The Alaska citizen., 1911-05-29
PRESIDENT LABEREE'S
 REPUTATION AT STAKE
Further Statements Made by John Ballaine in Regard to the Cond duct of the Affairs of
 the Affairs of the Alaska Central

had another difficulty about this time. resulting from their cooperative attempt 10 acquire large number of coal claims ill the Mantanuska dis rrict. near the railroad route. by means uf dummy entrymen. Frank Thnmps Il. of Montreal. had obtain ,d a group oi coal options or relin- qui<hmen's when he was with me in Seward in October. l9u4. and turned them over to I.ahcree in spokane on am ng them any profit l.abereo might make ont of the options. l.aberee ill turn took them 70 Frost. to whom he falsely rcpreScnfc ed. am ng other de captions. that he had paid the own CTS of the claims s2.5uo for the op- ti0ns. although he had not paid dollar On these and o'her swindlng misrepresentations Frost entered in to contract with him hy which they agreed to form a Mataunska coal company 10 acquire and own claims M him check for s2.500 to reimburse him for the amount he falsely repre- scnted he had paid to the Seward claimants I.aberee ill addition was To receive 2I per cent of the profits in the coal company He concealed the entire transaction from MT. Thompson Frost also issued and paid another check for s25.ooo. through an agent recommended by l.aberee. 10 complete payment. as he was led to believe. to the Seward claimants. No part of the s21,3oo has ever 10 this day reached those claimants but their claims Were re linquished and lost 10 them.
 Frost discovered Labcrees amaz- ing swindle a few months later and in letters denounced him as an un- mitigated liar q contemp'ible sconn- drel. and a consciencelcss Grafter, Those letters still exist I.aberec replied. not 10 Frost. but 10 MT. Os- borne. Frost's partner. suggesting that. as he was in a position to break the MatanuSka coal deal by cXposure. Frost and Osborne had better buy him ont fer $1.o0o,oo0-a braZen attempt to supplement graft with blackmail. Instead. Frost kick ed him out He could not prosecute him for obtaining money under false pretenses al the time without expos ing all of the Frost locations to the danger of cancellation. which sni- feed to save I.aberee from the peni- tentiary
 Early in March. 1911. when Frost and others were indicted by the fed eral grand jury in Chicago fer con spiracy to obtain coal lands in the Mantanuska district by fraudulent entries I.aberee escaped indictment with the rest only through the stat ute of limitations More than three years had elapsed since Frost had kicked him out The grand jury, however. refused 10 give l.aberec i'm munity He was not called as a wit ness He is involved in other at tempted swindles in Alaska. jointly al least with one Canadian. This is Cne of the few instances in history where notorious crook was enabled 10 escape the penalties of the law temporarily at least. by oyerdoing a swndle
 Immediately after the appointment of temporary receiver for the pro- tection of the Alaska Central on my petition as a minority stockholder Laberee hastened to Montreal and Toronto to interview the bOndholders represented by the Sovereign Bank of Canada, then in liquidation in con sequence of FrCSt's failure. By pre- tending that he knew the details of Frost's business affairs in connection with the Alaska Central railroad and the Matanuska coal deals when as q matter of fact he did not, but had been kicked out by Frost two years before under denunciatiOn as liar, grafter. swindler, and by other means characteristic of I.aberee he obtained a contract from them said by him to be for two years, to serve as their representative in foreclosing, reorganizing and refnancing the road.
 In October. 1908. when the Cana dian bondholders filed foreclosure suit at Valdez. and asked that the temporary receiver be superseded by permanent receivers their attorney recommended I.abaree and John F. Goodwin to be such permanent re- ceivers. as the choice of the stock holders. Goodwin was the brother in-law of the presiding judge, Silas H. Reid and had been temporarily re- ceiver. opposed the appointment Of Laberee through my attorney in an affidavit filed in open court in which I informed the judge of La beree's swindling career as pro- moter of worthless mines, of his un, savory reputation, and of the proof I had over his own signature that he was an unbelievable liar. a brag ,or, and a man unworthy of truSt