The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-24
HummeI'S Conviction is a
 Triumph of Decency
ROCKEFELLER'S REVENGE
Reaching Down Into Lawson's Pocket and Pluckng That Gentlemans Money or Does Public Office
 Pay?-Harriman Humorist.
BY SEWELL HAGGARD.

l New York, December 23-District At
 torney Jerome has at last succeeded In | convicting a man who, he says, has been | a menace to the deceney of the community for twenty years-Abraham B. Hummel,
 the lawyer. Hummels speciality was di- vorce cases and any sort of scandal that
 required sharp practices. In his long ex- l perience he learned many things about 1 some prominent New Workers that they
 would rather have kept to themselves. | He held this information as a club and the result was that he could get almost anything he wanted in high plaees-even l in the courts Lots of folks will breathe easier if he is really kept behind the | bars.
 | The trial also brought the inside of the | famous Dodge-Morse scandal which has | dragged along for more than two years. | The case involves, besides Hummel, | Charles w Morse. the banker and for | mer ice king, Charles F. Dodge, a hotel | man. messenger waiter and ne neer-do-well. | Clemence Cowles, his former wife, and | Capt. Jim Morse an uncle of C. w, and a I sturdy New Englander who does not be- | lieve in marrying a divorced woman. Dodge and his wife separated and. sev- | eral years afterward she proposed di- vorce. Dodge agreed to furnish the evi- | dence if she would pay the expenses. She accepted his terms and hired a lawyer | who served the papers on Dodge and got | the divorce decree. Then Mrs. Dodge mar | ried Morse the banker Here Is where | Uncle Jim enters the case. He opposed | the marriage and set himself to the task | of undoing the marriage, because, he | said. his nephew was in the power of l a designing woman. He went to Abe Hum- mel and told the lawyer what he wanted l Hummel thought the matter over and | then informed Uncle Jim that he could have the marriage set aside because the | divorced Mrs Morse had obtained from
 Dodge was invalid. He got a $15,OOO re- | tainer from the old man and went to | work. Dodge was brought back here from | Atlanta and for 5000 he signed an affl- | davit that he had never been served with | the summons in the divorce suit. The | divorce case was reopened, the decree l set aside and then there was nothing for | MT. and Mrs. Morse to do but to have | their marriage annulled. But in the pro | ceedings before the referee Hummel had | hired man to impersonate Dodge and | to this trick was due the exposure. The | lawyer who had served Dodge with the | papers was about to be indicted for per- | iurv because he identified the dummy as | Dodge In setting himself right he put
 the District Attorney on Hummefs s | trail.
 | Then came the indictment Of Dodge | for perjury. He fled to Texas There he
 was taken in charge by emissaries Of | Hummel and the years stayt to get hlm | hack to New York started. They took advantage of every technicality by which | they could delay requisition in the courts
 and finally. In desperation, tried to kid nan him to Mexico They supplied Dodge
 with all the money he could spend and | most of 1t went for drink. What they
 hoped was that he would drink himself | 10 death before the courts decided that | he must return to New York. Uncle Jimmy was supplying the money for all this and before he got through he had | spent more than s75,000. But Dodge was finally brought back and made a confess | sion to the district attorney and Hummel | was indicted for conspiracy and suborna-
 ton of perjury. But the public never
 | knew the details until Dodge went on the
 | stand at the trial of Hummel this week
 and repeated the substance of his con
 | fession. Meantime the divorce of Mrs I Morse and her marriage have been rein
 | stated and although she Is not living with
 the banker, he says she Is still his wife