out of mind It has
(SSraIWXM l,een a common remark
that laws are Ina,le
forag for the rich; that a man
S&vsferAyp of means is rarely
brought to suffer for
gross misdeeds, while a trivial charge
suffices to land a poor man in jail.
More than any event in recent years
the conviction of Charles \V. Morse
seems to have emphasized the fallacy
of this contention; but with a view to
getting at whatever truth might lie at
the bottom of so prevalent an opinion,
the New York World has not only
sought the opinions of men close to
the workings of the law, but from
thousands of cases in point it has se
lected as an exhibit enough to put a
more cheerful face on those pessimists
who tremble for the continuance of
democratic institutions.
Those to whom it has seemed that
wealth brings immunity from the con
sequences of crime or misdemeanor
will ba interested in the following
statements and the list containing a
few cf the mora notable cases, briefly
stated, in which men of money, po
litical rower, or both, have gone be
hind the bars.
WEALTH IS UNAVAILING.
Declared Powerless to Afford Security
to the Wrongdoer.
"There is a very widespread impres
sion especially among the cynical,"
said Rev. Dr. Thomas R. Sticer, "that
wealth gives security to the wrong
doer and goes far to give immunity
from punishment.
"It was openly boasted, in the case
of the policy king, A 1 Adams, that his
accumulated stealings from the poor
would guarantee immunity, even if in
dicted. And this impression gains
force when the criminal is not of low
crigin and mean practice, but has sur
roundings of elegance and associations
«jf refinement. It is a relief to those
who believe in the essential right
mindedness of the majority of our cit
icens to have distinct proof in such
oases that wealth is no defense against
justice and cannot always be made the
reserve force in a conspiracy against
honesty.
"When the poor man pays the pen
alty of wrong-doing society is protected
usually by the removal of one not a
very dangerous member of its body.
But the man of wealth and cunning
using the ordinary avenues of busi
ness represents more than the individ
ual. He represents power and pride
and the infatuation which envy to
ward the well-to-do is sure to engen
der. His conviction, therefore, is in
a far greater degree a rebuke to evil
influences and a defense of the com
mon weal.
"We hope to reach the point after
awhile where the mere facts of wealth
and poverty will be not so interesting
as they now appear. The really inter
esting consideration is this:
"Is a man so poor that he hasn't
the means of growth or hasn't the
means of development? Or, on the
other hand, is he so rich as to be
crippled and encumbered?
"Whatever removes the supersti
tious awe which surrounds the wealthy
criminal and gives ample justice to
each man, as simply a man, must re
enforce the morals of the community."
MORSE CASE CITED.
Courts Fair and Efficient, Says Gen.
Charles W. Russell.
Gen. Charles W. Russell, assistant
attorney general of the United States,
who is in New York prosecuting a
case of peonage in which the Florida
East Coast railway is involved, could
see no adequate cause for the popular
Idea that rich men never goto jail.
"The World's Interview with Mr.
Moxey at the time of the Morse trial,"
he said, "shows the absurdity of such
a notion. That man alone, and he is
only one of a large force of account
ants engaged in the successful prose
cution of crooked bank officials by the
government, has put 33 wealthy and
so-called respectable gentlemen in
jail.
"The whole matter is analogous to
the care of a sick poor man and a sick
rich man. The rich invalid can hire
the best doctors; he can take all the
time that is necessary to get well; he
can avail himself of proper climate
and environment, and it's a matter of
common sense that he stands a bet
ter show of recovery than the other
fellow. Just so with poor criminals
and rich criminals. The rich one's
chances of acquittal are better be
cause they can afford to light longer.
"No, the courts and the prosecutors
are fair and efficient, and every year
sees a more thorough administration
of Justice."
MALEFACTORS OF WEALTH.
Litt of Prominent and Rich Offender*
Now Wearing Stripes.
