Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1900-12-28
SM0TH AS SILK.
Evidence in the Carver Case Tends to
Show that the Silk Business is
Fairly Good.
Testimony of Mrs. Carver as to the
Nature OF their Work Canvass
ing for Magazines.
Says they were Employed by F. D.
Burch, and Worked for Salary
from Him.

Burch, and Worked for Salary
from Him.
Evidence that is being taken in the
Carver case before Judge Tibbils tends
to show that the officials of this coun-
ty have fallen upon swindling
scheme of no mean proportions and
one in which large number of good
women along the line of the Northern
Pacific railroad have been taken in by
a party of five persons operating in the
name of the Butterick Pattern COM
pany. The arrests which were made
by States Attorney Allen and Sheriff
Bogue several days ago will probably
save a number of people their hard
earned dollars and prove that in the
line of con games, there is nothing too
old or too new to work with.
Mrs. Carver, the Wife of j. H. Car
was on the stand in the trial of the
case this morning. She is a medium
sized woman of good appearance, bru-
nette in tpye, fairly we'll dressed and
she maintained fairly easy demeanor
on the witness stand. According to
the statements she made there were
five persons in all engaged in the bus
iness of canvassing for Delineators,
with four yards OF silk thrown in as a
premium. They were Carver and his
wife, H. II. Hawley, one Lee and one
Birch. This latter. she claimed, was
the manager of the business, and she
and her husband were merely working
for him and under his directions. he
ins'tructing them what to do and what
to Offer She said all remittances for
subscriptions aside from expenses
were to be sent to Birch at Chicago,
care of the general delivery This,
she said, had been done by Carver
and she named several towns from
which remittances had been made
One of So was made from Staples, and
others from other places, one being
made from Mandan. The couple now
here were arrested at Mandan while
at work there, and number of re-
ceipts which have come over from
Mandan tend to show that they were
successful in getting subscriptions
there. All the towns along the line
appear to have been canvassed. Some
of the party worked one town while
others worked others. Mrs. Carver
stated that she and her husband had
not been at jamestown, and reports
which come from there tend to show
that the town was canvasSed but by
other parties. Haw]ey worked at
Bismarck for a time and some of the
receipts turned in to the officials here
bear his signature.
1t also developed in Mrs. Carver's S
testimony that she had written to
Birch since her husband had been ar
rested and that she knew that he was
at Billings. She and her husband
met him here last week when on his
way through the city. Notwithstand-
ing that she knew that he was not in
Chicago, her husband had continued
to remit to him at Chicago, she stating
that they were merely following in
structions. Another matter that came
out was that after the arrest of her
husband she had destroyed some let
ters and torn some pages out of a
book She said the letters were
merely private matters and she
thought they would be better de-
stroyed. The pages she had torn out
OF the book, she said, contained her
expense account, which she kept every
day, although her husband paid her
bills.
From the developments made in the
case so far it is apparent that the
towns along the foad have been pretty
we'll canyassed and that there are sew
eral hundred housewives, at least, who
have a years subscription to the De-
lineator paid for and innumerable
yards of silk on the road:
Mrs. Carver testified in substance,
that she had been married to Carver
about a year or a little over.' That
in the latter part Of November last
they entered into an agreement with
one f. D. Burch, at St. Paul, to travel
and solicit subscriptions for the maga-
zine in question for the sum of $50 a
month and expenses. Burch, she
said, represented himself as general
agent for the company and was putting
out canvassers through the country,