Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1840-04-16

'"' opp'"enfs oi The Administration. held in III. CT
" oi Washington, on Tuesday evening, Feb. IL
1910; by Nj. p. r. FrNpALl. ~
RETENTION OF DEFAULTERSIN
OFFICE.
On this head, ii will be impossible for me TO Il,
more than exhibit To YOU a few eases, by way Of speci
mrn.
And, first. | call your attention to the case of 10
scph Reckless. Collector nj Perth Amboy, in New
Jersey. This officer miliully Withheld from the u.
n''e" states n credit Ion tonnage money receive,
TOT" vessel his excuse was, that he retained II IL
meet various claims aRaint the vessel. Tor which
e,''ms he had, AZ he pretended. made himself liza
ole. The practice was laisiied by the proof. lie
also, ~ ms accounts with the Government. exhibi.
10" ""uuu'ent receipts, signed BY the revenue boat
rem Tor an amount greatly exceeding that u ttuslly
p''n to 'iem-tte sum charged being $ii7. and
me amount paid only SLAB. The fslsehood of IN,
,roe'P's was admitted, aud The apology was. that the
treasury officers had refused to allow certain com.
missions aud expenses which had been improperly
charged by The collector, aud that he therefore in.
Guided them IN the receipts fr the wages of the
h"''men and IN n letter January %, 1880 to tho
secretary oithe Treasury, he admits that 'ihis mode
OF keeping the accounts aud making those cbatp,a
has continued ever since" He pretended ,ha, IL
was suggested by The collector. The proof was.
thai the deputy collector insisted, against the re.
monsiranees al the deputy collector. that the
accounts should be made out in this fraudulent,
manner, and con manded the deputy collector.
on ms allegiance. so 10 mate them out. Il was
iuf'nrr proved that, on y representation from The de-
puiy collector. thatihe Office would need 5000 for dis
bursements. The collector SAID that "hs would draw
for " good round sum, say, ST, 900 or 81 900 - that
he actually applied Tor and Obtained s.. 900; tina,
this advance. being made after the expiration of
the second quarter Of y year. could not be entered
10 the credit OF the Government IN the accounts for
mat quarter, bur stood over 10 he entered into
me accounts Tor the quarter in which IL was rcceiv-
ed; that. when The aceounts for the second quarter
were received. Ihe rnIlprtnV nv.,lnnL,no ,ha -.
that S2,OO0 had been advanced. aut hor,zcd the dep.
u'y Collector 10 dfa" Tor $500. as in settlement of
the balance OF 1925 So, standing in tho accounts of
The second quarter, as advanced by the collector,
but winch was covered by the prior advance OF 81
O0O and that The deputy collector demonstrated,
but unava lingly, against the collectors drawing FOR
the 5000, the authority 10 do SO having resulted from
an oversight.
Thus IS the cssc of Reckless, as proved by Jas.
Pa'ktr, and other witnesses. A complaint WAS
laid before the Secretary OF the Treasury in 1885
explanations were required l,om Reckless and gwen
by hun; atfidavits were taken on both sid, s,the Dis
Itict Attorney OF The Uuned States acting as counsel
for ReckieSs. The refusal To account pro nptly for
public money advanced by mistake would, in for
rner days have been deemed good cause for reno
val. Ia the instance OF Reckless. this is a mere IN
c'deni, a lnne, in comparison with the lest Of the
case. II = a case IN "hieh a high fiscal officer su-
o"tns m Interior To ialsiiy accounts cxlnblts false
aud fraudulent accounts and is KEPT in office.
.. shall next notice The case of William Linn,
Receiver Of Public Money al Vandali,, Illinois
the instructions ot the Treasury Department., and
contumaciously dis,eeatded The admouiiions the Sec
retaiy requiring HIM To depos',e the public money,
TO pay II over 10 and render his accounts. When
was lie dismissed +! you are about To ask. lie wa.
not dismissed at all. On the contrary. when his
term Of service expired he was RE .ApPoiNrrp.-
Mr.. Secretary Woodbury.. in announcing The re-
appointment, informs the officer that, should his
misconduct be repeated, ii would abe reported 70,
the action Of The Executive" But Mr.. Linn, see
ing what the faction of The Executive" had been.
nigh, well say to The Secretary. There is no ter
rer, Cassius, in your ihreals." lie .elt none, aod
continued, as was 10 have been expected, TO ACT
under the second appointment as he had acted I'M
der the first. At last, the natural result came 10
pass. lie wound up a %deiaulter. But even then
he was not dismissed. Tie was permitted TO resign,
a pcculator III the sum OF FIFTY FIVE THOUSAND
NINE HUNDRED AND SO DOLLARS AND 6 CENTS.
3. Wiley L. Harris, Receiver OF Putlic Money
at Columbus, Mississippi. Between Tho 9Th Of
March, 1884. and the list Of August, ls36-an in.
ierval OF more than Two years and six monihs-lhe
Secretary OF The ! Te"sniy sent to Mr.. Hams 40
tewri than fifteen communications, some threat
emi g, sumo coaxing. and many Of them apologize,
complaining OF his official misconduct. lie nei-
Their made The returns required by law, nor pail o.
yer the public moneys and, MS Victor NJ. Gareshe,
"appointei TO examine the laud Offices officiall,
'"''p '" NV ''0'it'di = no Wds n us SUI
They all Consider says Gareshe, THAT his intern
'perance has been his greatest crime. and the loss
of his money has been caused by that Of his rea.
'soD and that, As IN algebra, the minus on one side
has been made plus on The other" Nevertheless,
Nr. John Il. IL. Claiborne, Afterwards a sori of ad
interim representative in Congress from M,ssissip-
p, in a le,ler to the President, oCMc United States.
protesting aeains, the removal Of Harris, boasts Of
an iDtimaie acquaintance with him says" oindex-
ter hates Gen. Harris with the maligniiy Of a de-
mon ; and nothing would rrj"ice HIM more than
the expulsion Of Gen. Hams. whom he know 10 be
'One Of III main Tiitars o(he democratic cause. and one
'oi the earliest and most distinguished friends Of
me administration in Mississippi. HIS tdmlfy and
connexions arc extremely influential, and all Of Mtm
are cooperating NTH US in The arduous styuRtc uh,ch
'we are noW making. Then are true Democrats and
'Me bank. nuhJy,ng, and White parties would shout
victory, al any blow aimed at them. We are noW
IN The m,dsf u an eiectioneering campaign. Gov.
'Runnelis, X. Walker, Major b. w. Edmunds, and
myself constitute The Democratic Vdn Buren, ticket. IL
'tuiH be a close contest" 'Wuh high respect. | re-
main your Excellency's most obedient seryant.'-
That The writer Of The letter was The "most ODE
dent servant Of his .Exceliency," there tan be
no doubt but il IS not EASY TO imagine thathe had
a 'high respect" for his correspondeut.-The
letter could not be without effect on "the acton
Of the Executive" The topics were 100 well cho-
sen to fail Of influencing the quarter 10 which they
were addressed. In This respect, Mr.. Claiborpe's
letier is no, excelled by Mark An,ony's ora,ion
over the dead body Ct Cesar. 1t was decisive
Harris went on lreading ls own ''fontsieps,' I'M
I'll in the summer OF 1886, The balance d public
money in his hands amounted TO $l25,o S4 Tile
then. on The 3lsr of August, was not dismissed,
bur, in a letter 10 The Presidents voluntarily propos-