The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-13
DAVIS WENT FREE
COMMISSIONER GAVE HIM AN ADJ
MoNITIoN AND HIS LIBERTY.
FALSE JURATS THE CHARGE.
ALLEGED HE CERTIFIED To AFFI-
DAVITS WITHOUT WITNESSES.

Hearing Before United States Com
missioner The Pension Claim
Filed by Louisa simpson at the
Bottom of the Charge Against Him.
Witnesses to Whose Signatures He
Had Certified Declared They Had
Never seen Him in Their Lives.
Same witnesses Said Stateme nts
Made in Amdavits They Signed
Were Entirely Untrue.
George w. Davis, notary public OF
Guyton, was given a hearing before
limited States Commissioner Ryals yes
4erday afternoon, and was dismissed
by the commissioner with an admoni-
zion. which included in its somewhat
comprehensive scope and effect prac-
ideally everybody connected with the
pension claim of Louisa Simpson.
The specific charge against Davis
was affixing a false jurat to certain af-
fdavits alleged to have been made by
various parties in support of the claim
In other words and less technical
terms, he was charged with certify
ing that certain persons signed aftida-
Wits in his presence, when as mat
ter of fact they had never appeared
before him, and with certifying fur
ther, in his official capacity as nota-
ry, that the parties signing the afh-
davits were personally known to him.
The pension claim which the aff1da-
Wits bearing Davis jurat were designed
to strengthen, was that of Louisa Simp-
son, for certain crooked work connect
ed with which w. E. Moore, a negro
lawyer of Guyton was held by Com
missioner Ryals a few days since, in
$500 bond, to await the action of the
grand jury at the next term Of the
United States District Court.
witnesses Against Accused.
The principal witnesses against
Davis were Jerry M. Stephens and Lee
w. Talbert the first a colored preach
er from Waycross, and the second
negro farmer from the wilds of Effing-
ham county. Stephens is a brother
of Louisa Simpson, the claimant, and
had been instrumental in employing
Moore to prosecute the claim for PEN
sion.
Among the papers in the case was
Joint affidavit, bearing the signatures
them admitted having signed the afi-
davit, but both swore it contained
statements which they did not know
to be true and others which they knew
to be false and both declared they lid
not know when they signed to what
alleged state of facts they were swear
ing. The affidavit bore the jurat of
the defendant, but Stephens and Tai
bert said they had signed it in Moore's
OF
the presence of Davis or anybody else.
They said they had never seen the de-
PENDANT before and certainly had not
executed the paper in question before
him.
TaIberts Slim knowledge.
Talbert said that his understanding
of the situation was that he was GER
tifying to the fact that Louisa Simp-
son was the woman she pretended to
be, and to nothing else. In the affidavit
bearing his signature, however, he was
made to declare that he had known the
woman ten years before he was born,
that he witnessed her marriage to
Jesse Simpson, that he was acquainted
with Simpsons war service and that
he was present when Simpson breathed
his last and had seen the body of that
individual committed to the earth. OF
of these facts Talbert said he knew
never seen Simpson in his life.
In his own behalf the defendant stat
ed that he had beenAcareless in certify
ing to the fact that men who appeared
before him were in fact the persons
they represented themselves to be, but
that otherwise he had committed no
wrong. He declared that he had never
affixed his jurat to an affidavit unless
some person. representing himself as
the individual named in the paper, had
either signed it or acknowledged his
signature in his presence.
Frards Taints Whole Claim.
The evidence taken before the COM
missioner disclosed the fact that the
claim is tainted with fraud beginning
to end. Not only are the affidavits
supporting it admittedly false in al
most every particular, but the woman
herself confessed on the stand that at
the time the claim was filed she had
remarked and was then and now the
wife of Taylor Williams. Her second
marriage destroys absolutely her right
to the pension, and in the affidavits it
is declared she has not remarked at
all.
The excellent reputation that Davis
bears in the community in which he
lives, combined with the uncertainty
of the evidence as to his alleged part
IN the fraud, induced the commas
sioner to release him from custody.
The commissioner said he was con-
WINGED that no criminal intent had an
imated the mind of Davis and that the
worst of which he could be accused
was a wantonly careless discharge of
his official duties. He seemed to have
been about as careless in taking ac-
acknowledgements of signatures as some
of the witnesses had been in
signing affidavits of the con-
tents of which they were ig-
norant. The defendant was exhorted
TO be very much more careful in the
future and he said. quite earnestly,
that he would.
Witnesses FIELD RemOrse.
AS for the witnesses, they, too, were
overcome with remorse. Stephens said
he realized it was quite beneath the
dignity of minister of the gospel to
be mixed up in any such matter, and
confessed he was ashamed of himself.
He declared it would be cold day in
Juna when he signed another affidavit
without knowing what it contained.
Talbert was equally sure he would not
he had known anybody for a period of
time ten years longer than the span
of his own Unexpectedly If it should
chance he had never seen the man
with whom he was to claim such an
extended and extensive acquaintance.
The Realty Improvement and Trust
Company.