Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-08-18

y very much in evidence all over the country at this time and as a result the Brass City is getting whole lot of free advertising. It as credited with being the headquarters of a
 band of Syrians who make a profes- sion of getting naturalization papers issued to parties in the district court and then sending them to B syndicate in Hayti, where they are sold to for
 eigners at prices ranging from $200 to $1,000 each, There Is some truth in the story, but it is not thought that
 Waterbury cuts much of a figure in 1t, although it is fact that one paper
 was issued here and disposed of as
 above mentioned
 The scheme was laid bare when
 Syrian named Alexander Seferschay-
 an was arrested in New York on a
 charge of having fraudulent naturali- zation papers in his possession. Se-
 ferschayan arrived from Hayti and
 demanded admission at that port on
 the strength of citizens paper pur-
 porting to have been issued by the
 district court of Waterbury, on No
 vember 23, 1903. Upon examining
 the Syrian the authorities found that
 the man had never been in the United l
 his order to a certain merchant in
 Hayti for a certificate of naturaliza-
 ton, which he got month later upon
 payment of $200.
 It was then found by the secret ser vice that there was an organized band in Waterbury to personate persons
 desiring certificates and their wit l nesses and to export the papers at so
 much apiece.
 Habib J. Afiak, another Syrian
 from HayH, who held paper issued at Hartford, was taken yesterday off the deck of a steamer bound for Hay u and held in $2,500 bail by Commis- sioner Shields. AfIak had even ap- piled for an American passport on his certificate This the department of state refused and the United States attorney was notified.
 Clerk Iinford F. Root of the dis trict court of this city is out of town, but his assistant, William M. Gillette,
 showed Seferschayan's application to Democrat reporter this morning. It is dated November 24, 1903. In it the
 applicant makes oath that he was
 born in Syria on or about March 15, 1878, and that he came to this coun- try in January, 1903. He gave his oc-  l dence 596 South Main street. Joseph
 Y Nader of the same street and
 number, swore that the applicant was the person mentioned ins the paper, and that he had known him for the
 past ten years. He alsd answered such other questions as were neces- sary to secure the papers and they were issued and signed by the clerk. Later on, through the secret service agency, it was learned that Sefer-
 schayan was in Hayn at the time the
 paper was made out and that the
 whole thing was fraud.
 A representative of the Democrat interviewed several Syrians today but none of them appeared to know anything about the matter, except MT Suliman, who keeps a store in MeCarthy's block at 596 South Main street, the same place mentioned in the paper made out to Seferschayan, and even his knowledge of the mat ter was very limited. Some detect ives had called upon him to know if
 he knew Joseph Y. Nader and Alex
 ander Seferschayan, but he was not
 able to give them any information.
 'sWe have been here," said MT Suli-
 man, flor nearly three years and so
 far as we know DO other SyTians
 have lived in the block since that time, so that I was not able to give the detectives any information when they called upon me. The whole thing was new to me and told them so and that's all heard about it un- til you dropped in."
 M A. Corey proprietor Of the fruit store at 335 South Main street, laughed when the reporter Inquired if he could throw any light on the ques- ton. 'I'm a voter," he said, 'but I don't take much stock in politics. I never heard whimper about any such scheme as you refer to- but 1t might be in full blast without my knowl- edge. Still think that if number of my countrymen were here on that or any other mission it would be hard for them to conceal themselves from me and others who speak their lan- guage. No, sir, I never heard the thing mentioned before.
 MT Corey speaks very good English and was somewhat amused at the boldness of the scheme. He thought there was more money in the business than waiting for some one to come to purchase a few bananas or other things in his line,
 A. Madad, who keeps the place across the way from Mir Corey, has not been there long. He bought out fellow, but didn't know what his name was. He never heard such a thing talked of among his people
 At Goura Bros on North Main street the proprietor told the reporter in very plain English that he didn't know what he was talking about.
 These are among the principal Syrian business men in Waterbury, and none of them ever heard of the parties wanted. Nader, so one of them said, is not Syrian name, at least he couldn't recollect ever having heard 1t in his country. But there is absolutely no doubt about the fraud so far as the Seferschayan paper is concerned The question is, who are the men that worked the gamer It1 is said that sufficient evidence has been 1lnearthed to warrant the belief that they are still in Waterbury, but it is extremely doubtful if the authori-