The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1904-06-01
IS TO SPOILS.

"If' says success is only q.
sired by this coterie when it means
spoils tor them" Speaking of
'spoils'' what about Lawyer
Yates? There is a general inn
preston that he can scent 'sspoi1s'
farther and get on the trail of
"spoils" hotter than anything that
ever roamed Benton county. Ev-
identity Superintendent Denman,
the man in charge of the public
schools of the county, thought so,
when he travelled from house to
house telling the people about the
notorious case of ''spoils" in which
the lawyer collected insurance
money for the soldiers widow. SUI
perintendent Denman is a truthful
man. and there will be no denial of
the fact that he told the story over
the county, nor OF the facts that he
told. In brief. the story that Mr..
Denman told is as follows:
Woodbridge Geary, son of an
Oregon pioneer. was lieutenant
in the United States army, station
ed at Corvallis as commaudant at
the Oregon Agricultural College.
He was called into active service
when the war broke out with Spain
and served through the Porto Ric-
an campaign. After that, he was
ordered to the Philippines aud
while enroute there, stopped a few
days to visit his wife and daughter,
in Corvallis. One day, he bade
them farewell, and he never saw
them again. The tears they shed,
the misgivings they felt, were not
Ill founded; for, on the 18th day
OF October, 1899, Captain Wood
bridge Geary. son of an Oregon
pioneer, a soldier of the Union,
fell on the field of battle, mortally
wounded. That was in the after
noon, and at three O'Clock the fol-
lowing morning, in strange land,
with no kith or kin at his side, he
expired. They brought him home
wrapped in the starry flag that he
had given his life to defend, and at
Eugene. Woodbridge Geary was
given military burial with all the
honors due a brave soldier.
1t turned out that there was an
insurance of $1,000 on Captain
Geary's life, payable to the widow.
There was a slight irregularity,
and the insurance company hesita-
ed to pay. There was grief and
illness in the widows home in this
city. The daughter was consump-
tive, and she was at that time ser
iously i'll. The insurance matter
was turned over to Lawyer Yates
and in due time suit was brought
to recover. The case was never
tried, but was compromised for
S., 800. Of this amount Mrs.
Geary received one,ha1f, and no
more. The balance, about $II5o,
turned out to be the fee for collec-
ton. Mrs Geary appealed to
friends and they interceded, but
found that a contract had been
signed by her, and that half of the
amount of insurance money had
gone to the lawyers. This is brief
iy, the story as Superintendent
Denman told it to his friends. after
Lawyer Yates threatened to kill
him off politically.
There is sequel to the story
that Superintendent Denman has
not told. Kate Geary, the soldier S
daughter IS dead now. Mrs. Maud
Geary, the widow, is in Texas,
where she resides at the home oi
her brother-ir-law. In recent
lettesr to Corvallis friends, she asks
if there is no way to make the law.
yer "disgorge" portion of the
enormous fee that was retained. and
adds that she is "penniless."
Speaking of ''spoils, who is the
spoilsman?If SIT" wants to discuss
the subject further; this incident
, of the soldiers insurance is but one
| There are more.