The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-20
GANG OF PATENT SHARKS
GOVERNMENT CLAIMS A SYSTEMATIC
SCHEME HAS BEEN WORKED.
Arrests Outside of indianapolis
"Blacksmith" Burgess Pleads Guilty
"A CaDias for Thurman.

Iho leueIdi authorities yesterday sent to
St. Louis a capias for the arrest of John
s. Thurman, who has been located at De
Soto, Mo- j. C. Burgess, the blacksmith
who has been mixed up with Thurman in
bis patent swindling operations, yesterday
pleaded guilty before Judge Baker and SEN
tence viii be passed upon him later The
bond of E. T. Silvius, who was unfortunate
enough to have been a partner Of Thurman
In his legitimate business as patent at
torney, was yesterday reduced to $780,
Thurman and Burgess have been in vari-
Gus swindling schemes together for years,
it is claimed. and whenever Thurman
started a new office here the authorities
began to look for complaints. They have
been engaged in the present game for ten
years, and during that time a gang with
extensive ramificatons had been gradually
organized. Inspector Holmes, of Cincin-
natl, has been engaged upon the case for
months, and four men were arrested in
Cincinnati Thursday as a part of the gang,
which has been operating in Cincinnati.
Louisville and Indianapolis.
After Inspector Holmes took up the case
he found that there was clique of men
claiming to be patent attorneys who proved
upon gullible inventors all over the country.
and that on an average 70 per cent. of the
victims were fleeced out of amounts rang
ing from IS upwards The scheme of these
so-called patent attorneys was to look over
the lists published by the Patent Bureau
IN Washington relative to the patents all
lowed and thus secure the names and adj
dresses Of inventors. The attorneys would
then write to the inventors stating that
they the attorneys, had on their list pros
pect1ve buyers of patents and asked the in
ventors to state the lowest sums they would
take for their patents. The letters, which
were nearly alike, also stated that the in
tended purchaser had been looking for Just
such a patent, as it was deemed better
than anything else that was in the market
This would open up a correspondence. At
about the second or third letter that the in
Ventor received he would be told that he
would nave TO get an abstract of the patent
right drawn up, and that in order 20 have
II done pr ~perly the inventor would be re-
ferred to another alleged patent attorney,
who, as it afterward developed, was one of
the partners in the scheme This second at
tofney would then state that 1t required an
advance payment of from S. to $40 before
the abstract could be delivered The in
ventor would send the amount demanded
haps no abstract at all. If the sucker
was still kept on the list the next step
would be to tell him that the prospective
purchaser of the patent lived in Louisville,
KY, and that trip would have to be made
there in order to talk over the matter.
so the inventor would be told. business had
got to that stage where 1t would be inpos-
sible to transact it by letter. If the in
Ventor could not come himself he was told
to send the money necessary to defray the
expenses of his attorney, and the latter
would make the visit. In nearly all cases
where the inventor would send the fare the
attorneys would not make the trip, but
pocket the money The next stage in the
game was to tell the inventor that the pros
pective purchaser was all right, but that
before the inventor could be put into CORE
spondence with him the attorney would de-
mand that as his pay he be given one-tenth
interest in the patent. The necessary pa
pers would be drawn up and then the in
ventor would be given the name of the in
tended purchaser. The latter, after corre-
spending for a short time, would tell the
clear title to the patent. OF course, it was
incumbered with one-tenth, which he had
given to his attorney. The latter would in
form the inventor that he would release
himself from any further interest in the
patent if the inventor would pay him 500
or more, if possible. If the inventor fell
suddenly give some excuse for not wanting
the patent, and there the matter would
end: Then again the inventor would. be
made to sign over the patent right before
any money was paid over and the patent
would be stolen.
The men arrested in Cincinnati were AL
pheuS Fay, who has an office in the Bod
mann building, on Main street; G. B. Alvey,
doing business under the firm name of G.
B. Alvey & CO., in the Masonic Temple,
Third and Walnut streets; John Burnet,
model maker at 120 Longworth street, and
John Leavell, of S02 West Jefferson street,
Louisville, KY The men were taken before
United States Commissioner Adler, who
placed them all under bond.
The case at this end was handled with
remarkable celebrity. Inspector Holmes
came to Indianapolis last Saturday and laid
the case before District Attorney Wishard.
Mr. Wishard and Mr.. Lafollette went over
the matter on Monday. laid 1t before the
and it1rxr On 10
ment on Wednesday. The three men were
indicted on Thursday, and Burgess was ar
rested Thursday night and pleaded guilty
on Friday. Now. if he should be sentenced
on Saturday and go to prison on Monday
there'd be "the end of Solomon Grundy."
Thurman was yesterday disbarred from
practice In the Interior Department at
Washington. number of complaints had
been lodged against him there by Indiana
inventors and he had paid no attention to
the citation to show cause why he should
not be disbarred. The complaints charged
that he had failed to pay to the government
fees for taking out patent rights that had
been intrusted to him by his clients.