The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-08
ANOTHER ACT
OF BROWNE
AND bruno
Removed Deeds From
heir Bank.
placed THERE IN ESCROW
D. P. TARPEY HAS ANOTHER
CHARGE TC MAKE.
This Allegation Will Be Brought Out
in Litigation, Criminal and
Civil, Soon to Be I:-sti-
placed THERE IN ESCROW
d. p. TARPEY HAS ANOTHER
CHARGE TC MAKE.

The deeds to valuable real estate in Mex
leo, the property Of Edward Byrne, left
in escrow in the Moscow National Bank,
| pending the arrival of a transcript of
title, were illegally removed from the
vaults of the institution prior to the ar
| rival of the document by present Secret
| Service Agent Robert S. Browne, late
| president and director of the defunct
| Moscow banking institution, or his
brother, Clarence M. Bruno" That the
| deeds were left in escrow in the bank
pending the arrival of the transcript is
! substantiated by documents in the pos
| session of D. p. Tarpey, who has pre-
ferPed charges against the brothers, and
| the fact that the deeds have been remov-
ed, coupled with the fact that the trans
cript has not yet arrived, clearly estab-
| fishes the contention that the accused ex~
| officials Of the bank are guilty of the IL
legal act with which they are charged.
| The first link In the chain of evidence
which has been welded tending to estab-
| fish the guilt of the accused brothers is
a letter written by Bruno to H. S. krig-
| baum, who acted as the agent of Edward
| Byrne, dated January II, 1897. The let
| ter was mailed in Moscow, Idaho, and re-
ferS to the proposed deal between Byrne
and Bruno, which was later almost COM
pleted.
It stated that Bruno had arranged with
the bank, of which he was the cashier, to
take care of the deal, to look over the
abstract of title upon its arrival and to
care for other contingencies which might
arise. 1t was necessary, even though the
| transaction did not SAVIOR of a swindle,
that the deed to the property transferred
by Byrne to Bruno should be legalized in
Mexico after the contamination of the
deal. The fact that the transaction did
SAVIOR of a swindle, and in fact bears all
fIn n~y,,1 -lrc of didbT ,acty do frYn
perative that the deeds be legalized as
| soon as possible, that in event the fraud
| was discovered and Byrne took steps to
recover the property he would meet with
greater difficulty than if the documents
| still remained in the vaults of the Bank
of Moscow. In consequence on February
| 4, three days after the failure of the bank,
Judge Sepulveda, United States Consul at
the City Of Mexico, received a telegram
from Bruno instructing him to imme-
diately record the deeds from Byrne to
Bruno and to answer by telegraph.
| The deeds in question had not yet ar
rived in Mexico, and indeed it was
ed within the vaults of the bank. The
| following day, however, Judge Sepulve-
da received, in a registered package, the
deed, check for SIS on New York
| bank to cover expenses of recording, and
a letter instructing the Consul to have
| the deed legalzed and recorded immedi-
| package bears the date of January
%, 1897, but the stamp of the United
States Postoff1ce on the package shows
| 1t to have been postmarked on January
| 2S, showing that the letter must have
| been dated back to suit the exigencies
of the occasion. Sepulyeda then had the
it by registered mail to George H. Ked-
| zie, United States Consul at Durango,
with instructions to register 1t. On the
same day Consul, Sepulveda telegraphed
Bruno, Have sent deed forward to Ked-
| zie for registration to-day.
These are the facts showing that the
deed was removed from the bank with
out the knowledge of Byrne, and also
| that they must have been removed from
| the bank either on the day Bruno mailed
his communication to Krigbaum, on jan
| uary q, relating to the proposed deal be-
| tween Byrne and Bruno, or on the fol-
| lowing day. The registered package was
! received by Consul Sepulveda on Febru-
| ,.-y 5, and 1t takes fully seven or eight
| daSs for mail posted at Moscow to ar
| rive at the City of Mexico. In event di-
| rect connection is not made it might take
| sidering these facts but one conclusion
| can be reached; that the deeds were
taken from the bank and mailed to Mex
leo, and the letter of January q was
| written for the purpose of allaying any
suspicion that might arise in the mind
of the victim There was but little fear
| that Byrne or his agent would discover
the fraud that was being perpertated
| upon them, but as fear and suspicion are
always uppermost in the guilty mind,
Bruno probably decided to take no
hank. removed the deeds, mailed them
and awaited the collapse of the bank,
| which he knew was inevitable.
1.-THE wreck of the bank reached our
cars but few days after the deeds had
been mailed to Mexico said Mr.. Tarpey
at the sudden failure, but lost but little
time In starting to make Investigations.
l thoroughly verified my suspicious that
the institution and few days ago mailed
my charges to the Secretary of the Treas
ury, in whose department the ex-bank
officials are at present mt e ada tnen
officials ] was in some fear at first that
this matter would not get the investiga-
n osu to postoffice Inspector Munroe, and
asked him if 1t did not look like a clear
case of using the United States malls to
further scheme to dnfraud; + He looked q
all the allegations were true 1t was a
good case. but It would be Necessary to
i letters were mailed at that place.
81 told Mr.. Munroe that I thought he
| was mistaken; that every letter written
IN fbe bands was With the
swindle, while the letters themselves
might contain nothing discriminating. He
and see what could be done, as he does
not want any violator of the postal laws
| to escape. OF course 1t was not in his
province to express direct opinion, but
! he advised me to file the papers In the
Idaho district in case nothing could bs
done with them.
| spector Erwin and District Attorney
Foote, who held different opinion They
thought that as according to the papers,
| a swindle had been perpetrated, any let
ter bearing on the case in any way was
discriminating. and such letters were
mailed in this State the case is within
their jurisdiction and will be fully invest
gated
All the papers have been formally turn
ed over to Attorney Foote, who, in turn,
has placed the case in the hands of his
| assistant Bert Schlesinger. Mr.. Schles-
niger has been so busy with the Clarkson
case for the past few days that he has
| not had time to go through the papers
thoroughly, notwithstanding their impor-
lance.
Ladies' taiIor-made suits; latest designs; we
give credit. NJ. Rothschild. 211 Suffer, r. 6 & Z.
| Sued by His Wife for Support.
Henry w. Petersen, employed as a ser