The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-06

IN the exercise of other government func-
lions, but IN The pension system numerous
ioopholes have beeT left to tempt the UNI
prineipled. This conies Of The willingness
OF the Nation to go TO the full lITnI' Df lib
erality in dealings with its defenders 70
90 justice to the worthy the doors have
Osen left ajar for the unworthy Pension
oIneials stumble upon SO many baref1ced
and shameless attempts to deceive that they
cannot but feel much fraud exists which
IS not brought TO light owing to the loose
ness of the laws. The Pension Office has its
rogues gallery. In many of the peniten-
tlarleS or the country there are co1victS
Going time for pension crimes, but the GER
tainty is felt that the frauds are not stopped
any more than that some convictions of
thieves mean the end of larceny. The long
and varied careers of some of these pension
convicts illustrate the possibilities of the
field IN which they have worked. The bu-
reau sent one man to the penitentiary for
than one pension. He was not caught until
he had sworn himself through as eight diff
1erent sailors and was drawing eight pen
sions. There We're three brothers in a west
ern part of the country who took up the
business of perpetuation of pensions after
the pensioners had died. They concealed the
Deaths received the quarterly checks
Forged Endorsements and signatures to
vouchers. and drew thousands of dollars be-
lore the frauds were discovered. One of the
brothers died and the others were sent to
the penitentiary. They began doing this
business thirty years ago and continued it
for more than twenty years. They passed
Tor very respectable men until they were
found out.
The manufacture of evic in pension
cases reaches proportions o. ch the OFF,
Gals scarcely dare to think uch of this
manufacture as has been foun0 out prompts
the belief that there must be a great deal
which still passes for genuine and forms
tneA foundation for pensions which are be-
ing paid. In the files are many large bun
dies of papers, including affidavits by the
score to sustain some relationship to PEN
sioner, often that of a widow, which have
oeen proven wholly. false. Identifications
ana reductions after thirty years are
shaky at best The INSCRIPTIONS seem to
ma 1t easier to perpetrate frauds on the
Pension Bureau the further away time re-
moves the war. The proving up of widow
ship presents one of the most attractive
fields for reckless enterprise. There is rea-
son to believe that women who never saw
the old soldiers to whom they claim to have
been married are on the pension rolls In
the rogues gallery are the pictures of sew
eral smooth men who made a profession of
the manufacture of war widows until some
too daring venture uncovered their nefari-
Gus practices. One of these pictures is of
man who followed the calling of preach
er while he went about the country fixing
up frauds on the Pension Office. He was
taken into custody at a camp meeting
where he had just finished a sermon. Some
of these pension criminals are shown in the
Grand Army uniforms which they were
wearing falsely, the better to hide their
niSdeedS.
The fact seems to be that the pension
sharks find the business so encouraging that
they take increasing chances and only get
caught as the result of the holiness which
follows long continued success. One of the
most successful manufacturers of war
widows kept up the work until he filed
claim for woman as The widow of a SOL
der who was not only not dead but had a
few weeks before filed his own application
for a pension from another part of the
country When an officer of the department
went to see the bogus widow she had fled.
The lawyer who had presented the claim
and backed it with the necessary papers
and evidence had previously obtained thou
sands of pensions. How many of them
were fraudulent could not be determined. II
was established that the bogus claims num-
bered hundreds. In tracing out some of the
cases which appear suspicious the field
agents uncover strange situations. They
encounter affidavitS which, if true. mean
that marriages have taken place at the age
of twelve; that children have been born to
mothers eight years old. RemarriageS with
out death or divorce are common revela-
lions. In three cases over twenty mar
riageS were shown to have taken place
without a single legal separation. One pen
sion shark sent to prison had, while pur-
suing his business of forging claims, mar
ried eight women An agent went all of
the way to the Mississippi river to find a
woman who had filed claim for pension
on account of husband she alleged had
died ten years before He carried the aft
davit of the husband made few weeks be-
fore the woman'S claim received. When
he placed this evidence of the falsity of her
claim before the woman she tainted. New
and had disappeared.
The officials of the Pension Office have a
plan to purge the rolls. They propose to
publish and distribute the names of the
1000, 600 pensioners now on the rolls. The
lists would be distributed. force of ex-
aminers would be organized to go through
the country, district by district, and identi-
fly each pensioner. Those best qualified to
judge of the probable extent of the frauds
which have been perpetrated believe that
the government would make money by it.