Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1830-06-28
The Hon. ASnHtw STEVENSON,
Speaker Of Wt House Ut isapf a,siiYss.
treasury DLPARrugNr.
| have the honor To be.
Very respectfully, SIR,
Your obedisnt servant,

TREASURY DLPARrnENr.
Fourth AUDITORS Office, 10Th May. 1880. !
Sr-I have now the honor to submit 10 yor
all the intormauon which appears 10 be rcgur
al from this oAice. in reply To 81 much OF III,
resolution ofihe House oi Representatives. l.,
YOU referred 10 me, as relates to tho acoonnls
OF John b. Undertake aud lieutenant Rober
/ B Randolph, late Parser and acting Purser o.
! the ttigaie Con. titntnn.
To save time, have taken the liberty 10 copy
IA 20 ton OF report already made 10 you on
this subject, dated "a February, 1880, winch
Is as follows VIZ F.:
John B TImberlake commenced duties
a. Pursei II the frIgaie Con- luuflbn on the
10Th June 1924, and died al fuit althon ON the
ID April, ISIS.
Lieutenant Robert b, Randolph succeeded
him as AGING Parser. The Sup arrived a,
Boston onthr lstJuiy. 1928, add The crew
were pad af on The l6lh August
On the 28lh September, 1875 Lieutenant
| Randolph delivered to Tobias Watkins. th.n
ourth Aadllor the books, papers. aud ae.
counts of Nj. IimbrIlnKp, together with hi,
own. An eAamina ION of Mr.. Iimherlake' 3 pa-
! pers took place, AMI, As was then said, all the
private letters and pppers were delivered 10
/ MIS-. Ilmbeflake. ga the 2dh October ensu-
Ing, Lleui. kdndoiphs account acting Pur.
SCI, was closed aud reported, while the pre.
yion4 account Of Nj, lm3eflakc remained un-
touched,
| catered this Office March %, 1929. Mr..
Itmberla1e's accounts were Ia the care of Mi
! Ezekiel hacdaniel then al the heed Of the
Pnrsei S Department, by whom tGev were CIV
En- To Mr.. James ii, Handy, Tor settlement. Mr..
Handy progressed with the examination of the
| /. -. T..
condition. aud submitted to me few ol the
vouchers for nv decision.
Ga he ooh July, lelt the city for the pur-
pose OF Bringing my fanny from kentucky
Mr.. Thomas ii GlIiss. chief clerk, was ap.
pointed Ivy the President, 10 act as Fourth
Auditor ia m ahsence. GA the 18th August,
he reported slr IuHberiahe's account, EXHIBIT
ing against Inn a balance Of $l7 o3.--
+ ding ulal 'me Appropriate creJhs had been
omIli d, on the liza September, he again
reported tue account, exhibiting against Mr
Ilmberlake, balance ut 3 l4,3i3 ~.
On the In October Icfumri my duties as
Fourth Auditor. few days afterwards, you
called At my olire, and euqaired whether there
we're among MIR. ImDtrlakes papers, lctlers
flo" auy persons, shown thai the former had
made 10 the latter lemuanccs OF monty from
the Medilrrranean enqnlted Of Mr.. Handy,
AID ne put INTO my hand fiji ui private letters
which ne sdnl lie had found among Mr.. lm
berlake ; papers, among which were IhIre tom
Major Eaton. After perusing them, made en-
qnlrv OF MAJ. Eaton, relatSe toihe Transaction 10
which lhey referred. He gave me mll dctaIl
read an article. dated, hlnk, IN 1928, sta
tug the purposes for winch he had become the
purchaser of the property alluded 10, showed
ne book IN winch Mr., IImberlake had char.
I, ,,ft
given a credH, all, believe. IN has own baud
and SAID he should be ready to pay over the
balance TO the Government when il should be
ascrrtalned ,hat AIr. llmberlake was IN truth
a public debtor, whlcI he DOUBTED Al my re-
quest, Major Eaton ua. reduced 10 writing the
statement made IL me winch is herewith sub
muted, marked 4. y. also submit 50 much
of ms private letters TO Mr., Undertake, found
IN TINS ollice, (navng oblaIned his conseni,) as
re lates To hi pecunilry transactions with that
marked &. ID. L. these, with
copy oia letter 10 the secretary oil the Navy
marked t, constitute, believe, all the lniog-
nation possessed by NE, relative To the re
sponSibilty oil any person OF persons Tor The
balances reported TO he due from John Is
llmuerlai<e. | do not, TO tins hour, know who
are hi, secuTelIes IN hlS Official bond. Such
papers are lodged III your department and as II
Is no part Of my duty TO take steps for the re-
covery of balancrs due 10 the Government,
either from principals or securities. have had
no innucement 10 inquire wnO Alr. Timber
lakes SECURITIES were.
la others of the private letters delivered to
me, there al evidences OF considerable amounts
OF property owned by Mr.. Undertake in the
United States AT the time Of their date. The
may be useful, II II shall become
necessary to take steps for the recovery of The
balances reported TO be due ! and /. vii not DO
by me.
deem il my peculiar duty TO see that all
seit emehts made IN my Office are fair aud hon
est The confidence with which the family OF
NJ, IImbpIiAke asserted that there must be
error or fraud IN tue settlement OF ms account,
induced me TO give il a full investigation. At
the first step found that he had not credit for
a dollar left on board az the time Of his death.
Deemng il mproba lie that purser Of so large
n ship should dIe ~ Il distant sea entiiely mo
yless, appIIcd for information TO Conmu-
dore Patterson, one of the presrut Navy Board,
who commanded the ship. He informed me
that Mr.. Tnoerake had left large som Of
money aud other property at the time OF his
death that he directed inventories to lie taken
OF the whole aud he expressed much surprise
that credits had not been gwen, and That the
inventories we're not in my office. A few days
he put into my hands a Isltvr from
Lieutenant T.. A. +. VaIleite, whom he had
directed to cause inventories 10 be taken, dated
November 10, 1929, OF which the following is
an extract:
Your order TO me TO have inventories ta6en
of all on public account, and amount OF cash
IN The pursers department at the death OF Mr..
TimberIake, was slrclly complied with. Mr..
Paine, and Lord, aud Mr.. Normal attended
10 that duty, leaving one copy in the chesi,
box, &c. containing the articles, aud furnish
ing Mr.. Randolph with another
No inventory was 10 be found in this Office,
and the clerks who had settled Randoiphs and
Timberlake's accounts, assured me, hat they
had never seen or heard oil any, Nj. Handy