Hemphill v. United States‪.‬

By an indictment filed in the court below October 1, 1937 the appellant and two others were charged with using the mails to defraud, 18 U.S.C.A. ? 338, and with conspiracy to commit said crime, 18 U.S.C.A. ? 88. The indictment was drawn in nine counts, the last of which was a conspiracy count; each of the other counts charged the deposit in the mails of certain specific matter. It was alleged, descriptive of the scheme, that the defendants would advertise and solicit students for pretended mechanical and engineering schools conducted by them in Seattle, Washington, namely, the Hemphill Trade Schools, the Diesel Power and Electric School, the International Engineering Institute, the National Air Conditioning Institute, and others, representing these schools as well-established, fully equipped institutions, well qualified to instruct and train young men in diesel mechanics and engineering in electrical refrigeration, air conditioning, etc.; that courses could be very satisfactorily pursued by students at home through correspondence courses and that after students had completed such correspondence courses they would be given practical training in well-equipped shops at such schools. It was also alleged that the defendants represented that students Seattle, Washington; that they would be assisted in finding part-time employment while attending school; that upon completion of their courses and training students would be thoroughly qualified for positions as diesel mechanics and engineers, or in refrigeration and air conditioning; that there was active demand for employees in such fields and successful students would easily find employment in such type of positions and would be assisted by defendants in securing such positions. The indictment, continuing, alleged that defendants knew the alleged schools were not well-established, fully equipped institutions but were without equipment or resources and were not qualified to give students the instruction or training promised them; that the lessons furnished correspondence students were printed pamphlets purchased by defendants at trifling cost; that the said schools had no shops or equipment at all for the promised shop training in diesel engineering, and the equipment for shop training in refrigeration and air conditioning was wholly inadequate and unsatisfactory; that the alleged schools were conducted solely for the purpose of enabling defendants to collect large sums of money from the students in payment for pretended courses of instruction.