Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-04
GAVE UP HIS PENSION
Effect Of Proposed Publication Of
Lists.
LETTERS TO THE COMMISSIONER
IIforaI Dr,o4,ooo 1f Co.,. Nl.:
Illegal Practices of Some Claim
Agents.
IN G GENIOUS SWINDL LING

the pension Office has received a number Of
letters from pensioners requesting the can
collation. OF their pensions One letter re-
ceived this morning from a pensioner in
Michigan 1nclosed his pension certificate
and stated his desire to have the same
Cancelled as he was not entitled to q
pension He added he would try and pay
pack all the pension money he had drawn
since 1885, when the pension was granted.
Practices of a Pooh Bah.
Here is case of q pension agent 1.bo
was q perfect Pooh Bah, having not only
acted as an attorney, but as professional
witness, an all-around forger claimant for
pension and impersonator of q special ex-
aminer. He was unearthed by TIE special
examiners of the bureau, arrested upon
their information, tried, convicted and SEN
fenced to twenty-eight years in the peni-
tentlary. He was convicted upon every
count and sentenced accordingly AS a
claimant he was believed to be an impostor
as a witness he was shown to be perjurer
as subagent he repeat tetly violated the
criminal statutes and as alleged special
examiner he swindled his clients. While
not we'll educated, he was a man with great
inventive faculties, who originated two
schemes to detraud the government and his
clients. The first worked as follows: Hav-
ing gained possession of the mail of his
vari Jus ellie nts he would arrange it properly
in a basket and go from house to house,
demanding, and receiving, various sums OF
money from his dupes. His prices ranged
from ~ cents to s1.84 a letter, cash on de-
livery. Just why he demanded such prices
is not known. and the department has been
wondering ever since the case was brought
10 its attention whether a large-sized letter
called for the maximum fee, or whether on
the supposition that the best goods came in
the smallest packages. he exacted the
largest fee for the smallest letter. Each
letter so delivered constituted a violation
of the law.
His other scheme was not so Immediately
profitable to b1m, but was far more danger
Gus to the government. 1t was based upon
a list of colored soldiers. which he carried
with him. and was worked as follows:
Alkaline Roe would inform Mr. Lewis that
her late husband, Richard Roe, was Il
soldier. hut she did not know when or
where. He would then produce his list,
find a Richard Roe, calmly inform the sor-
rowing widow that that was the man. fill
out her declaration and then hustle around
to get or manufacture the evidence neceS-
Sary to prove the claim.
In the manufacture of the evidence in
such cases he repeatedly forged the sigma
ture of q reputable notary public. AS a
witness to material facts or to the identity
of The claimant he appeared in the greater
portion of the claims filed through his
instrumentality, and to gain his ends would
testify to having been a neighbor to one
man in Alabama for a long period of years
after the close of the war while in another
case he would testify to having lived neigh
Dor to another man in Tennessee, Arkansas
or whatever state was necessary. during
identicaly the same period and in so doing
committed perjury over and over again.
His own claim was based on the loss of
the sight Of an eye alleged to have been
lost in the line of service. but woman in
New Orleans claimed pension for pension
of the widow of the Glen Lewis who
n IN Of N IN
proved the said Lewis died in 1876.
AS an imperSonator of a special examiner
the man was both an artistic and financial
success. He wore uniform embellished
by many badges and glttering trinkets,
and gave 1t out that he was appointed and
paid by the man in the White House to
take care of the widows and orphans of
soldiers and see that they all got their
satisfy him. He had both f1guratively, but
a single eye to his own interest and hence
made a practice Of collecting various. sums
from his dupes, not for himself, he would
say, but to pay the expenses of sending the
papers on to Washington.
Such were the remarkable practices of
this versatile agent. Some men worked
one scheme, and some worked others, but
this one worked them all.
Claimants Made to Order.
A short time ago the pension Office
brought to light a mandatory in one of
the southern states where claimants for
pensions were made fresh every hour.
There was no trouble in proving the cases
against him. and now he is thinking, at
his leisure, for he has nine years of it now,
over the business he did.
His methods are best illustrated by citing
particular case in which he figured and
in which he fixed up in every sense of the
word every paper filed. When this claim
reached the bureau it met and was con-
iIot 1l.ifh ha .l1ir Oft hA l,ri,,
der, and as 1t was manifest that the mans
client could not be the widow of living
man. and as one of the claims was necs-
sarily of a fraudulent character, an inves-
tigation was ordered. When the examiner
called on the attorney to locate his client
he duly produced a woman who with rare
talent played her little part and fully con-
WINGED the examiner that she was the SOL
diers sOrrowing widow. The examiner
then proceeded to the home of the living
pcnstoner, who proved beyon1 shadow
of a doubt that he was the soldier who
performed the service. In fact. he had
but little difficulty in doing so, because so
closely did his appearance simulate a great
ape that his officers regarded him as
sufficient proof of the Darwinian theory
And he was universally known among his
comrades as Monkey" Then this man
desired to see that alleged wife of his and
went with the examiner to confront her
But she had vanished, and 1t was only af-
ter two years that she was located again
and tried and convicted.
Such were the methods Of this daring at
torney. Forgery, perjury. impersonation
and false certification played their parts
over and over again. Starting life as
slave, and receiving fair education, he be-
gan on his own hook a follower Of the
races; then his history became obscure for
awhile, until 1891, when he appeared as
clergyman, and shortly after as a pension
shark 1t Is clear according to the rec
ords. that he selected the record of a SOL
dier to tit any claimant that he might have.
and when he had a record without a claim
ant, he would manufacture the claimant
And strange contradictions are shown by
the evidence filed by him taken in connec-
tion with the record evidence as to the age
and date of enlistment and discharge of the.
genuine soldiers. There were several of his
G.ssfhs in which to make them good the SOL
dier must have married at the tender age
of twelve; one where the soldier must
have been a father when he was only eight
years old, and one where the widow claim
ant had ample opportunity of attending
the funeral of the soldiers widow.
Only this attorney could be expected to
explain such violations of the laws of ma
ture and he failed to do so when arraiened
for trial. Once on file the completion of a
claim was an easy task for this attorney.
AS a general rule he used only two wit
nesses. who signed by mark in attempting
IN tjal fonf %>It