New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-06-17

h''"'V Wv VIC oiDifg wv" ~ VI "N''N r.
oaks the chairs uiagnifcently wrought, aud cuN-
ioned with green velvet. There ara t~s ex
tension tAblrs, each t.eat, FIVE feet loag. aud
able to seat ffy guests. The walls aud cell
ing of the drswine-rooms, the pA!ors, aud
other portions of the house, haze fresco psint.
irgs Of the principal events 10 American his
tory. Ia the drawing roons aud psrl,rs are ten
magnificent pier elasses- There ara taenry sofas
in The pariors, all elegantly GIT up. The carpets
are Of the cOstliest pile velvet gorgeous 10 Ihs
eye. and soft to the tread. There are SIX
frstclass guest chambers and seven second-
class. The frstcaes have rosewood furniture,
With crimson satin hapgngs, and arc fitted up
with every possible convenience and luxury. The
silver ware for the house. a. al-o the glass aud
crockery, is now being Manufactured in New York.
and the Governor is said to have a son abroad en-
ployed in the purchase Of paintings and statuary
What renders the indulgence. ia these hard
times, in such expense and luxury the more re-
narksble IL, that Governor Mattrson. like other
good citizens Of Illinois has had his losses. having
been. according to his own account swlndled
within two or three years past BY some fraudulent
rsscals out Of largo sum Of money. Our
readers cannot have forgotten q gross fraud
attempted to BIZ perpetrsted on the State Treasury
of Illinois, which came to Light some four or 6se
months since, and Of which, at the time, We gave
an account. 1t appeared that in 1852 Mr. Matte
SOP, then Governor of the State. directed that
large quantity of paid checks aud other cancelled
evidences of State indebtedness which had long
been deposited in the Canal office ut Chic,go,
should b. removed to the State Department ut
Sprirc 6rld-a proper order enough since the
caual had ceased to be State work. la com
pliapce with this order the documents Of
that description in the Caosl offc--con-
slstipg largely of certain checks drawn BY
the Canal Commissioners in 1883. under al.
thority Of an act Of the Legislature, On the
Chicago Branch Of the State Bank, and witch had
b-en paid and returned 10 the Commissioners; also
Of certain checks of the same sort, which, though
duly signed, had never been paid out or put into
circulation were packed partly in a trunk aud
partly in shoe box, both Of which were sealed up,
sent to Gov. Matteson at Sprin gfeld, and aotu,uy
delivered ato his custody. Upou search being re-
Gently msde in the State Department a. Spring
field the trunk WIS discovered still sealed up and
apparently untouched, but the shoe box was no.
here 10 be found.
1t would seem that during the time that DIR.
Mstt-sOn ren,sin.d Governor, this unIucky shoe
box must have fallen into bad hands. At all events
Governor Matteson, who, beside being leader OF
the Democratic party. IVES q great purchaser OF
State Indebtedness just before no went out Of office
presented to tho Clerk Of the Fund Commissioners
checks, which subsequent investigations proved
must have como cut Of til. very box, for which,
under law of the State authorizing the funding
Of State Indebtedness, BIO received bonds ~ the
amount Of $4,000, beside, as we understand it, as
much more In cash. About month after, 10 Feb
ruary, 1857, he presented new batch of these
checks, for which be received bonds to tho
un cunt of $4,000 90 the 18th of Mach follow
ipg be presented still third batch of these checks,
for which be received bonds to the amount Of
$3l, 500. Such was the testimony Of the Fund
Con missopers clerk before an Investigating Con.
mittee Of The Legislature, but there must have
been more Of these checks thus funded. as it wss
stated in the cosrse of the investigation that Mat
teson had received 10 bonds abou, $l07 900, aud
that the amount in bonds and money thus drawn
out of the State Treasury amounted, interest in
cluded, to 1927, 900. 1t was rather an odd
circumstapce that the bonds thus obtained by
Gov. Mat,eson were issued not as due to hin,
but to humber Of purely mythical and Imaginary
persons; but this vas alleged to be fancy of tho
e1 Governors, which he always carried out on
smilsr occasions.
The account which the ex. Governor gave Of
this transaction vas, that h. had bought these
checks, without the elghtest suspicion Of their real
character, Of sundry pers Jns whom no did Not
know, who had offered them to bin in the ordi-
nary course Of his business part Of which WAS tue
purchasing up Of claims against the State. How
ursuspcious the x.Goyernor was in this trsnsac-
ton, was indeed esibced by the fac. that thirty Of
these checks had special Inducements upon then
which destroyed their nrgotability, aud that
hundred and FIVE others were not only untrimmed
and without the name Of any payee, but were regu-
larry numbered in succession, showing concu-
sively that they bad been hsndrd 10
lump, to be funded, just as they had been
taken from the shos-box so thst before coming
into tx Gov. Nstteson's hands they could sc,rceiy
have pas,ed through the hands Of any body rise OK
cept of tho man Who took them out Of the box. 1t
was also provoking circumstance add one calcu-
lated " excite great sympath! for ths Governor
that be Vas the sole victim Of this fraud, as mona
Of these checks had ever been offered for sale Ia
body else though it might indeed be said that if
the Ex-Governor had been cheated be- h.d been
cheated with his eyes open, aud in way not very