The San Francisco call., 1910-03-02
Suspected of Frauds

;. IF. Leo Lawrence, a Sacramento at
torney, was under investigation on the
suspicion that he perpetrated a fraud
on the government in forging a certi-
fed copy of naturalization certif-
cate" P. w. Blazer, chief naturaliza-
tion eXaminer$for California, explained
yesterday afternoon.
"We had not preferred any charges
against Lawrence, for the evidence was
not all in. When it was gathersd we
intended to turn it all over to United
States District Attorney Devlin and
have his office decide what charge
should be placed against LaVrence's
name.
The evidence we had against Law
renee was unearthed as a result of a
legal tangle among Portuguese resi-
dents in Sacramento. The attorney ap-
peared for one side of the case and the
other side, in the midst of the legal
fight, made. charges that Lawrence had
faIsified naturalization papers. We in
vestigatedz the charge and found from
whom 1t had come.
NO RECORD OF CERTIFICATE
Manuel s Pine. a Sacramento
butcher, was the cause of the whole
affair He wanted to go to his old
home in the Azores but he was not a
citizen He visited Lawrence in Sep
dence shows, the latter made him a
fraudulent certified copy of a natu-
radiation paper. There are several
things that lead US to believe the al
legged certified copy to be fraudulent.
First,.8here is no record of the paper
in the superior court of Merced county,
where il was supposed to have been
issued Second. the three pages of the
copy bear differing water marks, and
we are all but certain that the first
two pages were forged, and the last
page, upon which the signature of
Judge p. N. Rector appears, wa an
actual Sheet taken from some real
paper. The Merced authorities were
not able to say that the third sheet of
paper was not issued by them. though
they could find no record OF it. But
they were certain that the first two
sheets never had issued from their Of
fee that the cover of the paper was
of a sort never used by them and that
the eyelets never had been placed in
the paper by them.
PAID $40 FOR PAPERS
We got after Pine and he confessed
TO us that Lawrence had made him out
the paper for SEQ On the strength of
the false copy Pine went to the Azores
and returned as an American citizen,
and then, last election, he wanted to
vote ne VEIN " Lid anu LOfu
the attorney to fix" the naturaliza-
tion copy SO that he could vote. Law
renee told him it was impossible to
do So that he would be found out, and
then Pine began telling around that
Lawrence was poor lawyer and
could not arrange matters for him
properly. That was the conversation
that the opponents of Lawrence
brought UP against him and that led
TO the investigation.
Lawrence left Sacramento for two
months after he found we were inves-
tigating him last fall. but recently he
returned, evidently hoping that the
affair had died down. / went up to
Sacramento personally last week, how
ever, and this showed the lawyer that
we were still gathering evidence
against him.
why he should commit suicide at
this late date l do not know, unless
perhaps agents of the Sacramento dis
trict attorneys Office called on him
and showed him that he was about to
be prosecuted vigorously"