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Historic Pelham Blog Archive
September 3, 2007
350TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
BOOK: "THOMAS PELL
AND THE LEGEND OF THE PELL TREATY OAK" -- $11.95 (PROCEEDS AFTER
PRINTING COSTS WILL GO TO
BARTOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUM).
CLICK HERE TO BROWSE BEFORE YOU BUY!
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Monday, September 3, 2007
A Pelham Lawyer Charged with Defrauding the Railroad in 1871
In 1871, a well-respected attorney who lived in Pelham was arrested and
charged with fraud under a very odd set of circumstances. The lawyer,
William Stewart McClellan, was charged with falsely claiming to be the
Town of Pelham's Tax Collector and presenting false "tax bills" to the New
Haven Railroad over a six-year period, thereby defrauding the company out
of about $5,000. An account of his arrest and a description of the scheme
appeared in the January 29, 1871 issue of the New York Times. The
account is transcribed below, followed by a citation to its source.
"WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
WM. STEWART McCLELLAN, a lawyer residing at Pelham, and doing business at
Mount Vernon, was arrested yesterday in civil suit, on complaint of the
New-York and New-Haven Railroad Company, on an order issued by JUSTICE
TAPPEN, of the Supreme Court. The accused is charged with having defrauded
the Company during the last six years out of nearly $5,000, by
representing himself to the Superintendent of the Railroad as the
Collector of the State, county, town and school taxes for Pelham. Each
year he presented to the Company what purported to be correct tax-bills
against the Company's property in that town, all of which bills were in
excess of the true amount by several hundred dollars. The accused was
required to give bonds to await the result of the suit. It is understood
that criminal proceedings will be instituted against him."
Source: Westchester County, N.Y. Times, Jan. 29, 1871, p. 8, col.
5.
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posted by Blake A. Bell @
4:52 AM
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Posting for September 3, 2007.
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