Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-11
ASKS PROSECUTION
John R. Brown Against
Thomas E. Waggaman.
SOME CORRESPONDENCE
EXPLAIN THEMSELVES.
Tells Of His Connection With the
Broker and the Manner Of His
Making Investments.
SOME CORRESPONDENCE

Mr.. John A. Brown of 9l7 9Th street north
west, who has been urging the criminal
prosecution against Thomas L. Waggaman
by the advice of Representative Reuben 0.
| Moon of Pennsylvania. furnished The Star
| with the following self-expanatory corre-
spondence on the subject:
| WASHINGTON. ID. c.. April 10. 1905.
| Hon. Reuben o. Moon, Philadelphia. Pa.
| Dear Sir: Desiring some information on
| a matter connected with the Department OF
! Justice, 1 called on Mr.. James R. Young.
| who was at one time an officer in that
| department, and he has very properly
referred me to you as good lawyer, be-
1 sides being representative. l am legal
| resident of your district, in the 18th dfvi-
| sion of the 3Sth ward. No. 1913 Venango
1 street. although l have lived In Washing
| ton slncs 1870, having been in the fall OF
that year appointed to a clerkship in the
! pension once.
| I'm 1872, at the request of Mr. Leonard
| Myers. who was at that time chairman of
| the House committee patents, l was
| transferred to the patent office, and after
| ward to the land office. where | remained
| until the first year of Cleveland's second
administration. when, with many others. L
| was dropped by reason of necessary reduc-
| ton of force. Since that time l have de-
/
Among others l had Thomas E. Wagga-
man make investments for me. About the
middle of February, 1902. / called in him
| with reference to an investment and he told
me that he had on hand a loan which he
could recommend and, as he always guar
anteed his loans. would be douby secured.
The loan was for $4,000. secured by thirty
two lots in various parts of the city. he
had told me on former occasion that he
dealt only in first trusts.
II saw him four different times, and on
these occasions paid him 5000. 5000, $l1.-
600 and 81 COO respectively, each time with
accrued interest paid in checks on Riggs
Bank. The maker of the notes, 1t will be
| noticed. is James B. Nicholson, and In
quired who he was. as l had never heard
of or seen his name in connection with any
| business enterprise. The answer that
| he was a very wealthy man and he owned
property all over the city.
ut was published that Mr.. Waggaman
was weekly COMMUNICATE: was an officer
in financial institutions; the owner Of
| million dollar art gallery; and handled hun
dreds of thousands every year as treasurer
| of the Catholic University of America
Called on Mr.. Waggaman.
| Last July 1 called at Mr.. Waggaman's
! office and asked to see the abstract Of title.
| He told me there was none. That looked
bad.
II then asked for the deed of trust that
was given and that had very suspicious
| appearance erasures, interlineations and
| changes in dates. The next thing was to
| hunt up Mr.. James b. Nicholson. the maker
| of the notes. and in company with Mr.. j.
J. Darlington a local attorney We found
/ him a clerk In Arms & Drury's real estate
| office. He told us that at the TIME of max
| ing the notes he was clerk in Wagga-
mans office The next thing to look after
was the security.
| Il had the same appraised by the Realty
| Appraisal and Agency Co Most all of the
\ by colored people and in wretched condi-
| ton, their intrinsic value being about $40
| 600. and was told that my loss would be
| about $1,000. l was consoling myself that
| there might be some little left. After the
| election of the trustees in bankruptcy
| I called on him and requested that he
| have an examination OF the books made
| to get the exact status of the case. and he
| furnished transcript of the same. which
have This transcript shows incum-
| ORANGES before the $4,000 $4,000 of which
| | hold OF $34,91S. making sIS.9iS.
| Il considered this a case for the United
| States district attorney. | put all these
facts and many others before Mr. beacn.
| and he said to some of his assistants that
| this was the strongest case and | was the
best witness he had.
/ "He told me to come next morning and
| that he would put before the grand
Jury ! was on hand as he ordered. He
| handed me all the papers and said that he
did not have one-tenth the force he ought
| to- and he had spent four days upon the
| case and could not give any more time
| to it,
From all the above. think you can
plainly see that | have suffered a great
| wrong at the hands of Mr.. Waggaman;
| that by fraud and Misrepresentation he In
duced me to place my earnings Ill his
! hands. to be used for my benefit, and that
instead of doing this he used my money for
his own purposes.
II am of the opinion that he was guilty
| OF obtaining my money by false pretenses
and of embezzlement, and think he should
| be prosecuted and punished. 1 have done
| all 1 could to get the district attorney to
| take proper steps in the direction above in
| dcated but have failed, and l now think
| the Attorney General of the United States
! under his powers should see that justice is
| done.
Being but an humble citizen. with no
| means of getting at this high official. re-
| spectfully request that you WILL q rep
| resentatiye go before the Attorney General
OF the United States and present my case
ard solicit him to investigate 1t and give
| such Instructions to his subordinate. the
district attorney. as will result In appro-
pirate measures for my vindication and the
| vindicat ton of the public from such unlaw-
| full conduct. Very respectfully,
| (Signed) JOHN A. BROWN,
'917 9Th street northwest.
Mr.. Moons Reply.
| In reply to this Mr.. Moon said he was
| convinced after a careful consideration of
| the question that 1T Is not a case for the
| Intervention of a member of Congress,
and that such Intervention is not neces-
sary for you to accomplish the relief
| sought.
The assistance of the Department of Jus
| tice is accessible to the humbiest citizen,
| and l am sure that letter addressed by
you TO the Attorney General, setting forth
| the facts contained in your letter to me.
| would produce at once the desired result,
| and l am also further convinced that the
| Department of Justice will feel that the
| Intervention of member of Congress I'M
| der these circumstances was unnecessary
aad therefore objectionable.
you seem to have been defrauded,' con-
| tinued Representative Moon. land are en-
| titled to justice at the hands of the proper
| authorities, and II the force at the dis
! posal of the United States district attorney
in the District of Columbia is not sufficient
for the proper conduct of the business,
your letter will obtain him additional as
sistance in order to protect the interests
of citizens whose rights have been vio-
lated.