Omaha daily bee., 1910-05-21
kHARAS REVEALSREAL NAME
Defendant Tells Story of Life on Wit
ness Stand.
ONCE A MAGNETIC HEALER
Follows series of Professions, from
Osteopathy to Real Estate-Ad-
mits Issuing Wrong state
Bents in Circulars.

II bore the name Of Thomas Hobbs until
was 21 years of age" replied Theodore
Kharas. defendant in the suit Of the United
States for using the United States mails for
purposes to defraud. now on trial in the
United States district court, in response to
the question put to him by United States
Attorney Frank Howell, Friday morning
Kharas attorney strenuously objected to
the question, but the court overruled the
objection with the remark: THE jury has
the right to be informed IL the defendant
has ever borne any other name than that
of Kharas"
The question was wholly unexpected and
plainly Disconnected Kharas, whose grilling
cross-examination was begun in the morn
ing Kharas was on the stand in his direct
examination all day Friday, and the di-
rect examination was not concluded until
about 10 o'clock Thursday night.
The name of Thomas Hobbs was given
me by a family with whom 1 lived, and
upon reaching my twenty-frst birthday /
changed my name to Theodore Kharas,"
continued the defendant. He gave no par
ticular reason for changing his name, other
than that he did not like the name Of
Hobbs. He gave the date Of his birth as
January 10, 1875.
He taught school for while under the
name of Hobbs until he was 10 years of
age. Since that time he mad been engaged
i'm various vocations-newspaper work, real
estate. practiced osteopathy and for while
was a magnetic healer. He had also en-
gagged in the patent right business prior to
going into the movable street car sign busi-
ness.
Admits Circulars.
He admitted that when he sent out his
street car sign circulars that he had not
vet received his patent, but that he thought
IT might be issued at any time. The only
patent he had was for an Improvement
upon some previous patent the improve
ment being issued to him June %, 1905. He
had sent out circulars prior to the formal
issuance of his patent stating that such
patents had been issued, or were pending,
for the purpose of interesting investors in
his enterprise, and had used the mails for
such purpose to limited extent"
He further admitted that at the time he
published the circular stating that patents
were pending in all nations of the globe
where street car advertising was in vogue,
no such patents were pending except in the
United States and Canada, These state
ments having appeared in circular he
had caused to be printed and circulated
bearing date Of January Z, 1908. 1t was not
until the latter part of January, 1908, that
he had learned that another movable sign
device had been invented and patented. He
claimed further to be the inventor OF the
movable car sign advertising device but
admitted that while he advertised in his
circulars that he had three patents on the
movable car sign device he had in fact
but one patent
He stated that some of his correspond
ence would show that he afterward cor
rected this statement to the effect that he
had but the one patent, but that the gov
eminent had these letters and had not thus
far produced them in evidence