Hera Is a partial list of wealthy men
convicted of offenses against the law,
who are behind the bars:
A F. BONELLI, formerly a banker
of Cleveland, <)., arrived in New York
oil September 1? last (rum Brazil, a
RICH MEN IN JAIL
Morse's Incarceration Adds
Another Name to a Long
List of Men of Money, of
Power and of Both Money
and Power Who Have
Been Put Behind Jail or
Penitentiary Bars.
prisoner, in custody of a deputy sher
iff and an assistant prosecuting attor
ney of his home state. He is charged
with the theft of $30,000 which it is
alleged he received froni laborers un
der the pretext that he would forward
it to their relatives in Italy. The two
state officers traveled all the way to
Santos, Brazil, to get their man —and
got htm.
SAMUEL SEELEY was a promi
nent, respected and influential resi
dent of Brooklyn. His position as
cashier of the National Shoe and
Leather bank in New York gave him
prestige in financial circles. He was
accused and found guilty of having
defaulted with $354,000 of the bank's
funds and served five years and four
months in the Kings county peniten
tiary.
CAPT. OBERLIN M. CARTER,
CAPT. B. D. GREENE AND E. H.
GAYNOR have all felt the iron hand
of the law for having attempted to
disobey its commands. Capt. Carter
was one of the leading young officers
in the engineering department of the
Cnited States army. When it was de
cided to make extensive improvements
in the harbor at Havana Capt. Car
ter was appointed to take charge of
the work. Certain revelations made
started an investigation and Capt. Car
ter was found guilty of having con
spired with Gaynor and Greene to de
fraud the government. After fruit
less appeals Capt. Carter was taken
to Leavenworth, where he served his
it Sjji
dodEPH R. BURTON Charles W. HORCSE:
sentence of three years and seven
mouths. Gaynor and Greene, after
their conviction, fled to Canada. They
were brought back to this country,
however, and are now serving out
their four-year terms.
WILLIAM H. BELCHER was mayor
of Paterson. He was an honored
member of the bar of the state of
New Jersey. He was intrusted with
scores of estates, and friends had no
hesitancy in placing limitless sums in
his hands. While occupying the posi
tion of mayor he suddenly fled from
the city. His flight disclosed embez
zlements of thousands of dollars.
Search for him was unavailing, but
he finally returned, surrendered to the
authorities and pleaded guilty to em
bezzlement. Judge Scott, one of his
closest friends and associates in form
er days, sentenced him to} 2 years'
imprisonment.
EUGENE A. SCHMITZ was mayor
of the city of San Francisco. Abra
ham Ruef was one of the city's influ
ential men and an acknowledged pow
er in politics. Disclosures made by
certain city aldermen started an in
vestigation which ended in the con
viction of both Schmitz and Ruef and
their sentence of five years' imprison
ment by the lower courts. The court
of appeals of the state of California
on a technicality reversed that deci
sion and acquitted the two men. Dur
ing their trial and part of the time
their appeal was pending, however,
both men were incarcerated in Jail,
ABE RUEF, convicted as a grufter,
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY DECEMBER 3, 1908.
Comments by Men of the
Law and of the Church
on the Popular Cynicism
That Riches Keep Men
Out of Prison While the
Poor Have to Suffer the
Full Rigor of the Law.
was sentenced to five years in the
county jail. After serving six months
he was released in $1,500,000 bond.
Ruef was charged with bribing mem
bers of the board of supervisors. The
bond which set him free was signed
by 20 sureties and is considered the
largest amount ever given in Cali
fornia.
John W. WOOTEN, formerly a New
York lawyer and partner of August
Belmont In the banking business, was
sent to Sing Sing prison in May, 1905,
to serve nine years and six months
for looting the Wersell estate of $70,-
000.
DAVID ROTHSCHILD, wrecker of
the Federal bank, was convicted in 1905
and sent to Sing Sing to serve nine
years.
HARRY BRUNAUGH, formerly
secretary to Mayor Book waiter of In
dianapaolis, Ind., and superintendent
of the Western Construction Company,
was sent to the penitentiary last June
to serve a term of from two to four
teen years for defrauding the city.
WILLIAM 0. MILES, ex-district at
torney of Brooklyn, is now serving a
term.in the penitentiary for present
ing fraudulent sewer claims to the
city for payment.
R. M. SNYDER, the promoter of the
Central Traction bill in St. Louis, w; s
convicted and sentenced to five years
in the penitentiary for bribery on Oc
tober 4, 1902. This was the first con
viction in the famous boodle scandal
of St. Louis, following a year's inves-
tigation. Snyder was accused of brib
ing Councilman Uthoff to vote for the
Central Traction bill. LTthoff was to
receive SIOO,OOO, but failed to collect
more than $5,000. He was one of the
state's witnesses in the'trial.
