The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1861-01-03

Heavy Fraud on the Governmeat..-ss7O.
600 Abstracted from the Indian Trust
Fund by Subordinate Officer Of the
Government. a
Washington Dec. "a.
An enormous robbery of about &c.,
600 dollars worth of Trust Funds be-
longing to the Indian tribes, from the
Indian Office of the Department of the
Interior proper, has been discovered
since Saturday evening last. The dis
closure was first made by the officer
in charge of the bonds, who declares
himself not to have profited by the rob-
berry, but to have permitted another
party, supposed to be in New York, to
obtain possession of them. 1t is not
believed that any coupons of the bonds
have been taken, and it also said tn
had the parties been so disposed 3d.
0OO,OOO worth Of bonds might have
been distracted. No money has been
taken so far as is known. The Secre-
tary of the Interior and the Attorney
General were engaged in making in
vestigations during the greater part of
Saturday night and yesterday. ao In
structions have been sent on to Marshal
Rynders to arrest the party into whose
hands the stolen property is believed
to have fallen. The abstraction of
these bonds is thought to have covered
the past five months, and to have been
hypothecated to raise funds. % haz9sI
The following are the facts of the af-
fair as near as it is possible to obtain
them in the present uncertain State of
the case: aa& 's sessf7 sa' isdi .'ss
Secretary Thompson arrived from
North Carolina last evening. At half
past eight O'clock he called upon the
President and had an interview. Sec
rotary Thompson, during his absence,
received letter informing him of a
robbery in his department.. Upon 60
ing to his department he attempted to
examine the safe in his Office, where the
Indian bonds were kept, but discovered
that the key was missing. He made
several attempts to find it, but failed.
Different statements were made by diff
ferent subordinates as to the where
abouts of Mr.. GODDARD Bailey, disburs-
ing clerk, a native of South Carolina,
to whom the bonds were specially in
trusted, and who held the key of. the
safe. He was found and asked for the
key, but could not find it. Secretary
Thompson at once suspecting that
something was wrong, proceeded at l.
o'clock last evening to the office of
Mayor Berret, communicated to him
his suspicious, and solicited special
police force, and returned with the
Mayor and police to the Interior De-
partment, and put guard at every
avenue leading to it. The clerks of
that department. were then summoned,
and orders given to the police not to al
low any one of them to pass out. The
safe was then broken open with an axe.
The bonds were missing. The register
of the bonds was found to-day, when
Bailey was missing.
Mr.. Black, Secretary of State, and
late Attorney General; District Attor-
ney Ould and others having knowledge
of the nature of the bonds, were called
in by Secretary Thompson. The clerks
were severally examined, as to their
knowledge of the disappearance of the
bonds. -
Several of the clerks in the Depart
ment, who, it is said, did what they
could to delay the. examination of the
safe, are suspected of being parties to
the robbery. Several outsiders are
also suspected, and the police are after
them. The moment that the robbery
was discovered the heads of other bu-
reaus in the department. were notified
to keep strict watch npon the property
of the Government in their charge.
l. When Bailey disappointed Disburs-
ing Clerk he was citizen of Alabama.
/ 1t appears from the facts in connec-
ton with the late distractions of the
bonds of the Indian trust fund, that
about five months ago VIM. E. Russell,
of the firm of Majors, Russell d Wed
!, dell held about one million dollars oil
the official acceptances, of the Secreta-
ny of War. These acceptanees have
been given conditionally in accordance
with the usual order of business, for
transportation of supplies for the army
under contract with the government.
MIR. Russell, not finding himself able
to negotiate the aeceptances, and be.
j ing greatly embarrassed pecuniarily
. and ascertaiEing from Goddard and
! Bailey, with whom he was intimately
acquainted. that the latter had control
of over three millions of Indian 1trus,
funds, invested in bonds, of different
States, arranged with him to let him
have about half a million of these
bonds, to be hypothetical in New
York, and as surety for which he gave
Bailey the acoeptances of the War
Department, which Bailey placed in
I the safe where the bonds were kept
Recently, these bonds have greatly de-
! preciated, and the bankers in New
:, York, who made advances on them.
therefore called for additional security
Bailey, in order to save, the bonds, de-
livered over 100000 worth of them
: additional, in all $4,000. On the
: 18th inst, he addressed letter to the
J Secretary of the Interior, frankly i'm.
parting these facts, requesting investi-
cation. This letter he gave to a Sena
tor, to be delivered to the Secretary on