N.B. This is Part 3 of a 5-part series on H. Ely Goldsmith. Previous blog post links are at the bottom of this post.
Introduction
In the previous installment of this series, we witnessed Ely slide from a legitimate, presumably successful accountant to a sketchy, unqualified immigration consultant. Ely also put the American justice system through its paces, bringing various (sometimes strange) cases before the state and federal court systems. He was very rarely successful and yet he continued to push against what he obviously perceived as injustices, mostly against his ability to earn money. That seems to be a continuous thread throughout the 1920s. Ely had found his goose that laid golden eggs… people desperate to immigrate to the USA. He promised to “help” them… for a fee of course.
As the 1920s began to wane, Ely started to take some short cuts which finally landed him in serious hot water. He had been helping someone detained at Ellis Island and needed an attorney’s signature. He had worked with DC attorney Harold Van Riper before and simply signed the documents with Van Riper’s name. That was a mistake. It would mark the beginning of a decade of mistakes for Ely, ones that that would have significant consequences for him and his family.
Three Months in the Workhouse
On 13 April, 1928, Ely was in the news again. He had been caught the previous November in a trap set by the Bar Association. His crime? He was accused of practicing law without a license.
Bogus Lawyer Jailed
H. Ely Goldsmith Sentenced to Workhouse for Three Months
A sentence of three months in the workhouse was imposed yesterday in Special Session, on H. Ely Goldsmith, 47 years old, a certified public accountant, of 545 West End Avenue, on his conviction by Justices Kelly, Caldwell and Salmon on practicing law without a license.
Goldsmith, who had previously posed as an authority on immigration law, was arrested in his office at 105 West Fortieth Street on Nov. 12 last through a trap set by representatives of the Bar Association when he accepted a $5 fee for drawing up a will. He contended that he did not violate the law, as banks and trust companies, he said, do similar work without being prosecuted. Probation Officer Connors said that Goldsmith earned about $10,000 a year. (14 April 1928 – The New York Times)
This story, however, has nothing to do with the Ellis Island case and forging Harry Van Riper’s signature. What became of that? We’re not sure, but it could only have compounded the problem for Ely. Whether Ely actually served his sentence in the workhouse is not clear. Knowing Ely, he would have naturally appealed his sentence through the layers of courts. But this was his first serious conviction, his first “jail” sentence. Would it deter him? Not at all.
Helping Temporary Workers
In August 1928, Ely was before the courts again, this time as an advocate for temporary workers. As we learned in the last post, Ely had tried to help workers who were happy to live in Canada but who wanted to commuted daily to the US (usually Detroit) for work. Probably as a consequence of the tightened immigration laws brought into force in 1924, aliens commuting to the United States for work were no longer classified as temporary visitors. They needed to actually obtain an immigration visa, and that was not an easy thing to do. But Ely clearly thought he could help these workers… or at least use them as guinea pigs to test the mettle of the US border agents and their knowledge of US immigration law.
TWENTY ALIENS ARE SENT BACK
DETROIT – Aug 1–The first attempt in this immigration district to nullify an immigration order classifying all aliens commuting to the United States for work, as immigrants rather than temporary visitors and requiring them to obtain immigration visas was made today.
Twenty aliens recruited by H. Ely Goldsmith of Buffalo, N.Y. [he apparently had offices there], who terms himself an immigration expert, attempted to enter the United States from Canada on the Windsor ferry. They were taken before a special board of inquiry. Goldsmith attempted to obtain a writ of habeus corpus for their release, but it was denied in federal court. The aliens were ordered returned to Canada. (New Castle News, PA)
Ely had failed in this endeavour, but it wouldn’t stop him. In early October, Ely appears in the case file cards of the immigration and naturalization department. A memo from their office in Montreal to their office in Detroit noted that Ely intended to advise aliens being transported to Montreal for deportation to leave the train in Windsor and institute habeas corpus proceedings. In response to this information, the US immigration authorities had decided to make temporary arrangements to deport aliens from New York on ships instead. The amount of trouble that the immigration authorities went to… all because of Ely Goldsmith. I can only imagine how they must have gritted their teeth every time his name came across their desk.
