed a shockingly pro-
fame, obscene and abusive letter TO a wit
ness In a claim because his affidavit did
not correspond with the attorneys idea of
what ii should be. He was also tried and
convicted, and sentenced to paw a fine of
$50 for filing false affidavits in support of
pension claims. He was disbarred from
premises.
An attorney of Kansas City, KAN forged
the name and affixed the seal of a notary
pubic TO certain papers in support of a
pension claim, and filed the false and
fraudulent papers in this bureau He was
dlsbarred for his action in the premises.
"A pension attorney at Grand Rapids
Nilch' while representing claimants filed in
the pension office false and fraudulent affi-
davlts purporting to be signed by certain
parties, when. in fact, they were not so
signed, nor neither were they sworn TO
ne was guilty OF forging papers. manufac-
turing evidence. and of perjury He was
dlsbarred from practice before this bureau
AnnulIed Marriages and Divorces.
An attorney admitted to practice before
the bureau, who represented claimants
thereby, obtained in the courts of Indiana
number of divorces and annullments of
marriages of certain people, obtaining the
annullment of the marriage or the divorce
long subsequent to the death of one of the
parties. This was done for the purpose of
giving certain widows persionable status
before the bureau. The state court SET
aside, subsequently,, some of these annuIl
ments. The pension bureau refused to rec
ogniZe the annullments and divorces NJ,
discovering the illegal practices of this at
torney. This attorney was disbarred from
practice.
The above only a few of the cases
There are hundreds more
Investigat ton by the bureau.
The practices of great number of these
attorneys cover many years, and it is only
after special investigation that their mis-
deeds are found out. When their misdeeds
come to light. and the pension office gives
them notice of disbarment, or they are
indicted for the offenses they in nearly
every instance attempt to shift the re-
spcnsibility of their acts. In some in
stances they accuse the claimant in 9TH
ers the witnesses, and some have gone so
far as to have claimants and witnesses ar
rested fer false accusations against them
trying In every way to intimidate the SOL
der, claimant and the witnesses thereby
In some Instances soaring off evidence and
testimony.
The above general offenses, irregulari-
ties, illegal practices and violations of the
pension laws have been committed by at
torneys, other than those named, at Bos-
ton, Mass; Indianapolis, Ind; Pittsburg.
Pa; st. Louis, Mo-; Cincinnati, Ohio: Pen
sacola, Fla; Montgomery, Ala: Chicago