The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-08-26
ANOTHER INDICTMENT IN COTTON SCANDAL
EDWIN S. HOLMES, JR., FORMER ASSOCIATE STATIsTICIAN,
 ACCUSED.

Charged With Conspiracy to Defraud the Government = Secret Service
 Agents Accuse Him of Giving Ad-
 vance Information of Government
 Cotton Reports to Certain New York
 Brokers-0ne of the Latter Furnishes
 Evidence Against Him.
 Washington, Aug. 25-Edwin s. Holmes. jr., of Washington. until re- gently an associate statistician of the department of agriculture, but who was dismissed as an outcome of the investi- gation into the leakage in the cotton crop reports, has been indicted by the grand jury on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government. This an- ncuncement was made tonight by United States District Attorney Morgan H. Beach just after he had returned from New York city where he had been instrumental in causing the arrest of Frederick A. Peckham, the New York broker at Saratoga, and Moses Haas of New York There are two in dictments covering the charges against the three men.
 Mir. Beach said tonight that Holmes, who has been away from Washington for some time, and whose whereabouts have not been generally known, will be here tomorrow morning to answer to the indictment
 Section 5.44O of the revised statutes, under which Holmes is indicted and which, it is understood, forms the grav- amen of the charge against the three men, provides that if two or more per sons conspire either to commit any of fense against the United States, or to defraud the United States in any man. ner, and one or more such parties do any act to effect the object of the con- spiracy all the parties to such a con- spiracy shall be liable to a penalty of not less than LOGO and not more than SIC, ,000, and to imprisonment of not more than two years.
 Of the conspiracy all the parties to such conspiracy shall be liable to d penalty of not less than S1,000 and not more than $10,000 and to irnprison nsaHS.ss- of not more than two years.
 The report of the secret service agentgs into the charges alleging that advance information regarding the cotton crop reports had been given to cotton brok- CTS in New York asserted that Holmes had communicated advance inforrna- ton to l.. c. Van Riper, q New York broker, and Moses Haas, of New York,
 who, MT. Van Riper said, acted as a Igo-betWeen in conveying information from Holmes to other New York brok- CTS. Mir. Van Riper, according to the report of the secret service agents, said that he became acquainted with Holmes in New York in August, 1904, through a mutual friend" "l According to the tes4 timony, Holmes told Van Riper that ha could get information concerning the government crop report principally through the report of the general agents and their report of the state agents Van Riper, it is alleged, said Holmes furnished him with information, from time to time for several months, in ad- vance of the publication of official fig- ures, and that information furnished by Holmes corresponded exactly with the l figures afterward published as the offiz cial crop report.
 | After the submission of the report Of fthe secret service agents Holmes was promptly dismissed and later the testi- naony taken by them was turned over to the department of justice with al | view to the criminal prosecution of the persons alleged to be involved in the leakage"