Less than a month later, on 31 October, Ely is in the news again, this time in the Windsor Star, a Canadian newspaper:
H. Ely Goldsmith is Freed by Court
Unlicensed Employment Agency Charges Dismissed
Lack of evidence prompted Magistrate D.M. Brodie in police court today to dismiss two charges of operating an employment agency without a license against H. Ely Goldsmith of 57 Pitt Street West.
John Papiernik of Remington Park, witness in one of the two cases, and the only one in which testimony was taken, told of a conversation with Goldsmith in which the latter agreed to assist him “across the line” in consideration of his paying Goldsmith $25 down and a further $75 when he got work. He produced a slip of paper, dignified by verbal use of the word “contract” which he said Goldsmith had given him. It proved to be a receipt for the payment of $25 and a promise to pay $75 when he was at work in the United States. There was nothing in the document to suggest that Goldsmith promised him a job or would undertake to get him one.
Questioned by Magistrate Brodie as to how he operated to collect the outstanding amounts in such cases, Goldsmith said he had a number of lawyers in Detroit whom he retained for that purpose and who acted for him when necessary.
Goldsmith who failed to appear when the cases were called was haled into court on a bench warrant issued by the magistrate. (31 October 1928 – Windsor Star)
Ely must have been ebullient to win this particular case, although his failure to appear voluntarily does smack of a contemptuous regard for the dignity of the courts.
Another Win for the Little Guy
The following month, in November, 1928, Ely would extend his winning streak when his conviction for illegally practicing law (writing wills for $5) was set aside. As we can see, Ely appealed the original sentence; it just took a while for the process to wend its way through the courts.
H.E. Goldsmith Goes Free
Sentence for Illegally Practicing Law is Set Aside
Special to the New York Times
Albany, Nov. 20.–H. Ely Goldsmith, an accountant of New York City, won a victory in the Court of Appeals today when it dismissed the judgments of the Appellate Division, First Department, and the Court of Special Sessions, which had sentenced him for illegally practicing law.
The court found there was no evidence that Goldsmith had held himself out to the public as entitled to practice law within the meaning of Section 270 of the penal code. Judge John F. O’Brien did not sit in the case. The court wrote no opinion.
Goldsmith was visited on Nov. 12, 1927, by an investigator for the New York County Lawyer’s Association, at whose request he drew up a will. The investigator paid him $5.
In the Court of Special Sessions Goldsmith was sentenced to three months in the Workhouse and the Appellate Division affirmed the judgment.
Before the Court of Appeals Horace G. Marks, Goldsmith’s counsel, contended that the sentence was excessive, and if it was an illegal act, it had harmed no one, in which case a suspended sentence would have been sufficient punishment. (21 November, 1928 – The New York Times)
The article doesn’t note if Ely actually served some days (weeks) in the workhouse. He had been convicted by the courts and had the sentence confirmed by the Appellate Division. But did that mean he was out on bail while his appeal was being heard? We’re not sure. Still, it should have given Ely pause to reconsider his actions. Or at least, one would think so. It did not. Ely continued to “help” desperate aliens enter the USA, legally or not. The consequences of his actions eventually caught up with him. We hear nothing from Ely for several months, until late June 1929 when he explodes back onto the sheets of the New York newspapers.
Sentenced to the Federal Penitentiary
Ely had been working on behalf of a Polish immigrant, Wolfgang Galiks, who resided in Argentina. Wolfgang, like so many others, wanted to immigrate to the United States. He was engaged to be married and Ely told Wolfgang’s father and fiancé, both of whom were in the US, that he could expedite Wolfgang’s entry into the US, for a fee of course. All it needed was some forged letters from a defunct company (one of Ely’s former accounting clients) and… easy peasy. Except it wasn’t. The immigration authorities thought Wolfgang’s story and/or papers were suspicious and eventually he spilled the beans. The immigration officers likely rolled their eyes when they heard that Ely was involved in the scheme.
