Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1904-03-08
Held for the Grand Jury.

Cary NJ. Grobe and P. G. Barry, who
claim &C. be representatives of the Ameri-
can Jewelry Company, of Wichita, Kans.,
were arrested yesterday morning by Po-
licemen Lyles, Young and Beach on
suspicion Of conducting fraudulent en-
terprise. The case was called in the
Police Court yesterday morning, but it
was continued until 5 o'clock in the af-
ternoon, when Judge j. K. NJ. Norton
appeared for the prosecution and Attor-
ney John NJ. Johnson for the prisoners.
Mr. johnson produced kilograms from
Wichita vouching for the reliability Of
the house which the men claim to repre-
sent, and the accused said that they were
prepared to fulfil any promises they
had made. Justice Cation held the men
in the sum of$500 each for the action
of the grand jury. The above was all
interesting case and had been the subject
of some conversation before it was thrown
into court. While the complaint against
these two agents was made by several
merchants, the case was tried on war
rant sworn out by A. ]. Butcher, charg-
ing them with obtaining, under false
pretence, with intent to defraud, his sig
nature TO an instrument, the false max
ing whereof would have been forgery.
The evidence before the court was to the
effect that both men were present at MIR.
Butchers place of business when the
alleged fraudulent transaction took place.
They asked him to allow them to place
in his store 5000 worth of jewelry. They
represented to him that the proposition
was one of positive profit and impossible
loss, and that upon his signing the in
strument they would present him with
a bond which would guarantee profit
of 5000 per year, regardless of whether
he sold dollars worth of goods or not.
He asked if the proposition had been
accepted by any representative business
man. They replied that Messrs. Rocker
and w. p. Graves had entered into the
agreement, and that the goods were to
be placed in their stores. They also
represented to Mr.. Butcher that they
were DESTROYS of placing the goods in but
three stores in the city, and that having
placed the order with Messrs. Rocker and
Graves they only wished to place them
with him and their work would be COM
plete. Thinking that this practically
exclusive representation, together with
the guarantee bond, was sure thing,
Mr. Butcher signed the instrument
presented to him. ThereupOn, the
agents pocketed the instrument and gave
Mr.. Butcher no receipt, nor anything
at all to show that he had entered into
an agreement with the American
Jewelry Company, not even a copy OF
the instrument signed Mr.. Butcher
later discovered that the agents were
still working in the city, and made some
investigation. He ascertained that
Messrs. Rocker and Graves, prior to the
time the agents were at his place, posi-
lively refused to accept the proposition,
and also that they had placed the same
order with six or seven merchants. Mr..
Butcher stated that before he signed the
paper the agents talked a great deal OF
what they were going to do, but that
after he had signed it, they had little to
say. other than that the matter was now
in the hands of the company in Wichita,
Kan. and that they could do nothing
else than LET the company take its own
course. The agents then went upon the
stand and endeavored to explain matters.
They were, however, unable to describe
the contents of the instrument which
Mr.. Butcher had signed, stating that
they did not know its legal effect, mol
did they seem to know just what the
company would do with the same. They
refused to submit to the court copy Of
the instrument to which they had Sc
cured the several signatures, but stated
repeatedly that they were sure that whel
the guarantee bond and the goods ar
rived the merchants would be perfectly
satisfied. As stated above, they were
held under five hundred dollars bono
each, to await the action Of the CRANE
jury.