The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-09-09
GUN WOMAN IN
TROUBLE AGAIN
Mrs. Anna Auster Brings
Charges of Fraud Against
w. M. GewelE
SUIT INVOLVES $1,000

Verify the way OF MKS: Anna AHsse
Is hard. Having used rather aneeii.
yeHtisfiai means Of extrieating hefsalf
from marital difficulties with the late
Harry AasteF, she new finds herself
the victim Of an attorney, wkem, she
charges, secured her signature to a
judgment nete fer $4,000 by taking
advantage Of the temporary insanity
under the spell of which she shet
and killed her husband:
The new truuBie=1naker in her life,
aeeeFaing to papers filed In Municipal
eeart early this afternoon, Is Wal
tea NJ. C1well, whs, she alleges, in con-
nivanee with real or hetisious Roy
L. Gilbert, Is attempting to defraud
her Of principal and interest aggre-
eating $4,000.
Aftermath Of Divorce sait4
The unfortunate weman's present
dilemma Is the Outgrewth Of a suis
for divorce from her late husband in
stitutad In the summer Of 1918. The
difficulty was compromised out OF
court with money settlement which
awarded Mrs. Anster $4,000. This
was left in trust with the late James
Csvanagh to be transferred to the wife
at his discretion.
subsequently, the woman conferred
with Mr.. Cowell, who had been legal
adviser fer The Austers for several
years. She explained that she needed
the $4,000 and asked him 20 secure 1t
for her. He drew up papers, which
she believed to be an order for the
money, then In the keeping Of Mr..
Cavanagh, and secured her signature.
She expected the trust fund to be turn
ed over to her at once but heard moth
Ing from Mr.. Cowell's papers"
Recently she was informed by other
attorneys here thst they held judg-
ment-nOte against her made over to
Mr.. Cowell and endorsed to Roy l..
Gilbert Of Chicago. Il callsd for pay
rnent Of $4,000 with interest since
July Fl, 1918. Mrs. Auster was baf-
fled and turned the matter over to r.
Y. Baker, who had successfully de-
Tended her against charges Of murder
on a plea Of emotional insanity.
Mr.. Baker now holds that Mr.. Cow
ell took advantage Of this same men
tai incompetency TO secure the fraud
ulent" judgment-note against Mrs.
Auster and that he is not, therefore,
entitled to payment OF the same, either
principal OF interest.
Admit Mrs Auster's Insanity.
The charges describe Mrs. Auster as
able to make the characters compris-
ing her own signature bnt unable to
read or write English further than
this. They insist that Mr.. CoweII mis-
represented the papers signed by Mrs.
Auster and antedated them from Sep
TENDER 26th, 1918, when the signature
was affixed, to July FL, 1918. They
contend, too, that Mrs. Auster has abb
solutely no recollection of having
signed a judgment-nOte for Mr.. Cow
ell, but does remember rather dis
tinctly the circumstances by which
she thought she was authorizing him
to secure her trust fund from the late
James Cavanagh.
The suit in no way casts aspersion
on the character of either Mr.. Cava-
nagh or A. E. Buckmaster, the attor-
ney to whom Mr.. Cowell turned over
the seemingly bona fde Judgment
note for collection.
Mr.. Buckmaster. when interviewed
this morning, said:
"The instrument on the face of it is
legally drawn judgment-note paya-
BILE to Walter M. Cowell and endorsed
by Roy L. Gilbert l have been told
nothing Of the circumstances under
which it was secured. I am response
BILE only for its collection
Gilbert every Much Alive"
Asked if he had any reason to be-
lieve that Gilbert was a fictitious
character, as Mrs. Auster's charges in
sinuate, Mr.. Buckmaster answered
that he was very much alive" and
that he would probably appear to de-
fend Mr.. Cowell against the suit grow
ing out Of the 1udgment-note endors-
ed to him
The case carries an echo of the
death of Mrs. Augter's late husband
in that the papers declare that Mr..
CoweIl's @fraud" was made possible by
che plaintiffs unnatural mental state
induced by worry over financial and
marital difficulties.