Goldsmith in for 2 Years in Atlanta
H. Ely Goldsmith, once convicted for practicing law without license, and now sentenced to two years for preying upon aliens and deceiving the United States Government, can no longer play the role of “benefactor” to American-bound aliens and “immigration consultant”. He was also fined $1000 for the latest offense [about $18,000 in USD today].
Judge Francis G. Caffey in Federal Court decided that Goldsmith, who is said to have enabled hundreds of aliens to enter the country, often to the consternation of the Department of State, must go to the Federal Penitentiary, Atlanta.
Robert E. Manley, chief assistant United States Attorney, charged that in January, 1928, Goldsmith had mailed a letter to the American Consul in Buenos Ayres [sic] urging that Wolf Galiks, a Pole living in Argentina, be permitted to enter the United States on a business conference as a representative of Consolidated Petroleum Corporation.
The corporation, according to Mr. Manley, was defunct at the time, and the name, “W.S. Harper, treasurer,” had been forged on the firm’s letterhead. Inclosed [sic] in the letter was a check for $200 to pay Galiks expenses to the United States. The money, it was said, had been supplied by Miss Edith Feldman, Galik’s fiancé, and Goldsmith was to have received a large fee if the couple were reunited in Philadelphia.
Galiks, who had been permitted to enter the United States under a temporary vice following Goldsmith’s arrest, testified against him. One of the jurors was so touched by the romance that he expressed the hope that Galiks could marry Miss Feldman and stay in this country.
In pronouncing sentence Judge Caffey described Goldsmith as a “public menace” and said that his age of forty-eight years was the only thing that saved him from a severe penalty. (26 June 1929 – New York Journal)
Given that Ely had “helped” many, many aliens, we’re not sure what it was about this particular case that finally gave the immigration authorities the ammunition they needed to shut him down. Perhaps it was the fact that Galiks was willing to testify against Ely? Whatever the circumstances, the authorities had finally secured a serious conviction against our clever little fellow. Ely was going to the federal penitentiary. We should take note of the justice who presided over Ely’s case. Francis Gordon Caffey was a newly minted federal justice with a seat at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. It is possible that Ely’s case was one of the first over which Caffey presided. Perhaps that is why Ely, the “public menace”, would stick so firmly in Caffey’s memory.
As an aside, for those who, like that juror, are hoping for a happy ending… Galiks and Feldman were married on 20 July 1929 in Farmingdale NJ, but Galiks then had to return to Argentina. He did make it back and became a naturalized US citizen in 1931. He was a grocer later in life and died in 1962. He was one of the lucky ones.
A Convicted Felon in the Federal Pen
Ely’s immigration scheme with Galiks does not seem that dissimilar from modern immigration fraudsters. Simply forge documents that indicate the person has a legitimate reason to come to the country (e.g. job, conference, studies) and then provide the person with a “loan” so that they appear financially well-off with sufficient funds to support themselves. Nothing much has changed over the decades. In the case of Ely, he was caught and sentenced to two years at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. But this is Ely we are talking about. He was slippery as a snake and had managed to wiggle and petition his way out of other convictions. Did he manage that with this sentence?
On 5 May, 1930, Ely’s appeal was heard by the Circuit Court of Appeals (Second Circuit). The court reviewed the facts of the case and we learn a bit more about the scheme that Ely had cooked up. Galiks father, Solomon, who lived in the US, had sought to secure entry for his son. He had been told to get in touch with Ely who could facilitate this. Ely had met with Galiks’ father and Edith (a naturalized US citizen).
Galiks was apparently working for a petroleum company in Argentina and therefore Ely forged an offer of employment letter from Consolidated Petroleum, with a proposed wage of $50/week. Galiks was to become their rep in Argentina and was coming to the US for three months to familiarize himself with the business. During the trial, it came out that: (a) the company had ceased operations in 1927, (b) the treasurer who signed the letter never existed, and (c) the company had never operated in Argentina. Ely had apparently done accounting work for the company in 1925/1926 and had managed to pilfer some company letterhead during that time.
