The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-06
HEARST PETITIONS FORGED.
JEROME ARRESTS ONE or THE
HEAD MEN on THE jon,
And He Has Been COnfessing Ever Since
and Telling Who Hired Him-Evidence
Already Of 1000 Forged Names-Re.
pubIIcans Helped Manufacture Petitions.

At least 1000 of the $50 names on the
petition that nominated William r. Hearst
for Mayor we're forged, according to
information in the possession Of District
Attorney Jerome. This came out yesterday
after Benjamin H. Goldberger, a Com
missioner of Deeds, who ia employed in
the Registers office. had been arrested on
a charge Of forgery. 1t was announced
at the District Attorneys Office that while
there was legal evidence already that 2 900
names had been forged it was the belief
Of those who nave beer making the investi-
CATION that from so to 30 per cent. of the
names were forged.
Some of the work at least was done witt
the knowledge and connivance of Republi-
cans. Goldberger is a lieutenant of Jacob
A. Newsstand, the Republican leader of the
Twelfth Assembly district, and it is charged
that Goldberger used the district head
quarters to manufacture a large number
Of the petitions, The same thing was done
in other districts, it is said, and it is under
stood that there is lots of evidence to show
that the Odell-Hearst combination to Lane
Aldermen and Assembtymen did not stick
at anything so trivial as forging names
to nominating petitions.
Immediately after his arrest Goldberger
asked to have a talk with District Attorney
Jerome. Goldberger talked very earnestly
and MIR. Jerome sent for a stenographer, to
whom Goldberger proceeded to talk very
much in the presence of Assistant District
Attorney Whiteside. Goldberger had been
paroled in the custody of Mr.. Jerome by
Magistrate Moss and he was watched by
two detectives last night.
If Goldberger has confessed he may tell
a great deal more than has been told already
by a few ~notaries and some ~oopyists who
were employed in getting up the various
Hearst petitions. They have told how the
thing was done. 1t required only 1000
names to nominate Hearst, but it is also
said that the petitions nominating Aldermen
and ~Assemblymen were manufactured in
the same way. For Aldermen and Assem-
blymen 500 names are required to nominate
by petition. Many of these petitions have
been examined and found TO be az bad as
the petition on which Hearst for Mayor,
John Ford for Comptroller and James G..
Phelps Stokes for President Of the Board
of Aldermen were nominated.
Goldberger was arrested on a warrant
issued by Magistrate Moss in the Tombs.
Mr.. Jerome said to the Magistrate that he
had evidence to show that between Is
and 40 per cent. of the names to the Mu-
nicipal Ownership city petition had been
forged, and he asked that bail be fixed at
SO, 500. Goldberger pleaded for 81 500. He
said he had a wife and three children and
couldn't get heavy bail. Mr., Jerome
wouldn't consent to a reduction, and Magis-
trate Moss said he didn't think So, 500 was
too high.
Goldberger asked permission to speak
to Mr.. Jerome. They whispered in the
corner for about five minutes, and then
Goldberger began to weep. Mr.. Jerome
spoke to the Magistrate, who said:
THE prisoner is remanded to the custody
of the District Attorney"
Goldberger was hustled upstairs, and late
last evening he was still talking to Mr..
Whiteside. He is said to nave made a
complete statement of his connection with
the whole scheme, naming the men in the
Municipal Ownership League who hired him
to do the work.
The District Attorneys office first got on
to the Hearst petition forgers last fall,
after the arrest of four notaries in the
Twenty-ninth Assembly district on the
NplllDlolilN Vi iiiiiioi iNCuNSl NIS dHb
other Democrats. The notaries were
Joseph G. Klein, Henry Melrose, Louis
Levine and George A.. Hyman. They
were charged with receiving and filing
false Acknowledgements to Municipal
Ownership nominating petitions. There
was a contest before the Board of Elections
but there was no decision, as there wasn't
time to get the afidavits of persons whose
names had been signed to the petitions.
The four notaries were held in Special
Sessions in $500 bail. which was furnished.
Their cases have not been heard, and at
least two of them nave furnished valuable
information to the District Attorney.
Since January 1 Assistant District At
Whiteside and Krotel nave been
an investigation. Nearly all the
o 800 names on the Municipal Ownership
city ticket have beer looked up. At least
200 men who have been questioned at the |
Attorneys Office nave sworn that
they never signed the petition. Some of
them were very angry and threatened
The other names were looked
up in other ways.
Then it was learned that a number Of
employed by an envelope ad-
dressing company had been working under
the direction Of Goldberger. 1t is also
said that about thirty notaries were en-
ployed to put their seals on the forged
petitions. 1t is charged that in one in
stance Goldberger got at the headquarters
of Jake Newsstand five copyists who took
names from the voting list in the City Record
and were instructed to fill in certain blank
spaces, the writer's rotating, 30 that the
signatures appeared to vary. Then the
appeared and Goldberger took
The petitions to the headquarters of the
Municipal Ownership League, at the Hof-
man House.
In at least th~ree-quarters of the Assembly
in Manhattan and The Bronx the
sarne thing was done. A number of names
rom the Brooklyn voting list were also
used. There was none from Queens and
Island. 1t was said that Gold
took several Of his employees to
Island one night and went to a hotel,
put hat before they got to work some
body came into the room. said "skiddoo,'
or the 1908 equivalent Of that ADMIRATION,
md they fed, leaving behind their para
.Dhernalia, What caused the scare is not
known