LOUIS GLASS of San Francisco,
vice-president of the Pacific States
Telephone & Telegraph Company, was
convicted and sentenced to five years
for bribery, September 4, 1907. He
was charged with bribery. Glass, be
fore conviction, was one of San Fran
ciHco's leading citizens and possessed
of considerable wealth.
HORACE E. HAND, a prominent
lawyer in St. Ix>uis and a leader of
society in the fashionable suburb,
Klrkwood, was arrested on January
17, 1907, at his home on the charge of
forgery, while entertaining his pastor
and a deacon of his church. He
pleaded guilty on the next day to
forgery, and by three o'clock In the
afternoon was on his way to prison,
sentenced to five years.
CHARLES T. GROTEFEND was
one of the most prominent young men
in St. Ixiuls. Although only 30 years
old, Grotefend was teller in the Wash
ington National bank, and generally
thought to be one of the coming
financial men of the city. It was dis
covered that he had embezzled more
than $!1,000 of the brink's money and
he fled to Germany. He returned
after a time, and upon pleading guilty
was sentenced to five years at Fort
Lea veil worth.
CHARLES 11. THORNTON, note.
teller of tho Hamilton National bank
in Chicago, a man highly respected in
business and social circles, upon the
discovery of his thefts, plead guilty
to having embezzled SIO,OOO from the
bank. He was sentenced to five
years in the government prison at
Fort Leavenworth, and he 1b now
serving that sentence.
The following Interesting roster is
also to the point:
EDWARD STOKES shot Jim Fisk;
served term in prison.
AL ADAMS, the "Policy King," sen
tenced in Sin Sing.
SENATOR BURTON of Kansas
served jail term of six months for ap
pearing for a client for pay before a
government department while still In
the senate.
FRANK G. BIGELOW, former presi
dent of the American Bankers' asso
ciation, looted the First National bank
of Milwaukee and was sentenced to
the penitentiary.
LEONARD IMBODEN AND JAMES
A. HILL, Denver bank wreckers, re
ceived ten-year jail sentences.
PAUL O. STENSLAND, Chicago
banker, stole $1,500,000, fled to Eu
rope and was brought back and sent
to jail.
GEORGE BURNHAM, counsel for
the Mutual Reserve Life Insurance
Company, convicted of grand larceny
and sentenced to Sing Sing.
OHN R. WALSH, Chicago banker,
sentenced to jail.
WILLIAM F. WALKER, honored
banker of New Britain, Conn., stole
hundreds of thousands of dollars; fol
lowed to Mexico, brought .back and
sent to jail.
FRANK C. MARRIN, prominent
Brooklyn lawyer, caught after a ten
year chase and just sent to prison for
forgery.
MAYOR WILLIAM H. BELCHER of
Paterson, sent to jail for embezzle
ment.
GUY C. STRATTON, millionaire
lumberman of Seattle, Wash., convicted
of murder in the second degree for
killing child with automobile.
MRS. CASSIE CHADWICK, wife of
prominent Cleveland physician, sent to
jail for forgery.
ABE HUMMEL, for years one of
New York's most prominent lawyers,
sent to Blackwell's island for one
year.
CHARLES T. YERKES, millionaire
traction magnate at his death, was
once convicted and sentenced to a
jail term, which he served.
J. A. BENSON, California million
aire, sentenced for land frauds, Au
gust 31, 1907, for one year and to pay
a SI,OOO fine in San Francisco.
CHARLES S. CAMERON, president
of tho Pittsburg & Tube City Railroad
Company, when called for sentence
did not answer and court declared
$12,000 bond forfeited.
SENATOR MITCHELL of Oregon,
convicted and sentenced to two years
In jail. Died while appeal was pend
ing.
All of these and a host of others, to
say nothing further of CHARLES W.
MORSE and HARRY K. THAW.