Ely told Edith and Solomon that he could secure Galiks’ entry for a temporary visit, during which time, Edith and Galiks could marry. This would then “automatically give Galiks permission to stay”. All he would need to do was leave the US temporarily and then return and he would be permitted entry as the spouse of a US citizen.
At the appeal, Ely’s lawyer argued that errors had been made in the original trial and questioned using the letter from Consolidated Petroleum as evidence. The Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the original verdict. Ely would remain in prison. But that didn’t mean that he had exhausted all legal avenues. He might not have been an attorney, but he did seem to known his legal rights, and the options open to him.
In June 1930, Ely applied to the Supreme Court for certiorari (a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency). Essentially he had applied to have his sentence over-turned. He was arguing that until that review had taken place, he was legally entitled to bail. In October 1930, the justices rejected his appeal for certiorari and another one for mandamus. Ely would stay behind bars.
Our clever little fellow was quite adept at tying up the courts, but ultimately all of his appeals fell upon deaf ears. Justice Caffey’s statement that Ely was a “public menace” would follow him around.
On 5 December, 1930, the Circuit Court of Appeals (Fifth Circuit) heard an appeal from Ely. According to the court records, after he had served one third of his sentence (8 months), he had applied to the Board of Parole for parole, as was his right under law. The parole board had “arbitrarily” denied his appeal, according to Ely. He was seeking a writ of habeas corpus against the warden of the prison (essentially claiming that he was now being unlawfully imprisoned and that his sentence was void). The justices said that habeas corpus could not be applied in the situation.
While Ely was furiously writing up legal briefs in prison, the case file notes from the immigration and naturalization department contains an intriguing note from the Montreal office. One Robert Bayard Atkinson had been convicted for stealing and forging postal money orders. He had received a sentence of five years. His name had been linked with Ely, Harold Van Riper and others. Harold Van Riper keeps turning up in relation to Ely, rather like a bad penny. We will learn more about him in due course.
Freedom is Short-Lived
Finally, on 12 August, 1931, Ely was released from the federal pen in Atlanta. Was his wife there to pick him up? Had his wife and daughter visited him while he was incarcerated? It couldn’t have been easy on them. The stock market crash had taken place and the Great Depression was in full swing. Ely must have heaved a sigh of relief as he heard the prison gates clang shut behind him. Although, had he stayed in prison for a few more months, he would soon have been sharing meals and rubbing shoulders with the notorious Al Capone who was sent to Atlanta in May 1932. What did Ely do after his release from prison? Did he run into the open arms of his wife and turn over a new leaf? Did he seek to follow the straight and narrow? Alas, no. We have an article from the NYT dated 13 August, 1931, which tells a different tale:
GOLDSMITH OUT, IN AGAIN
Attorney is Rearrested at Atlanta on Mail Fraud Charge
ATLANTA, Aug 12 (AP).–H. Ely Goldsmith, a New York attorney, was rearrested by Federal officers today when he left Atlanta Penitentiary after finishing a two-year sentence for forging public records.
The new charge was use of the mails to defraud. Bond was set at $2,500.
———
The rearrest of H. Ely Goldsmith was made at the request of Jacob J. Rosenblum, Assistant United States Attorney, who obtained his indictment last May for alleged mail fraud. Mr. Rosenblum plans to place Goldsmith and six co-defendants on trial in September.
The indictment charges that Goldsmith, Louis Pirelli, Felix H. Randis, Diago Viale and, Joseph, Sesto and Luigi Cappa took in some $500,000 worth of stock of the Franklin Plan Corporation [equivalent to over $9,000,000 USD today], and that, among other misrepresentations, they said that Senator Borah of Idaho had obtained a charter for a national bank which the defendants were to operate. The corporation was organized in 1927 to do a money lending business. (The New York Times – 13 August, 1931)
Ely’s re-arrest was unlikely to have been a surprise for him. As noted in the above article, the seven schemers were indicted on 29 May, 1931 by a Federal grand jury according to a 31 May article in the NYT. They did indeed sell $500,000 worth of stock of the Franklin Plan Corporation with offices at 233-239 West 42 Street (which is suspiciously close to Ely’s own offices). It isn’t clear what happened to Ely with these new charges. Was Ely just sent back into the federal pen after a brief period of freedom? Was he allowed out on bail? We aren’t sure.
