San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-18
DENNIS CHAPLIN
TEST|F|ES IN
OIL LAND CASE
Says He Had No Connec-
ton With Promoters
of Mail Sales.
CONDUCTS HIS DEFENSE
Hearing Continued Until
2 O'Clock Tuesday
Afternoon.

With the aid of co-counsel. Dennis
b. Chaplin, under indictment by fed
eral grand jury in Los Angeles, Cal,
for alleged unlawful use of the mails
in furtherance of a scheme to defraud,
conducted his own defense during a
three-hour removal hearing on a fugi-
tive complaint before United States
Commissioner II. L. Edwards. Mon
day afternoon. The hearing has been
continued until > o'clock Tuesday
afternoon.
The indictment upon which the fugi-
tive complaint was founded, names
Mr.. Chaplin, Glenn W. Black, H. W.
Roland. John H. Maulding and 9TH
ers as defendants. The indictment al
leges that the defendants fraudulently
misrepresented the value and posi-
bilities of certain tract of land in
Webb and Zapata counties and that
they used the mails in furtherance of
a scheme TO defraud.
Mr.. Chaplin. who has been a men,
Der of the Texas bar for about %
years, appeared before the commits
sioner both as his own attorney and
as his own witness. The basis of the
defense was that the defendant was
not party to the alleged scheme to
defraud in that he, as owner of GER
tain lands in Webb and Zapata coun-
ties, had sold the lands to Black,
Rowland and Company of California.
and that he was in no way connected
with that concern. Documentary evl-
dence in support of the defense testi-
mony that the only relation existing
he hip,calf nn1 tla Inufnp1-
ans. Black. Rowland and Company,
was that of vendor and vendee.
Option on Land.
Chaplin testified that he had given
John II. Maulding an option upon his
properties in Webb and Zapata couu-
ties and that Maulding in turn had
transferred an option TO Black, Row
land and Company. Chaplin testified
that he conveyed parcels of the land
when money in payment OF same was
turned over to him by the company. In
many instances, he said, he signed the
deeds in blank.
Three witnesses were placed on the
stand by the government, represented
by David Y. Cahill. special assistant
to the attorney general, who has been
in Fort Worth for the last several
months, and Assistant United States
Attorney William Williams. The tes-
timony of no one of the witnesses
brought out any connection between
Chaplin and the co-defendants, Row
land and Black, other than the state
ment by II. V. Wellington, a newspa-
per man Of Vernon, Tex, formerly
publicity man for Black. Rowland and
Company, who thought that Mr.. Chap
in had introduced him to Mr.. Black
in the lobby of a hotel in Los An
geles in 1920.
Pine Trees in Picture.
1elvington testified that while he
was acting as publicity man for the
Black, Rowland and Company; that
on one occasion, a member OF the firm
asked him to make an affidavit to the
effect that a photograph of a gusher
was actually of gusher flowing i'll
the "Texas-Tampico" field. He testi-
fled that he refused to make such
an affidavit for the reason that he
had never seen the gusher ana that
the photograph shown him showed
pine trees in the background and that
he knew that there were no pine
trees in that section Of the country.
This refusal. he testified, subsequently
led TO his dismissal.
DIR. H. A. Ketelle of Long Beach,