The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1843-08-10
The Trial OF Dowden, the Treasury Clerk, at
Warrington.

in astsnSanc and bsncS warrsnt was issued for her
arrest is supposed that she is designedly absent to
avoid giving her testimony but if So the of justice
will not suffer "a an has been entered into
to admit hsI deposon taken on previous OCCASION as
evidence on the trial Mr. Fendail the United States
who conduct, The prosecuon made his cleo
the various indictments az ainst the prisoner
and put him his trial on TIE larceny Indictment which
contains elve counts in the usual FORM charging Ray
mond p Dowden with ieonouslv and forciby ste sling
taking, and carrying away Eve treasury notes of the
value Of $780, the pro6ery Of the United states
Mr.. FENDAL. stated the csse 10 the jury and in the
course OF his remarks which we copy from the Globe
which the trial fully and very ably repo ted said the
hrst count in the Indictment charged the of
TWO OF these treasury notes. and the the
sraction Olive. These treasury notes were notes which
certificates Of public debt and to or in the nature
of currency. They were issued for the frst time he
believed during the last with Great Britain and
more recently under the pressure of domestic circum.
stances which Congress thought required the suppy of
the treasury in this way. The first of the more recent
was under the authority of the law of October 1887
given to the executive department to issue certain
amount Of treasury notes. to be applied the pay of
the public expenditure and to be for the public
dues sc. similar provisions made in laws
The act of under which the rs OF the treasury
since the last issued the Of DC
ober 2h 1887 authorizing the President Of the United
States cause treasury be issued amount
not exceeding ten millions Of dollars The 9th section
for the customs for the public lands and for all debts
the government Various acts were passed by Congress-
periods subsequent to this authorizing the issue OF
additional notes. and In some instances rizng the
reissue of notes that might be redeemed The particular
notes in this case were issued under the act Of 3ls
arv 1870 The sesond section of This last mentioned law
that these notes were receivable payment OF
the public dues under the authority Of the various laws
passed. as he had before remarked Treasury notes
Considerable amount were Issued under it. and we're
ceiv ed by the receiving officers of the government in
pa, ment of the public dues and the notes to which the
PARTICULAR attention of the ury was directed were rece
we'd by the collector of the customs at Boston, in the
course of his cal line of duty and were by him
celed in the manner adopted and practsed al his Office
There were different modes of cancelling these notes.
when at the different Offices OF the government
but the mode adopted at Boston was to write the word
canceedn transverseiv across the notesthough there
was no uniformity in the mode of doing this Sometimes
the word "canceled" was written commencing on the
left side of the note and sometimes il was written CON-
mencing in the middle of it, In regard to two of these
notes would be offered in evidence that the writing of
one note and in The middle Of the both being writ
ten The Boston Office also adopted another
precaution which was that Of having an excs of an
oval form made on each cancelled note by some sharp
iron instrument.
This encssion was about the zeof the nail of his
finger but being made on diff rent parts of the different
notes the matter thrust out woud appear on deret parts
of them as thew happened TO be struck py tn
with which it was made For instance regard the
two notes which he would offer to the iury and which
were described in the Indictment as having been elop
ously from the the excl
sion made ON the first of them upon part of the word
obinson To whom the note was and who
was the United states marshal for the district of louisa
ma The word "canceiledn was written on that note the
of the weird being at the left extremity Of
the note One Of them was dated the god of September
ls42 the other the 2sd OF the monththe day a
Tina II had NOT TO the Treasury Depart
20 adont anv ada mode of the notes
IN them hu about fortnight before the offence
hora ,as committed u seemed NECESSARY 10 the
Ssd 81 ,hc snartment N a5ont one The Secretary al
'S "a wy irh - hs denartment N anniv mi
form mode of canceng n ali sucb notes and this
by making an incsson Through them with an iron nstr
ment three sides and in order TO facilitate the
onera,on of ancelli.o was going on
in of The vast numbers Of notes that we're
contnua1y COMM in from the different rec Giving Off
the Ra~;,tar of the detailed from ene of
The rooms o his Office Mr. DowIen the defendant TO a.
sst the cierk Mr. Rere whose duty Il was TO conduct
this portion Of the business the office The plan adop
ted by these two clerks for Mr. Berret to hold the
notes in his hand while Mr. Dowden drove the iron can
ceiling instrument through them with mallet. This
process for several days. until the discovery took
been in the Of the Treasury Department, after
having been returned from Boston, where they had been
redeemed and with large mass Of other notes in
similar conditions and during the this domes
tic cancellation which he had Just described and before
they reached in their order they were distracted
from the Department He would show that they were IN
the possession OF Mr.. Dowden.
The notes which returned from the different pay
ing Offices Of the United States Were always
occurred to Mr. rret that would facilitate his opera
tons mark sthe foot Of each note he received the
number Of the abstract which accompanied it. The
number of the abstract accompanying that particular
note $500; and that number being marked that
note would show to the that these notes in the
of the department they cancelled at
Boston. The jury would find of these notes the
figures e5s02 put at the time by Mr. 8erret; the
other hand they would find the additional figure of l
before the figures so5o2 which Mr. Berret would prove
not put on by him. would be shown further, that
on one oil these notes the words Benjamin Csmbelle
81 september le42" were written and that oae Of
them the word cancelled" left, while the other
that word was altered into Benjamin Cambelle, jr'
Here Mr. went on to explain the amer inwhich the
notes had been altered by FASTING pars Of other notes
to supply the parts OF words that had been cut by the
cancelng instrument at Boston, and by substituting the
Of Benjamin Cambelle jr land James Cox, show.
ing he said that whoever perperoted the felony
have had access to other cancelled notes Alhs how
ever could hardly be made Ineligible to the reader
without an exhibition of the notes
The evidence by which he expected to bring this charge
home 10 the defendant was of
like most OF the tes mony in cases of this description
II seldom happened that direct proof could be adduced
such cases But the in this case he
verv strong He stated thu the who
perpetrated this offence must have had 10 other
treasury notes in the possession of the and
he had also that the defendant had been de-
tailed from anotber in the Registers Office 10 assist
Mr. Rerrett in the canc eation OF these rotaa He he