What we do know is that during the 4 week trial for the Franklin Plan fraudsters, the charges against Ely were dropped and he testified for the prosecution. Did he cut a deal? Maybe not. The 15 October edition of the NYT times carried an article about the case which noted:
Mr. Rosenblum [Asst US Attorney] nolle-prossed [abandon or dismiss (a suit) by issuing a nolle prosequi] the indictment as it applied to H. Ely Goldsmith, former Controller of the Franklin Plan Corporation, saying he believed Goldsmith had nothing to do with the corporation’s sale of stock. Goldsmith then testified for the government. (The New York Times – 15 October, 1931)
The Franklin Plan fraudsters were convicted in early November and likely sent to prison for their role. As for Ely, he had dodged a bullet and was a free man. At least for a while.
A Wedding and a Scam
If we step back, we have to admit that Ely’s luck had long since run out. He was a convicted felon who had served time in the federal penitentiary. His reputation as a solid and honest accountant was in tatters. He was persona non grata with the immigration authorities. They just had to see his name on a document and alarm bells would wring, eliciting a much more thorough and detailed examination of whomever might be carrying the incriminating document. In fact, on 16 March, 1932, he had been disbarred from the privilege of representing clients before immigration board hearings. A later news article notes that it was around this time that he lost his CPA designation, which would have been a serious blow to his business. His career options were slowly shrinking. Accounting and income tax work were out of the question. Immigration work was a dangerous route. One would hope that after his release from the pen, he decided to turn over a new leaf. And, at first, we would be forgiven for believing this to be the case.
On 19 September, 1932, Ely experienced a perfectly normal family event. He and his wife celebrated their daughter’s marriage to Harold Furmansky, a fairly well-known musician who performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Harold played the viola and apparently performed in orchestras that accompanied Jazz singer Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Aretha Franklin, Perry Como and even Frank Sinatra! Amy Margaret Goldsmith was herself a reputable soprano who appeared in several newspaper concert announcements. Perhaps the engaged couple had waited to tie the knot until Ely was out of prison. For all of his financial and legal troubles, Ely could have been a jovial and caring Papa to his daughter.
(From Ancestry)
Within a few short months, Harold and Amy announced that they were expecting their first grandchild! Ely was going to be a grandfather! But… and there is always a “but” with Ely… in the nine months it took for Amy and Harold’s first child, Olga, to be born, Ely would be in trouble again. His first grandchild would be born while he was in prison.
As we know from earlier posts, Ely was not a huge fan of Prohibition. He was a man who liked a good beer. He must have leapt in jubilation when the 7 April, 1933, edition of New York Times headlines read: “Beer Flows in 19 States at Midnight as City Awaits Legal Brew Today”! Thirteen long years of Prohibition was over and the taps were about to open! Of course, businesses that wanted to sell the beer needed to comply with the new alcohol sales laws. This, of course, gave Ely an idea. On 30 May, 1933, the New York Times ran this article:
BEER LICENSE RACKET BARED BY MULRONEY
Ex-convict Seized on Charge of Impersonating Federal Officer–Office Raided
Federal agents arrested Herman Eli Goldsmith, 52 years old, self-styled “consultant in Federal and State government procedure,” yesterday afternoon on a charge of impersonating a government officer.
Goldsmith, who served a term in the the workhouse in 1928 for practicing law without a license, and was sent to the Atlanta Penitentiary in 1929 for smuggling aliens into the United States, is alleged to have circularized restaurants offering to obtain beer licenses for them. He also is said to have had ten men soliciting license-getting jobs.
