The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1856-02-05


nounced TO be genuine, and the other Us al
legged to be counterfeit could not be distin-
guished from the genuine.
The Attorney General expresses the fullest
confidence that the hypothesis of forgery alb
so.ute tails. The next supposition arising is
that the State Treasurer, or his Deputy,
countersigning and delivered to the Back u
greater amount of bills than he had govern
ment stocks on hand. Against this supposi-
tion comes the deposition or oath of MIR. Whit
temorc, the ex- Treasurer, before the special
committee of the Senate, on the 18th Jan
uary, 1855, utterly and explicitly denying
that be had ever issued any notes beyond
the face amount Of stocks on hand in the
Treasury, except on the demand of the Bank
in accordance with the written opinion Of
Hale, late Attorney General, to the effect
that he was required by law to Deliver to the
Bank notes Of circulation equal to 8 per cent.
premium on the stock securities above their
face; and with this other and only exception,
that he countcrsgned for the Bank 1000 of
the bills of the Government Stock Bank, al
lodged to belong to the Metropolitan, Bank,
and to have been lost on the steamer Atlantic
in August, 1852. Mr. Bailey, Deputy
Treasurer, swore before the same committee
that he had no reason 10 believe that there
was an over-issue Of the notes Of the Bank
that Mr. Belknap, tho stockholder tf the
Bank, never asked him for bills of circulation
beyond the amount of stocks deposited. If
these statements are true the second hypothe-
sis fails.
The third supposition, that the Treasurer
al l..
or their equivalent the Treasury, is not sus-
taincd, in the Attorney Generals opinion, by
any direct proof. Whittemore denies the fact
on oath. Mr.. Bailey, the Deputy, states
that during most of the year 1852, and part
of 1851, some of the stocks deposited by the
Bank, and part Of the time all of them were
out of he Treasu cr's office, having been taken
out by the Treasurer, and deposited, greater
part of the time in the Phoenix Bank Of New
York city, where they were exchanged by the
said Belknap, for mutilated bills of the Gov
ernment Stock Bank; and that during the
autumn of 1852, said stocks were all returned
to the Treasurer's office, except those so ex-
changed and that after that time all exchan-
ges were mndc at the office and not elsewhere.
Mr.. Belknap has depied, expressly upon oath,
that any Of the stocks were ever receives by
htm, directly Or indirectly, or by any other
peason for him, from Mr.. Whittemore or Mr..
Bailey, except upon the surrender of an equal
omount of bills countersigned and issued upon
them according TO law, or in exchange for
such other stocks as were authorized by the
charter. The fourth hypothesis, as to the
biHs of the Bank being re-issucd at the Treas
ury Office, the Attorney General states the
mateaial facts that lave come to his knowledge
leaving the public to draw their own inferen-
ces from those facts Mr. Whittemore, the
late Treasurer, sweas that it was the practice
of the Bank to send the retired notes to the
Treasury, on the delivery whereof he issued
to the Bank new bills to an equal amount,
which were counted only by the straps, or
small slips of tissue paper, which bound the
bills together in packages, and which bore
the amount said to bic contained in each pack
age. Sometimes these retired notes were
supplied by stocks to the same amount; that
these retired bills were kept on hand for Yari
ous periods of time, and in divers amounts, in
the vaults of the Treasury, in trunks and
boxes which he prcsumes were not locked,
and were accessible to any, person entering
the vault. That from July, 1850, these
notes were principally burned under the super
vision of Mr.. Baily, the Deputy. Mr.. Bsily
swears that he is of opinion that the redeemed
bills of the Bank, to an amount Of 100000
to 100000 were returned to the Treasurers
office and new bills issued in their Places
That this old circulation, which was received
in mutilated state, was mostly burned in
his presence; that until they were burned
in his presence; that until they were burned
they were kept in the Trcasurers vault, usu-
ally i'll a trunk or package us received, some
times as long rs two or three months; that
they were accessible 10 the clerks in the Office
and TO other persons who might happen to
enter the vault, that they were not counted
when brought to the Treasury, before the de-
livery of the bills in their stead. ,The Attor
ney General has convcrsed with those persons
who acted rs messengers of the Bank in car
rying the retired bills from Ann Arbor to
Lansing, who concur in starting that they
went into the Treasury vault, and thero saw
large masses of the bills of the Government
Stock Bank lying about, some in trunk
some loosely in ap old candle-box, some on
shelves, and some in pigcon-hoes, accessible
TO any pc,son entering; that they called Mr..
Dalcys attention to the danger Of having
them in that condition, who manifested indifi-
crcnce, and replied that it was no concern Of
his. Mr.. Fleming, the President of tho Bank
in 1854, informed the Attorney General that
on hearing Of these facts from messenger
whom hc had sent with quantity Of retired
bills, he at once resigned his post. There ia
little doubt that the fourth hypo hesis. with
regard to this strange overissue, is the correct
one, and the Attorney General expresses the
belief that few. persons, if more than ono,
could have possessed the secret. Had many
participated in il, some before this, have dis
,losed il, under the severo pressure ofsciutiny
Nhas been directed to the subject. LET tho
guilty party" says the Attorney General,
wherever he ia, rcposcd with it if he can
The officers tic Bank in the opinion Of
Mr.. Aowald, have been guilty Of the groesctt
ND moot unaocountably neglect in not seeing
10 il that their retired CIRCULATION was destroy