Conspiracy of Ira Hughs

Ira Hughs, the brother of Valerius Hughs Mayor of Philadelphia, loved to gamble. Both with cards and with stocks. While working as a manager at Gabestone Foundry, he had enough money to satisfy his habit. Even after he retired and the economy took a downturn in 1883 he wasn't too worried about going broke. However in 1890 several banks closed and the stock market crashed. With gambling debts starting to rise and the majority of his wealth gone, Ira turned to his family for help. His brother however refused to help. For years he had warned Ira about the amount of gambling he did. This had often caused fights between the two. Unable to get help from family, Ira turned to his friends.
Talfen Pashar was a close friend and creditor to Ira. Talfen had just been hired by the Federal Government to manage the newly opened Philadelphia Social Security Office. Talfen had assumed that he would be making the final decisions on cases in his office. He figured if Ira filed for the new disability funds, he could approve Ira's application and get paid with government money. Ira liking the idea of free money agreed and filled out an application. Neither men had actually read the new disability security law and were unaware Ira would need medical records to get approved. When this was discovered they recruited Dr. Nali into the conspiracy to provide the medical records. The conspirators were fairly confident their plan would succeed. Talfen however was unable to find Ira's application before it was denied. When this happened it was decided to hire Mr. Lewis (an attorney at Menkel Law) who owed money to Ira. Mr. Lewis would take Ira's case to court and try and get it approved. Everett Well who worked at Menkel Law was assigned as the paralegal for the case.