Omaha daily bee., 1899-04-02
BECHEL ALLEGES DAMAGES
Ex-Auditor of Pacific Express Company
Brings Suit,
FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS SUM ASKED
PIaintiH Charges that the Continued
Prosecution Has Injured His
Reputation ns We'll as
His Health.
FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS SUM ASKEI

The anticipated damage suit Of William
| F. Bechel against the Pacific Express COM
pany on account of his recent arrest ana
unsuccessful prosecution for alleged empez-
element has been filed in the district court.
Mr. Bechel places his damages at $4,000
and sues the express company tof thaI
amount and the costs of this action.
| Much of the subject matter contained In
the petition has become familiar during the
successive prosecutions that were instituted
| by Erastus Young while he was acting as
auditor and temporary general manager
| of the express company. Early In
| 1898 there was general reor-
| ganizaton of the company, in the
course of which nearly all the old oflclals
| and many of the employees were dismissed
| Rumors of alleged Irregularities in its lnan~
| cial affairs and of probable criminal pro-
| ceedings circulated from basement to gar
| ret in the building at Fourteenth and Harvey
streets and gradually leaked out to become
subjects of general gossip. Shortly after
! a complaint was filed against Andrew Hunt
| who had been the custodian of the office
| bank and he was arrested by a Pinkerton
detective for alleged embezzlement. For
several days ne remained in the custody or
| the detective and could not be found by his
attorney nor his friends Eventually the
| case against him was dropped and informn>
| tons were filed against w. f. Bechel, audi
| tor, and Il. x. Sudborough chief CLERK,
charging them with embez2lement on large
| number of counts, most of which were Tor
small amounts. Both defendants were ac~
| quilted after a vigorous effort to convict
| them, in which Hunt proved to be the main
| reliance of the express company. 1t came
! out in evidence that he had received for
| nal assurance that he would not be prose-
| outed in return for his assistance in the
| prosecution of Bechel and Sudborough.
| Charges Malicious Prosecution.
i In the suit that he has now instituted Mr.
Bechel contends that his arrest and prosecu-
| ton constituted an uncalled for and
malicious effort to blacken his character
and that he has been permanently damaged
in health, reputation and business pros
| pects He asserts that Erastus Young was
director and general auditor of the express
| company and in that capacity had full au-
| thority to institute criminal proceedings
| He recltes that May 20, 1898, Mr.. Young
acting for the express company, falsely ana
| maliciousy made and filed complaint ana
| information. charging him (BecheD with the
| embezzlement of $1,SOi.25 and that war
| rant was duly issued at his instance. THIS
| was turned over to Detective Chapln ana
| it is asserted that it's service was purposely
| delayed until late at night when he CBecheD
was at home with his family and suffering
| severely from Illness. 1t is stated that ne
| (BecheD could be found at any time, that
he had no intention of leaving the city and
| that the delay in serving the warrant was
| a part Of a scheme to make criminal case
| in order to compel the plaintiff to turn over
| certain mining stock that he owned to the
| express company.
The dismissal OF this Information on the
! preliminary hearing and the ming or lhe
second information by Young Is detailed to-
| gether with the subsequent history OF the
case to the time when Bechel was declared
mot guilty. by a jury.
! on the question of damages, 1t is repre-
/ sented that Bechel was 81 years old at the
time the charges were made. He was
married man, the head OF a family and had
1 been a resident of Omaha for over twenty
years. During that period he had earned
| a reputation for integrity and had held
! many positions OF trust and responsibility
! He had always honestly and faithfully dis
charged every trust that was imposed in
! him, and by such means he was able to Sc
| cure desirable positions by which he could
| support his family and educate his children
| He declares that the effect of the false and
| malicious prosecution to which he has been
| subjected has been to seriously impair his
reputation for integrity and bring unde-
served shame and disgrace on himself and
| his family. He also alleges that his health
has been permanently impaired by the
nervous strain under which he suffered
that his weight has been reduced from 175
to l4O pounds and that he has been unable
to sleep except at short and irregular in
| tervals. He also cites the expense that he
was compelled to incur in order to defend
himself and declares that as result OF
the charges that have been made against
him he has been prevented from obtaining
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