Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1918-06-26
ARMY AND NAVY MEN IN GRAFT,
Employees of These Departments In
dictod-NIany Arc Confossing.

"cic vi a"H iutO Lle iict SET DS Iuc
Department Of Justice for war con-
tract brokers through indictments re-
turned by a Federal grand jury
| charging four men with trying to
collect on duplicate bill for $751;
900 submitted by dry dock com
pany for repairs to government
vessel. The case does not involve
contingent fee profitcors, but grew
out Of the investigation into their
practices.
The four indicted are Clyde C.
Waltman, yeoman in the Navy De-
partment's bureau of supplies and
accounts; Chas. f. Waltman, his
brother, a business man of Victoria,
Va; Benjamin w. Peake, soldier
at Fort Meigs, Wash; formerly OF
Bereau, N. c., and D. Malvin Now
cry, stenographer employed in the
signal corps Office. formerly of Lam
caster, Pa.
To Pay Same Bill Twice.
Clyde G. Waltman and Mowery,
'" nv ai u Ill w WdSnlnSLOn,
are alleged to have conceived a
scheme for getting the Navy Depart
ment to pay the same bill twice, and
to collect one Of the payments
through a confederate in the Offices
OF the companies rendering the bill.
They successfully tested the plan
twice, it is charged, but did not try
to actually collect the money, and
the firms returned the duplicate pay
ment to the government.
FINALLY, with free access to Navy
Department files. they were said to
have obtained a bill for $4,000 rem
dered April 23 by the Morse Dry
| Dock Company. of New York, for re-
pairs to the government vessel Can
andauga, between March / and March
5. this year. After the bill was al
legged to have been taken from the
files, the company was told it was
| lost and was asked to submit a dupl-
| cate, which was paid. Before the
men presented the original bill for
pay iiCll lHcS were dIESSIeu.
| The scheme failed, it is said, be-
cause the men tried through Peake
! to get in touch with confederate in
the Offices Of the dry dock company.
and an unnamed soldier who heard
Of the plot informed the government.
Chas. E. Waltman became involved
through some correspondence with
his brother on the subject. All four
men have been arrested and released
on bail.
The significance Of the disclosure,
officials explained, lies in the suspi-
cion that similar attempts to de-
fraud the government may have been
planned by others who are expected
to take warning of this alleged con-
spiracy.
Many Grabbcrs Confess.
Many self-acknowledged contin-
| gent fee agents appeared to-day at
| the Department Of Justice to explain
their operations and to ask lenency
| in any action the department may
| take to break up the exposed system
| Of defrauding contractors and the
government out of millions of dol
lars.
Many Of these agents heretofore
had been unknown to the depart
ment, and this fact promoted the i'm
preston that the system of making
| commissions out OF war orders Is
even more extensive than officials had
believed,
All documents shedding any light
in the awarding Of contracts for air.
planes or parts found in these papers
were referred to Chas. E. Hughes.
who is conducting a special inquiry
into aircraft production.
Lieut.. Jas. G.. Staley, under arrest
in New York on charges of accepting
| bribe from a raincoat company for
his influence on the company's be-
| half, will be tried Immediately by
courtmartial. and the information he
has furnished regarding other i'm
proper practices will be used to run
down persons implicated. Depart
ment Of Justice officials to-day de-
clined to say whether any further ar
rests are in contemplation.
The Fees Were Heavy.
| One Washington firm Of contingent
fee agents negotiated $10,000,00O
worth of contracts for it's clients, it
was disclosed to-day by examination
Of the firms papers, seized by secret
| service agents. Another firm, also