These
newspaper articles are taken from The Evening
Telegram. They chronicle Sherman (French) E. Dodge’s charges of ‘Assuming
to be a U.S. Officer’ between his arrest in July 1909 and imprisonment in
December 1909.
July 15, 1909
STEALS WIFE, THEN
BANKRUPTS HUSBAND
Mail Carrier Is
Victim of Two Kinds of Unkind Robbery
Not content
with stealing away a mail carrier’s wife and grafting from the victim $600 in one
swoop, it is alleged F.E. Dodge mourns in the County Jail that he went to the
well too often. Mrs. O.B. Connor, formerly of Shedds, Or., is also extended
opportunity to lament her departure from proper paths, and will have to answer
charges.
Dodge is a
wizard in the acquisitive art, or O.B. Connor is one of the disciples of E.Z.
Mark, according to the statement of Federal officers. Connor is a mail carrier
of the Shedd district, Lane County, where he toiled hard and long to secure his
little home, and was peacefully rearing therein his family. Dodge appeared on
the scene, doubtless while the honest mail carrier was on his long daily
journeys. In due time the affections of the woman were evidently won, for she
is charged with entering into a plot whereby she and her accomplice might
secure from the husband a goodly sum of money. Connor says that he was first apprised
of trouble by the announcement that his wife was getting into trouble over the
taking of a timber claim in eastern Oregon. Next came to his home Dodge,
representing himself as a Government Inspector. The trouble was ominous, and
the alleged Government official said that the only escape would be payment to
him $600, which he would use to square the matter with the powers. Connor said
that he placed a mortgage on his home to secure the sum, and promptly paid it
to Dodge. Soon thereafter his wife said she had to go to Canada, and that part
of the household disappeared, leaving the little children.
Connor says
further that time passed, and with it came more requests for more money from
Dodge, and then more. These became so frequent and persistent that Connor
concluded he could not stand the strain, and sustain his little family of
children, so he imparted his trouble to a friend, and the friend advised that
he place the matter before the United States District Attorney, which was done.
Assistant United States District Attorney Wyatt stated this morning that the
inquiry inaugurated resulted in the discovery that Dodge was living near
Gresham, with Mrs. Connor. Connor swore to the complaint which charged Dodge
with personating a Government official, and Deputy Marshal Griffith found the
accused with the wife of the victim.
Dodge has
been placed under $2,000 bonds, and will be given a hearing tomorrow before
Commissioner Marsh. Mrs. Connor’s case goes before the state officials.
July 16, 1909
DODGE THINKS HE CAN
EXPLAIN EVERYTHING
F.E. Dodge,
charged with stealing O.B. Connor’s wife and relieving him of several hundred
dollars in the same transaction, went before Commissioner Marsh at 2 o’clock
this afternoon for his preliminary hearing. He has maintained a defiant air
since his arrest, and says that all will be explained away when the final
hearing is had. It is asserted that Connor’s first intimation of the
whereabouts of his wife, whom he supposed to be in Canada, was when he went to
Gresham to see Dodge, and either pay him more money or dissuade him from
repeated demands. When Connor arrived in the scene, he was amazed to find his
wife with Dodge. It was then that the patient camel’s back was broken, and the
case hastened into the courts. Dodge has a detective badge, such as are issued
by some of the fraudulent Eastern agencies in company with a certificate. This,
it is claimed, he used to deceive Connor when representing himself to be a
Government inspector.
September 21, 1909
Form the article:
GRAND JURY HANDS IN 8 INDICTMENTS
F.E. Dodge
and Cora R. Conner, indicted jointly for a statutory offense, complaining
witness being O.B. Conner, husband of Mrs. Conner.
November 23, 1909
WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY,
GIVEN TWO-YEAR TERM
Cora E.
Conner, who was charged with having run away to Gresham with F.E. Dodge, after
the latter had obtained more than $500 from her husband by representing that he
was a Government agent, was arraigned before Presiding Judge Bronaugh, of the
Circuit Court, yesterday afternoon and pleaded guilty to the charge against
her. She was given two years in the penitentiary and paroled on good behavior.
The circumstances leading up to Mrs. Connor’s arrest began with her filing on
Government land. Later Dodge called on Mr. Conner and claimed Mrs. Conner had
perjured herself in filing for the land and by this means he induced Conner to
pay his about $500. Dodge subsequently became very friendly with Mrs. Conner
and the two left for Gresham, where it is said that Conner found them living
together. He thereupon had his wife arrested. Dodge was also arrested on the
charge of having falsely represented a Government officer for the purpose of
obtaining money under false pretenses. He is now awaiting trial in the Federal
Court.
December 13, 1909
DODGE PASSED HIMSELF
OFF AS AN OFFICER
F.E. Dodge
is being tried before Judge Wolverton, of the Federal District Court, today on
the charge of personating a Federal officer, and in that guise of getting $700
in money from a rural mail carrier of the4 Shedds district, named Orville B.
Conner. Dodge’s conduct, according to the evidence gathered by the officers,
evinces great quantities of that element in human affairs known as nerve. He is
accused of getting the money from a poor man, in cold-blooded deception, and
then taking the man’s wife away, as a climax of the raid, the woman going
willingly, however.
Mrs. Conner
had a timber location. Some difficulty had been experienced in perfecting the
title. About this time Dodge, a man of smooth manners, appeared on the scene,
and is said to have developed a strong influence over the woman. They are
charged with concocting a scheme to have Dodge meet the husband as an Interior
Department official, and getting a large sum of money to have the trouble over
title to the timber claim squelched by the higher officials. Conner fell to the
plot, dug up $600 or $700, in all, after several importunities, and then agreed
to let his wife go on a visit to Canada. As more demands kept coming for money
to get the case adjusted, he became suspicious and went to Gresham, whence
Dodge was sending in his requests for more hush funds. To Conner’s surprise, he
is said to have found his wife there, living with Dodge, instead of being on a
visit to Canada. Then trouble broke loose. Dodge’s hearing today before a jury
is the logical development.
December 14, 1909
FEDERAL JURY FINDS
DODGE GUILTY QUICKLY
F.E. Dodge
was convicted promptly this morning before the Federal Court on three of the
indictments returned against him for personating a Federal officer and
obtaining money by fraudulent pretenses. Judge Wolverton will sentence him
Thursday morning. Dodge is being prosecuted by O.B. Connor, of Shedds, Or., for
obtaining about $600 of money, and also breaking up his home. The jurymen did
not require much time to deliberate then the case was turned over to then by
Deputy United States District Attorney Wyatt, for the Government, and Attorney
Seneca Fouts, for the defense. They found that the accused had personated an
officer in illegal manner and had obtained the money.
December 16, 1909
Dodge Goes to Prison
F.E. Dodge
was sentenced to 18 months in the penitentiary this morning for personating a
Federal officer, and getting by fraud from O.B. Connor, of Shedds, Or., the sum
of $600. Dodge had been living with Mrs. Connor, and to break the back of
patience entirely, concocted the scheme of getting Connor to pay him and his
errant wife a good sum of money. Reconciliation on the part of the family has
been effected, while the traducer will go to McNeil Island, to labor under
soldier guards, and to ponder the sin of trying to wreck a family.
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