Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1909-02-12

W
The popular cynicism that riches
keep men out Of prison, while the poor
have to suffer the full rigOr of the law,
has had a number of severe jOlts re-
Gently The long line of men in high
positions and seemingly the pOssessors
law, been detected, tried and now are
undergoing punishment is a strong in
dicatiOn that the millennium of equal
justice has at. last dawned.
In the consideration of such instances
Of this nature as that most recent one
In Chicago, Peter Van Vlissingen, and
c. w. Morse in New York, a prominent
feature is the fact that, while reput-
edly wealthy, when the bubble burst
the millions they We're supposed to
have owned were found never to have
existed. or, if they did exist. to have
been of paper, the fictitious value of
which was demonstrated when the first
winds of adversely struck the fragile
fgment.
In the case of Van Vlissingen, like
that of Paul 0. Stensland, whose ca
reer as forger was so nearly parallel
to that confessed by the Chicago real
estate man, conviction was swift and
sure. Stensland STAYED 1t off for a
time by becoming Il fugitive but found
that the law was ineXOrabe When
he was arraigned he pleaded guilty and
asked the privilege of beginning his
sentence with the least possible delay.
To-day he wears the prison gray uni
form of the good conduct convict at
Joliet prison, the same as does the
poorest criminal In the penal institu-
tion. For him, too, the rule of silence
Is enforced rs completely as it is in
the case of the most obscure thug or
cheap thief who is his companion In
ignominy,
Fate of Van Vlissingen.
TO the same fate Van Vlissingen was
sentenced after a trial lasting little
longer than an hour. No abjectly poor
man could have had a more speedy con,
viction than has this man who, suppos.
edly wealthy, found himself in such a
position that he was able to steal the
vast sum of more than $1,000,000 from
people who trusted him as much be
cause they thought him beyond the
necessity Of peculatiOn as for any other
reason.
OF course, the cases of Van Vlissin
gen and Stensand are not true exam
pies of the alleged condition against
which socialists and others who harT
continually on the favors of the ricf
and the troubles of the poor complain
When they were finally discovered il
their crime neither put up Il fight. IL
reality their fortunes were such bub
bles that when the dcnouement cam
they vanished into nothingness.
A somewhat similar condition con
fronted George II. McReynolds. the for
mer grain broker and warehouse MAJ
convicted for defrauding banks b.
means Of fictitious warehouse receipts
McReynolds, however, put up har
legal fight extending over a number O
months. The highest courts were In
voked in an effort to have him his lii
erty, but, despite sufficient money t
secure all legal aid possible and tn
powerful influence of the friends h
had made in his ailluent days when h
was rated a millionaire, he had to g
TO prison and don the hated gray un
form.
Newton G. Daugherty the embezzlln
Peoria educator, had short shrift, a
though an effort was made to save hil
the disgrace of going to prison. But
was unavailing as have been effort
made since to have him pardoned.
John A. Cooke, the Chicago pollt
clan, reputed to have amassed con
Portable fortune through his come
tlon with politics for years, fought ,
hard as any man, possibly, who ev,
went to prison. Not only his ow
means, but millions Of dollars Of Il
money Of his wealthy associates, We