The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-09-13
GREAT PENSION FRAUDS.
Officials Say Hundreds of Thousands
of Dollars Have Been Stolen.

New York, Sept. 13.-United States Spe-
cial Pension Examiners A. w. Roome and
James ]. Reilly believe they have I'M
earthed a big nest of pension swindlers in
this city, and from what they have al
ready learned it is believed that several
hundred thousands of dollars have been
obtained from the government by the
swindlers, who are supposed to have been
at work here and in Boston for at least
two years. For six months the pension
examiners have been doing detective
work here and in Boston A big batch of
warrants was issued Friday and another
batch Saturday. Detectives and deputy
marshals took the warrants last night
and started out to execute them, but in
some manner the members of the gang
learned that they were about to be
rested and disappeared. The government
officers succeeded in tracing the swind-
lers, however, and believe that they will
soon have the entire gang in Ludlow
street jail.
The pension office special examiners,
who came on from Washington especially
to run down the gang of swindlers, dis
covered that there were nine cases in
which the swindlers had succeeded in
collecting pensions quarterly for a period
of five years after the persons entitled to
them had died. There were twenty-five
cases that ran along for three years, and
thirty-one cases in which pensions had
been collected for two years or less. In
all of these cases the names of persons
who had died were found signed to the
quarterly vouchers and witnessed by no
taries public. Just how much money has
been obtained from the government in
this way, through the New York and
Boston pension agencies, is not known at
present but it is safe to say that the
will be in the hundreds of thousands
of dollars, as some cases were discovered
that ran back for a period of ten years.
others twelve years, and one or two ff-
teen years. 1t is the intention of the au-
thorities to have all the persons concern
ed in these frauds sent to prison. The
pension agents here and in Boston will
not know until November 10 the exact
amount of swindles, but by that time the
special examiners believe they will have
in custody al of the persons engaged in
these frauds. Although only one regular
ly organized gang was discovered, the
special examiners have succeeded in I'M
earthing so many cases that they are
satisfied there are more gangs carrying on
similar work. At the New York agency
alone 81, 900 pensioners are paid quarterly.
The last payment was made on August
f. On that date the New York office paid
out $3.50, 900 pension certificates. This
would show that So, 100000 is paid out an
such a large sum, and such a large num-
Der of pensioners, the swfndlers succeeded
in slipping in and collecting money from
the government on certificates that ex-
pired years ago, when the persons en-
titled to the pensions died.
Many of these certificates under which
the fraudulent pensions were collected
were pledged with saloonkeepers and
money-Ienders. Old soldiers who had
been injured in the war and who had
been collecting pensions for their injuries
pledged their pension certificates with sa-
loonkeepers to whom they were indebted.
It was a custom of these saloonkeepers
to get the old soldier to mention the sa-
loon address in the vouchers After these
vouchers had been received in the PEN
sion office it was customary for the PEN
sion agent to mail a check to the address
stated in the voucher. Then, of course,
the saloonkeeper would receive the mail
ed letter containing the check from the
pension office. He would cash the check |
after the old soldier Endorsed it, and then
give the old soldier a few dollars out of
it, keeping the remainder for himself. AS |
the saloonkeeper kept the certificate in |
his possession all the time he came to |
think that he was entitled to the pension |
even after the old soldier had died. In !
stead of returning the certificate to the |
pension office, the saloonkeeper kept it |
and made out the voucher blank, later
forging the dead soldiers signature. |
Cases have been discovered in which wo- |
men who were in no way related to the |
beneficiary collected the money after the |
beneficiary died. There were other cases
where the forgeries and perjuries were |
committed by money-lenders.