A few days ago, one of Goldsmith’s cards was called to the attention of Chairman Mulroney of the State Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, who turned it over to Department of Justice agents. Inspector John Manning of the department, accompanied by city detectives, went to 507 Fifth Avenue, where Goldsmith had rented office space, yesterday. Goldsmith was not in. A restaurant proprietor who described himself as August Boka of 1120 Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint, was there, however, and said he had come to get Goldsmith to obtain a license for him. Besides the usual State charge of $200 for his license, Boka confided, he expected to pay Goldsmith $43.50 for a bond, $5 for a revenue stamp, and $10 for personal services.
Learning that Goldsmith probably was at his home at 203 West Seventy-fourth Street, Manning and the detectives went to that address. [Another article notes that he was arrested at a midtown hotel suggesting that he was living in a residential hotel. With his wife? We don’t know.]
There, it is alleged, Manning represented himself as Boka, informed Goldsmith that he had brought the money for a license, and Goldsmith volunteered to obtain it. He was seized and taken to his office where, Manning said, various beer license applications were found, together with internal revenue receipts bearing the name of Charles W. Anderson, Collector for the Third District. The name had been written in on a typewriter.
(The New York Times – 30 May 1933)
Ely was held on $4000 bail (about $100,000 USD today) after being charged with posing as a Federal officer. According to the US Attorney at his hearing on 1 June, 1933, Ely had collected $7.50 each (about $200 USD today) from 500 beer retailers ($5 for a Federal license and $2.50 for his own services). He had collected $3750 over the course of the swindle (the equivalent of $90,000 USD today).
(From Beverage Dynamics site)
We don’t know if Ely was granted bail or if he was held in custody after the raid on his offices. I haven’t been able to find a newspaper article about his sentencing, but I did, of course, find a record of his appeal of his conviction! Ely was nothing if not a man who loved to tie up the legal system. The Circuit Court of Appeals (Second Circuit) decided Ely’s appeal on 18 December 1933. In reviewing the case, they noted that Ely had been sentenced to imprisonment in the Lewisburg Penitentiary for 1 year and a day with the six sentences to run concurrently. He was also fined $1000. In response to Ely’s various arguments to appeal his verdict, the court noted: “The contention is utterly without merit” and “…that the appellant was properly charged… is too plain for argument”. Needless to say, his appeal was denied.
He then appealed to the Supreme Court which, on 12 March, 1934, also denied his appeal. Ely would remain in jail for the duration of his sentence, and the birth of his first grandchild.
Conclusion
I really don’t know what to say about Ely. Did he just move in fraudulent circles and get caught up in schemes and deals, like the Franklin Plan Corporation? Or did he just get lucky with that one? Or was he actually at the heart of these schemes, a spider spinning a web of deceit? Did he simply not know what was legal and what was not? Or did he simply not care? Did he think he would escape justice and simply get away with it? Had he perhaps heard the words, “Ely, you are such a clever little fellow!”, too many times and actually believed that he was more clever than the authorities? So many questions and not many answers.
Within the space of five years, Ely had been sent to the federal penitentiary twice. Would he learn his lesson? Would he actually find a legal line of work and stick with it? Only time will tell.
H.Ely Goldsmith Blog Series
Part 1 can be accessed here – 3 October, 2024
Part 2 can be accessed here – 10 October, 2024
Part 3 can be accessed here – 17 October, 2024
Part 4 can be accessed here – 24 October, 2024 (link not live until then)
Part 5 can be accessed here – 31 October, 2024 (link not live until then)
References
New York Times – various articles
NewspaperArchives site – various articles
Justia Case – 1930 10 31 – Goldsmith v. Aderholt, 44 F.2d 166
Case Text – 1930 05 05 – Goldsmith v. United States, 42 F.2d 133
CaseText – 1933 12 18 – United States v. Goldsmith, 68 F.2d 5
The Historical Society of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey – 1929 06 26 article about Ely’s imprisonment – (search for Goldsmith on the page that loads)
NYC – Vital Records Scanned – https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search
Swann Galleries – auction of Atlanta Federal Penitentiary photo album
Ancestry – genealogical records
Modern Immigration Fraud stories – 2024 09 19 – CBC News – Smugglers using TikTok to drum up business
Modern Immigration Fraud stories – 2020 11 26 – Canadian Border Services dismantle immigration fraud scheme