Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-07

gagged Benjamin Oppenheim, then a
rising young lawyer. The negligence
of the company was proven by five
witnesses, and the fury brought in
verdict Of $4,000 for the crippled girl.
The company appealed. The case was
about to be decided in 1899 by the
court OF appeals when the company
asked setting aside of the verdict on
the ground that 1t was based on per-
jured testimony. Two of the witness
es submitted affldavits that they had
been hired by Oppenheim to swear
falsely, and another swore he had re-
jected perjury proposals. The verdict
was set aside and two months later,
on the application OF Henry A. Rob
inson, then chief attorney for the
Metropolitan company, Oppenheim
was disbarred
Nine years passed IN which the
disbarred attorney lived In disgrace
and the moneyless, crippled child
lived in abject poverty. Then strange
thing happened. Stanley Bagg. one Of
the Metropolitan's agents, was told
to burn mass Of papers. But Bagg,
acting on the principle that anything
worth burning was worth keeping,
packed them in a trunk and took them
to his boarding house. The trunk and
contents were held for an unpaid
board bill. The Jerome investigation
was put on, and. finding that the pa
pers referred to Metropolitan affairs,
the landlady communicated with the
attorney for the citizens committee.
They revealed how a case had been
bought to set aside the Nugent verdict
and to punish Oppenheim. The COM
pany had spent $4,000 to carry out
the conspiracy. A girl witness, who
refused money, had been betrayed by
an agent Of the company, and while
under his influence had been brough.
to the court room. Confronted with
the documentary evidence there was
general confession, including confess
sions by the company's agents. Open
helm was reinstated, although his
best years were gone.
What became of Harriet Nugent?
In November, 1914, a starving woman
was picked up by the police on the
streets of Brooklyn. 1t developed that
she had attempted to commit SUICIDE
by poison, and, when this failed, set
about to starve herself to death. Not a
cent Of money due to her had ever
been paid. The appellate division OF
the supreme court said in 1913 that
she was entitled to $4,000 with inter-
est for II years. but when she applied
to Judge Lacombe for an order di-
recting the receiver of the railway to
pay the sum Judge Lacombe refused
on the ground that if he did so he
would be inficting an injustice on the
business creditors of the company.
THE managers of large corpora
lions sometimes express surprise at
the prejudice that exists against their
business. Their wonder will abate If
they will spend little thought on the
cases of Benjamin Oppenheim and
Harriet Nugent For the series of
crimes committed against them no one
went to the penitentiary. Men and
women are living in luxury today on
money amassed through the success
of similar onspiracies The prosper
Gus and the influential see such
! things OcCurr. If they protest they
protest to no purpose. They meet the
! possessors of rotten wealth with
never thought of a rebuks or condem-
nation. And they are amazed when
large numbers fail to display COM
plete admiration for the way the rul-
ing classes run the great machine
whose operation is confided to them"
What makes socialists? What
breeds anarchists? What promotes
contempt for law, distrust of the
courts, suspicion of public officials,
hatred for the rich? The mouthings
of street corner orators and the agi-
tation of the radical press-or Met
ropolitan Street railway corpora
tons, with their horde of legal car
ruptionists, political henchmen and
judicial and official puppets? We think
/ the question answers itself