Evening star., 1909-05-09

John C. Davis. an attorney. formerly OF
North Carolina, where he was at one
time an inmate Of an insane asylum. and
his brother. Martin T. Davis. both OF
whom are under arrest. charged with OBJ
tanning money under false pretenses
through q series OF weird financial trans
actions covering a period extending over
several years. have furnished the police
and the United States attorney OF the
District with a problem almost unique In
the annals Of the District
Estimates Of the amount due to clients
Of Davis vary from $25o.oO0 to more than
$1.000,OO0 or this grand total only 20
cents, found In the pockets OF John Davis
when arrested has been discovered. What
has become Of the money IL a problem
that puzzles the investigators and finds
no explanation in the personal habits OF
the prisoner. and has not as yet reached
a speculative stage which will justify an
opinion.
After working two days on the case.
central Office detectives and assistant
district attorneys confess themselves puz-
zled. They know what the Davis
brothers have done-at least they know
believed that the half has not yet been
told-but how they did it bafiies the
shrewdest dealers with criminals on the
District force.
Tbn nov
plaint Of Miss Nellie McKeown OF 1888
@ street northwest. from whom they got
$1,000.
Davis Probably Insane.
Connected with the operations Of these
frenzied fnanciers are facts which AL
most convince the officers Of the law that
John c. Davis. at least. is insane. Other
facts indicate that II he 10 insane he 10
or has been as canny q lunatio as ever
fooled a large section OF the public for Q
good long time.
AS near as the law officers can como to
a solution Of the Davis methods 10 that
he worked the old game of ''robbing
Peter to pay Paul" When one Of his
clients became too insistent for his own
comfort he simply made a swift touch
on another client and paid on the clamor-
GUS one.
The amount Of claims against Davis was
put at certainly 100000 by Assistant Dis
trict Attorney Proctor late yesterday
afternoon. Mr.. Proctor. who has con-
Quoted most Of the examinations into the
Davis brothers affairs. gave that figure
merely as starter. He admitted that he
suspected that when the returns were all
in the losses OF Davis clients would total
much more than that. Quarter OF nil
lion is another estimate of the loss to
clients.
Most of Davis victims were women.
Nearly all of them were government
clerks He was no respecter OF persons.
however. Chief of Police Goods OF Alex
andria not only invested his own money
in Davis schemes. but. Davis himself
SAYS, threw the business of some OF his
relatives in Davis way.
Five Years Operations.
lust how long Davis has been operating
here in Washington Is not known. 1t Is
certain that he has been at work for At
least Ave years.
He and his brother operated through
the Potomac Building and Loan Asso-
ciation. Martin T. Davis is the secretary
and general manager OF this concern.
In addition to this John c. Davis ID
supposed to have got a good many clients
through his connection with church af.
fairs. He was q member Of the Metro.
politan Methodist Episcopal Church.
where he taught q Sunday school class.
Owens Wanted Only - Witness.
Thomas A. Owens. whose name IL signs
ed to a number Of notes given by John T.
Davis to persons who had invested money
with him. was taken Into custody yss.