Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 304, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1917 — DWIGGINS GETS THREE YEARS [ARTICLE]

DWIGGINS GETS THREE YEARS

FORMER RENSSELAER BOY SENTENCED TO ATLANTA PRISON. Elmer Dwiggins, arrested some time ago on a charge of using the mails to defraud investors in Liberty Loan bonds, pleaded guilty when arraigned* in New York, Friday Dwiggins was sentenced to three years in the Federal prison at Atlanta, Ga. / In asking for the imposition of severe punishment for Dwiggins, who was a New York agent for the Bankers’ Life Insurance Company of Des Moines, la. Assistant District Attorney Mathews told Federal Judge Hand that Dwiggins’ crime had bordered on a treason for the reason that he had swindled nearly 7,000 poor persons who had subscribed on partial payment for the Liberty bonds and that the fraids tended to interfere with th# successful prosecution of the war. Those who invested through Dwiggins, lost about $105,000. Judge Hand declared in imposing the sentence that it was necessary to warn others handling Liberty Loan bonds that they must be strictly honest. In imposing the sentence the Judge stated that he was incline to be a little lenient with the prisoner, because the latter had become penitent.