Political Fraud and the Russian Colony
A local politician faces federal perjury charges over citizenship papers for Russian immigrants in the wake of a bitter municipal election.
Adam Schmidt, a Walla Walla politician, was indicted by the federal grand jury yesterday on 10 counts, charging him with perjury in connection with securing naturalization papers for members of the Russian colony at Walla Walla. The indictment is the outgrowth of the bitter municipal election at Walla Walla last July, when factions headed by ex-Governor Miles C. Moore and Senator Levi Ankeny struggled for mastery. Schmidt, who was an Ankeny worker, is accused of swearing falsely that 15 Russians had lived in the United States the required length of time to qualify as citizens when, it is alleged, they had not. Senator Ankeny and Asa Legrow have acted as his bondsmen. The case will likely be moved to Walla Walla to save witness fees and mileage. The names of the Russians involved are Henry Humberg, Jacob Starkel, Henry Schwartzhop, Henry Schiffner, Conrad Schiffner, Henry Schierman, Conrad Riell, Jacob Gradwahl, Henry Benzel, and Jacob Lienker.
“The indictment is the outgrowth of the bitter municipal election at Walla Walla last July, when the factions headed by ex-Governor Miles C. Moore and Senator Levi Ankeny... struggled so hard for the mastery.”
This case highlights how immigration status was weaponized in local political power struggles at the turn of the century, a theme that remains volatile in contemporary political discourse. The involvement of high-ranking state officials like Senator Ankeny in securing the bail of a political operative underscores the era's patronage-heavy style of governance.
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