Daily Alta California, 19 February 1886
HAMAN’S HAND.
Following Up a Dead Man’s Projected Fraud.
AN OLD NOTARY’S CONFESSION.
W. H. Flesher’s Dramatic Work in
Using a Dead Man’s Hand to Sign
a Will — The Infringement Suit
Against the Sutter street Railroad.
There are not a few people who will remember that shortly after the Sutter street Railroad shifted the last block of its Larkin street branch to Polk street, a heavy damage suit was instituted against the company for an alleged infringement of a patent on mechanism for turning curves on cable railways without a release of the grip. The suit was for $100,000 damages, and was brought by Lillian H. Haman, widow and executrix of Aiken Haman, the alleged patenter of the curve device, and Leonard S. Batkin. On the first trial in the United States Circuit Court the jury failed to agree, and before the case was called again A. S. Hallidie instituted a proceedings to protect the patent. His work was much more vigorous than the railroad company’s defense, and the evidence submitted to the Commissioner was such that the suit was promptly dropped, and the manager of it, one W. H. Flesher, fled the country to avoid prosecution for tampering with witnesses. The purport of this evidence was never made public, and the little world interested in the proceedings often wondered what had become of the suit. The matter was the subject of incidental discussion a few days since, and one of the gentlemen present referred the inquiring reporter to Detectives A. B. Lawson and A. W. Collins, to whom he awarded the credit of securing the evidence that broke down the case of the plaintiffs. An interview with the gentleman named was sufficient to settle the truth of the assertion, and further inquiry provoked the following interesting statement of the true
INWARD HISTORY OF THE CASE.
Aiken Haman was first introduced to public notice on this coast in 1874, when he, with a confederate named John A. Beverly, a barkeeper in the employ of Wilson & Co., in West Oakland, forged a deed to a house and lot in West Oakland and raised considerable money on it. The onus of the crime all fell on Beverly, and he fled to Canada. Returning to Uncle Sam’s territory two years later, he was arrested in Salt Lake by H. N. Morse, returned to Oakland, tried, convicted and sent to San Quentin. He died before the expiration of his term, and it was only at his death that positive information of Haman’s connection with the crime was obtained, Beverly confessing that they had mutually borne the expense of renting a house on Peralta street in which to experiment on the manufacture of a deed and imitation of the owner’s signature. Haman had in the meantime located in Wilmington, Del., and he did not show up in San Francisco until after prosecution was barred by the statute of limitations. Here he made exhibition of some drawings of plans for curving cable roads, and visited Mr. Hallidie several times with the intention of obtaining ideas from him. Mr. Hallidie presumably convinced Haman that the plans he exhibited were all covered by patent, and Haman drifted off into Arizona without attempting to put the curve mechanism on the market. There he obtained some aid or ideas from equally unscrupulous parties, and his next step was to file affidavits of his ” discovery,” and to make the affidavits bear a date prior to Hallidie’s applied for patents, he prostituted a feeble old notary named Charles F. Dodge, who is now slowly dying in this city. Dodge antedated both the affidavits and his notary’s record, but, unfortunately for Haman, he died on the 14th of December, 1883. W. H. Fleeher was an intimate friend of both Haman and Dodge, and watched with the former during
HIS FATAL ILLNESS
Flesher was possessed of a knowledge of Haman’ s scheme and Dodge’s crooked work, and at once concluded to follow out Haman’s blackmailing designs. In order to expedite matters he proposed to put everything into the hands of Mrs. Haman, whom he believed he could use as a tool. By the time that his plans were fully matured Haman was unconscious and could not sign the will Flesher had drawn up. That did not interfere in the least, however, and Flesher put an *’ X ” mark to the will without regard for his dying friend’s desires in the matter. To attempt to counterfeit Haman’s signature would have been a dangerous operation ; consequently the “X” mark was used, and as near as the detectives have been able to discover Flesher put the pen into Hainan’s hand an hour after he died, and guided the inanimate fingers in making the cross. This dramatic piece of work was probably consumated for the benefit of the other witness to the will, who wanted to be able to swear that he saw the signature made by Haman’e own hand. This evasion he presumably thought would enable him to escape a conviction for perjury in event of discovery and prosecution.
THE WILL,
As probated, is as follows
State of California, County of San Francisco. — I, Aiken Haman, of the above named State, and county and city of San Francisco, being of the age of forty-two years and of sound and disposing memory and mind, do hereby make, publish and declare this my last will and testament. First— I bequeath and devise unto my beloved wife, Lillian Hope Haman, all my effects, possessions and estate of whatever nature, being fully satisfied that her maternal affection and her noble instincts will prompt her to provide for Sellwood Griffin Haman, our boy, and Margareta Bernard Haman, our girl, as they prove deserving and worthy. Second— I appoint the above-named Lillian Hope Haman my sole executrix without bond, the said Lillian Hope Haman being as aforesaid my fond wife and sole legatee, and a resident of the State of California, county and city of San Francisco. In witness whereof I have signed and have sealed and have published and have declared this instrument as my last will and testament, at San Francisco, this, the 11th day of December, A. D. 1883. his Aiken X Haman, mark
The said Aiken Haman, on the said 11th day of December, in the said city of San Francisco, signed and sealed this instrument, and published and declared the same as and for his last will and testament, and we at his request, and in his presence and in the presence of each ether, have hereunto written our hands as subscribed witnesses. W. H. Flesher, George H. Inge.
A FORMER WILL
Written by Haman, had bestowed his effects on his children, and the object of the change can easily be appreciated. As soon as the will was probated, Mrs. Haman uttered a writing empowering Flesher and others with the right, by assignment, to commence suit against the Sutter-street and Market-street Cable Companies, and the first named company was immediately proceeded against as above stated. The entire basis of the suit was the affidavits made before Dodge, which purported to be dated on the 20th of February, 1879, and May 22, 1880, antedating Mr. Hallidie’s applications by a short time. Of course Dodge was a very important witness, and he gave his testimony with such force that it was a bare scratch that the jury did not find in the plaintiffs’ favor. After the disagreement, Mr. Hallidie commenced to defend his invention, and Lawson and Collins were set at work to ferret out the crookedness that it was positive to all on the inside lay at the root of the matter. They shadowed both Dodge and Flesher, and found that they were in frequent consultation. The direct attempts to break down Dodge proved a failure, until his wife became acquainted with the state of affairs. She proved a most excellent, God-fearing woman, and in a short time Dodge weakened and made
A FULL CONFESSION.
Before Flesher could be secured he fled from justice, and Dodge’s deposition before Commissioner Moncton, on the 15th of last June, effectually settled further prosecution of the suit. He testified that he was 68 years of age, and did not expect to live much longer. Both the affidavits of Haman were sworn to before him (Dodge) in July of 1883, instead of in February of 1879 and May of 1880, as the dates on the jurats purported. He freely admitted his perjury on the trial, and in explaining his malfeasance in antedating the affidavits and falsifying his records, stated that Haman was an old friend, and had induced him to consent to the fraud by the statement that the action would injure no one and would incalculably benefit Haman. In further consideration of the service, Haman was to pay Dodge a large sum of money as soon as he could realize on the patent. When Flesher approached him with the proposition to perjure himself at the trial, he accompanied it with an offer of $5,000 for the service, and, in Dodge’s sick and destitute condition, the offer was too tempting to be refused. Dodge exonerated the plaintiffs attorneys from all complicity, and in commiseration of his wretched condition, Hallidie and the railroad company declined to prosecute. The last heard of Flesher he was in St. Louis, but he left there before he could be arrested, and now his whereabouts are unknown.