Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1859-03-19

FRAUD UPON THE STATE OF ILLINoIs.-The
examination going on in the Illinois Legislature,
rclativeto the purloining and the second payment
OF sundry certificates of the debt of the State,
whereby the State has been defrauded in prnci-
pal and interest Of the sum of 1928, 900, reveals
some singular facts, and gives a very unfa, orable
impression against Ex-Governor Matteson.
1t seems that this paper was issued in 1885,
that it was subsequently paid, and after being
accurately counted by the canal board. and an
inventory taken of the checks, they were secure
ly packed in a stout wooden box, which was
nailed up, enveloped with tape and sealed with
wax and the official seal of the Board that the
box was sent to the Chicago Branch of the State
Bank as special deposit; that it remained in
the keeping of the Bank until sent for by Col.
Oakley, Canal Trustee, in 1913 or lS49; that il
was conveyed to the canal office, thenin Chicago
that it remained there until 1858, when Josiah
-NlcRoberts was appointed State Trustee by Gov.
Matteson; that, by order of the Governor, all
the Indebtedness in the office was packed for
transmission to the State Department; that at
the time this packing was done, the box spoken
OF was there with its seals unbroken, that it was
opened and its contents, uncancelled, were, with
other evidences Of Indebtedness, re-packed in
trunk and shoe-box that these were sealed.
marked to tile address of "yoel A. Matteson,
Springfield" and delivered to said Matteson at
La Sale, in April, 1861 that in January, 1857,
Matterson being then in office, $4,000 of these
checks were funded in his office by his clerk (the
Governor is er o6icio Fund Commissioner
that on the 9th Of February and 18th of March
thereafter enough additional checks to swell the
total amount to 100000 were funded for Mat
teson by the same clerk, then retained by Gov.
Bissell, who had meantime been inaugurated;
that bonds for the various sums presented were
~ If0 ~, .-E.,
and delivered to Gov. Matteson himself; that
100000 of the bonds are in the hands of the
Auditor as security for the issues of the State
Bank Of Illinois at ShaTneetown owned by Mat
teson.
The theory of the attornies employed by the
Ex-Governor is, that the checks were stolen by
some party unknown, and that they were-a few
at first, more subsequently, and finally all-pre-
sented to the Governor, who bought them with
out a suspicion Of their true character and the
parties selling preserved so strict an incognito
that they cannot here be found out. They prove
that during the winter of 1861 Matteson ne
gotiated large sums of money in St. Louis and at
the Farmers & Traders Bank Juliet. as the wit
nesses understood, for purchasing State indebt-
edness; that he did purchase largely; that stran-
gers have frequently been seen to have transac-
tions with him, for the sale of Indebtedness
Evidence in relation to the profitableness of the
ex-Governer's banking operations was intro
duced; and his son-in-law, Mr.. Goodell, estima-
ted his income from this source at 100000 in
single year.
After the conclusion of the testimony Mat
tesons counsel insisted that the robbery Of the
checks took place while they were in possession
ofthe Canal Commissioners, and anterior to their
alleged deposit for safe keeping in the State
Bank. Mr. Browning, on the part of the State,
rejoined, insisting upon the unbroken chain of
evidence presented and the entire credibility of
his witnesses, as sufficient refutation of the
theory advanced.