The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1907-06-17
CROOKED MILLioNAlREs HAVE
NO FEAR OF WEARING
STRIPES FOR MISUSE OF
FUNDS IN SPITE OF SENSA-
TloNAL EXPOSURE,
BY JACOB WAlDECk
gpeoial Correspoudsuce to The Press

Special Correspondence to The Press
NEW YORK, June Twin the
millionaire insurance grafters wear
stripes?
A wink and a grin would probably
be their answer to the question. For
a year and a half they have been
exposed to all the thiefcatching
agencies of this state and they are
still unwhipped of Justice by large
majority Their immunity, accord
ing to common belief here. is to go
right on and for the colossal conf
dence game worked on the policy
holders these men will suffer no
penalty. That is, they won't suffer
any penalty even remotely connect
ed with iron bars, striped suits and
damp prison atmosphere. Of course,
they have suffered the penalty Of
being found out and the finger of
scorn has been pointed at them, but
they have lost little of the swag and
none of their liberty.
II is more than a year now since
the district attorney spread his net.
The people looked forward expect
antly to a great haul. They have
found, instead, that the big fish
have gone around or through the
net.
AS matters stand now, just one
member of the insurance crew has
had the penalty of the law visited
upon him. He pleaded guilty and
the stern Judge soaked him with
the sentence of blind, impartial JUS
tice. This crushing penalty con-
sisted of fine of $500. .
The offender was VIM. r. Brewer,
president of the Washington Life
Insurance Co. He was indicted on
the charge of having sworn to a
false report filed with the state in
surance commissioner. For little
while Jerome did have one of the
insurance men In Sing Sing. This
prisoner was George Burnham jr.,
ex-vice president and counsel of the
Mutual Reserve Life Insurance Co.
He was tried last December on the
charge of larceny and forgery in
the third degree. He was indicted
in connection with his brother, F.
A. Burnhsm, president, and George
d. Eldridge, vice president of the
Mutual Reserve, on the charge that
they had used funds Of the COM
pany to pay a personal claim
against F. A. Burnham and had en-
tered the disbursement on the
books as a charge for legal services.
The defense asserted that the claim
in question was in fact against the
company and not against F. A.
Burnham personally.
George Burnham was convicted
and sentenced TO serve 2 years in
states prison. An appeal was
taken to the appellate division of
the supreme court, which set aside
the conviction of Burnham and Or
dered a new trial.
r. A. Grannis and NJ. G. Gillette,
former vice presidents of the Mu-
tual Life, are under indictment on
theh charges of forgery in the third
degree and making false statements
to the superintendent of insurance.
1t was claimed that they had ma
nipulated accounts in such way
as to raise the amount of interest
earned on real estate owned by the
company.
Geo. w. Perkins, vice president
of New York Life, and c. S. Fair
child, president of a trust company
controlled by the insurance com
pany, are under charges. They
have been indicted on the charge
Of arranging fake sales of railroad
stocks at the end of year, so the
ownership of the stock by the in
surance company would not appear
in the annual report.
Perkins was also indicted on the
charge of larceny for having con-
tributed $4,000 of the company s
money to the republican campaign
fund in 1904 1t was shown, how
THU or f A 1