Besides the above, the United States
penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan.,
has sent to it each year bankers from
all parts of the United States that
have been convicted of crimes carry
ing with them jail sentences. The
prison authorities have what they
term a bankers' colony. In 1007 there
were 21 convicts in the bankers' col
ony. They were:
"The Bankers' Colony."
JUSTUS L. BRODERICK of Elk
hart, Ind., serving ten years.
WALTER BROWN, Elkhart, Ind.,
serving eight years.
WILSON L. COLLINS, Elkhart, Ind.,
recently released after serving six
years.
CYRUS E. M'CREADY, Seymour,
Ind., recently released after sorvlng
six years. *
ALFRED C. BARKER, Bedford,
Ind., released last January after serv
ing five years.
JOHN H. WOOD, Matthews, Ind.,
soon to be released.
GUSTAV A. CONZMAN, Terre*
Haute, Ind., serving eight years.
FRANK G. BIGELOW, Milwaukee,
W r is., serving ten years.
HENRY G. GOLL, Milwaukee, Wis...
serving ten years.
ROBERT B. TAYLOR, New York
city, recently released after serving
five years.
MILTON J. FIJGMAN, San Antonio,
Tex., serving five ye'ars.
THOMAS E. LARY, HllUboro, Tex.,
sorvlng five years.
FRANK M. MABRY, McGregor,
Tex., serving five years.
J. A. ERICKSON, Mlnot, N. D., serv
ing five years.
CHARLES C. KING, Scotland, S. D„
serving five years.
THOMAS COGHILL, Seymour, Wis.,
serving five years.
HERMAN E. HAAS, Chicago, serv
ing six yeurs.
Net Safe Now.
He—l used to Illrt desperately with
that woman.
She—You quit If, ch?
"You bet I did. Her huvband died.'
—Smurt Set.
FUTURE OF SAVAGE
BRAIN ONLY NEEDS DEVELOP
MENT AND CULTIVATION.
Scientists in Convention In London
Express Belief That Aborigines
of World Are Better En
dowed Than Supposed.
In many of tho out-of-the-way cor
ners of the world are to be found
savage peoples upon whom the world
spends little thought and concerning
whom the general opinion prevails
that they are little better mentally
than the beasts of the fields among
which they dwell. Hut these same
savages found defenders recently
among the foremost scientists of Eu
rope who had gathered in London.
There noted scholars presented argu
ments to prove that in many cases
the aborigines of the world were not
so far behind civilized man in respect
to natural brain power as the world
has been wont to believe.
No less than a savant than Principal
Jevons of the Dnrham university,
speaking to the lower culture section
of the history of religious congress In
London, advanced the remarkable
proposition that to exchange the en
vironment of the savage and the civ
ilized man of Europe would demon
strate in a few generations that the
former would accustom his ways and
himself to civilization just as certain
ly as the white man, surrounded only
by wild and savage conditions, would
lapse into the ways of the aborigine.
Then came a series of astonishing
propositions.
L. T. Ilobhouse, professor of soci
ology at London university, compared
the skill of the Polynesian with that
of an Englishman. He admitted that
the brain reservoir of the savage was
just as great as that of the Briton,
and he further conceded that the
natural life of the savage spared him
many of the weakening impulses that
result from the vices of the man of
civilization.
The only cause of the undoubted
mental superiority of the Englishman
he conceded was because the latter
profited by the intellectual bequests
of previous generations, while the
Polynesian remained at the same
mental level as his remote ancestor.
This was quite an admission for an
Englishman to make, but it was cast
in the shade by the report of Prof.
Diechmann, a German savant, who
told how he had been studying the
arts of hypnotism and suggestion,
which are now taking a more potent
place in the medical beliefs of the
modern world.
The professor told how he had been
astounded to find that the savages of
many centuries had through their
medicine men long exercised these
arts of influence and suggestion that
have the effect of curing a person of
A HOTEL FOR BOYS
HARLEM'S NEW INSTITUTION FOR
THE MAKING OF MEN.
Wealthy Woman Who Has Provided a
One Hundred and Fifty Thousand
Dollar Property for Benefit of
Homeless City Youth.
