The Reward Scheme That Ate Itself: How Two Men Entrapped Voters and Lost Everything

Judge Osborn was busy nearly all day yesterday with the case of T. D. Thomas vs. J. H. Woolery, ex-sheriff, in the suit involving a $50 reward alleged to be due for the convictions of Frank Payne, J. W. Kelly, Frank Miller and William Foster, who voted illegally at the late school election. The case was given to the jury at 5:15, and a verdict rendered for defendant five minutes later.

The action was similar to the unsuccessful suits brought a few weeks ago by O. W. Spriggs, but was varied yesterday by the testimony of Spriggs, who went on the stand against Thomas. The two, according to the story of Payne and his companions, acted conjointly and conspired to entrap the men in order to secure the reward. The testimony was to the effect that Thomas and Spriggs made frequent visits to the little shack where the men lived to the north of Grace hospital, and repeatedly offered them advice as to the election. The men insisted that they had not been in the city long enough to vote, but were told, according to the witnesses, that women and children and everybody would vote; so they came down election day and voted.

Afterward Miller was met on Pike street by the conspirators and asked if he had voted, and when he said he had, Thomas rang for the patrol wagon.

'What does all this mean?' demanded Miller.

'Oh, we're simply a-goin' to give you a boarding place for the winter,' Thomas replied.

When it came to taking steps for the reward, after one of the four men had stood trial and had been convicted and the others thereupon had pleaded guilty, numerous demands were made on the sheriff. Spriggs made a demand for the money, and Spriggs and Thomas made a joint demand, and Thomas made a demand for half of it. Thomas finally went to Woolery and conveyed the information that he thought Spriggs was trying to 'job' him out of the whole of it. It has turned out that neither man has received the money, and now they are not on speaking terms, and Spriggs was anxious that Thomas be 'done up.'

A humorous feature of the testimony yesterday was to the effect that while the men were solicited to vote for Dr. Churchill, they went directly against him at the polls and voted the Populist ticket.

The case was in the hands of the following jurors: J. G. Nolop, H. W. Gordon, J. J. Hays, James Colvin, W. Spencer, A. R. Dewall, Jr., K. Bradley, H. J. Hunt, F. P. Clingan, W. J. Shinn, C. E. Carpenter and J. F. Byrnes. A single ballot was sufficient to determine the merits of Thomas' claim, though he worked hard to secure a conviction.