The Harlem Boys' hotel has taken
Its place among the many Institutions
of Greater New York for the making
_
Playing Ball on the Roof.
of men out of the boys of the big me
tropolis. The hotel is the gift of a
wealthy woman who has given $150,-
000 for laud, building and equipment
and who has turned over the property,)
to the Children's Aid society* for con
trol mid management. That it has a
promising future is evident from the
fact that when the hotel was opened
the other day it bad 7!) boy patrons
registered, about half the capacity of
the hotel. The building is a hand
some flvo-story fireproof structure v at
the southwest corner of Lexington
avenue ar.d One Hundred and Twenty
seventh street. The rates are calcu
lated to fit the flnancial resources of
Its patrons, who are all wage-earning
boys between the ages of ten and
eighteen. Few are under 12,
those younger may be received as
transients.
The Hoys' hotel is run entirely on
the American plun, with some im
provcv.ivnla. Hoard, lodging, balb and
ill through the brain rather than;
through the body.
Another expert sneered at the self-,
superior pose of the white man, andi
recalled how In England until the
eighteenth century there was a bell®*
in magic, and that not much more'
than a century and a half ago personsj
suspected of witchcraft were burned'
In many civilized countries.
He argued that considering the su- :
perior advantages of the white man's;
countries the progress made was far
from being great enough in compari
son to permit the patronizing of the
savage in all parts of the world.
But the most wonderful of all the
arguments for the possibilities of the
savage were purely mathematical.
They represent the researches of Prof.
Sollas, a noted German scholar.
Ho adduces the law of dimensions to
show that there Is no reason why the
A Maori Chief.
savage should not some day be the
equal of his white brother, provided
that, brain capacity counts.
He even demonstrated that no im
measurable chasm exists between pre
historic man and the cultivated citizen
of to-day.
Prof. Sollas made an exhaustive
series of measurements. The results
he attained surprised him, for he ex
pected to find the skull of the modem
man of education would demonstrate
beyond cavil that he enjoyed advan
tages with which the savage could
never hope to catch up. What he did
find was exactly the reverse.
He found that the men of the so
called Neanderthal race and the Poly
nesian or Australian type of blacks,
who really represent the lowest type
of man, are in reality of the same
family.
The savage is a better man, mental
ly, than he has received credit for.
laundry work may be had for 15 cents
a day, or $1.05 a week. Patrons whose
requirements as to privacy are more
exacting, and who prefer (and can pay
for) a bedroom instead of a bed in a
dormitory may be accommodated at
an expenditure of $2.80 a week. No
body gets anything for nothing—long,
at any rate. If a boy applies at the
desk —there is a real hotel desk, with
a clerk and a register—and says that
he is without money to pay his bill he
is not turned away if he is otherwise
a desirable patron, but is told that he
will be expected to pay when the
management has found work for him.
Before he !s admUted to the privi
leges of the house each patron signs
a promise to obey all the rules and
regulations as directed by the man
ager.
"But there isn't much need of form
al rules," said Abel C. Kenyon, the
superintendent. "No one is sharper
to notice and reprove breaches of eti
quette among the boys than their fel
lows. I have seen a boy who had a
visitor who failed to remove his hat
steal up behind him and quietly re
move it, and a boy's bad table man
ners are made unpopular by the 'judg
ment of his peers.""
in the spacious dining room oa the
ground floor, with its white table lin
en and its big rubber plants, the din
ers are seated on one side of the ta
bles only. This is in accordance with
Mr. Kenyon's belief, strengthened by
lifelong experience, that when you put
a large number of boys where they
can easily make faces at one another
they will make them and will indulge
in other table pleasantries which are
frowned on by good manners. By his
expedient he has been able to culti
vate among the boys a policy of non
interference at moal times which has
had gratifying results.
"Where are all the boys who are
registered?" a visitor asked Mr. Ken
yon a few evenings ago, after having
been through the liouse and having
seen only a minority of the 79. "Oh.
some of them are Calling on friends;
some of them are in the street; they
are all spending their evening fiboul
as the average boy would da.
"1 believe," continued Mr. K>nyon
expounding his favorite theory of boy
development, "In Inspiring beys to re
spect themselves by treating them as
if they w«rc worthy of respect.
Legs Were Numb.
She—Are you tired of holding me
dear?
He—No, darling. I lost all feelln*
lon ; a <).- ! Iff
9