The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-02-23

arms II psosislons hedgs IN TIER bayo6sts. and
every weapon dnks when IT. authority d admit
I'D CpeQneas n war y absoluts dsspotiaE the
Triumph Of the United Statea b the fsesosation
ct constitutional liberty
-.,- SEc----~
:. -. s, $3.50 -.
y y - GPeese g - = 1880 ~"
~ .s.,,. rsee !. - ~ A's1
A3tlosss q loeRss.
following remarks:
II soon hecama evident thet the mere abstrac
doa % eefsain ooodS from the interior Depart
me1H q . ace easily aocertained and indeed ad.
matse0 y the person Who took them, was an In
cadelt OF minor importance in comparison with
the transaction preceding and connected with
that act, and v0ur committee therefore consider
ed It incumbent upon them TO trace q accurate
" and thoroughly 90 possible, through the tortu-
Gus windings Of vast and complicated interests
and extensive though concealed rami6cAtlons,
the motives, and purposes, and deeds of those
who have been the parties to daring and M
precedented fraud upon one Of the departments
Of the Government In view of the magnitude
Of the offence and the great loss involved, they
have regarded themselves fully iustifed in push
ing the investigation TO the furthest limit Of the
authority vested in them. The want of time,
rather than the lack of zeal, has prevented them
from Obtaining all the information they desired;
vet enough has been ascertained to satisfy, in
their opinion, the material inquiries with which
they were charged BY the House, % they think
Will appear from . suecint account Of The evil
dence that has been adduced before them
DAuxYt coxyIsuox.
IA mart Of the evidence adduced IL found in
communication from Mr. Bailey. dated Decem-
Der 1st.. 1880. and addressed to the Hon, Jacob
Thompson. Secretary Of the Interior, containing
q abatement that portion of the bonds consti.
tntine the Indian Trust Fund amounting to
100000. we're no longer in his possession
This confession was. on the 18th Of December.
nlaced In the hands Of Mr.. Wagner. with the re.
quest that il should be delivered to the Secreta
~ of the Interior five DAYS before the expiration
| Of his term Of Office. or. as Mr.. Wagner under
stood it. ..ive DAYS before the 4th Of March,
| On the goth Of the same MONTH Mr.. Bailey ad.
dressed a note to Mr.. Wagner. requesting that
the note previously committed to him fMr. Wug
ner) should be given to the Secretary of the In.
terror Immediately upon his return from North
Crolina. Mr.. Thompson arrived home on the
| .fterpoon Of the 22d of December
| \ UNITED STATES SENATOR rHs MEDIUM THROUGH
WHICH TIE FRAUD "a ExPosRp.
On the evening of that day the acceptances
ssued by thu. War Department. and the receipt
| given for the bonds by Mr.. Russell. were handed
| 10 Mr. Thompson. at the Office of the President.
! in the Executive mansion, by Hon. H. N. Rice.
United States Senator from Minnesota. No ear
liier iutimation of the abstraction had reached
Nj. Thompson. Your committee, not designing
/ 70 examine Mr.. Bailey rs q witness caused .
snhnpna to he served upon Mr.. Rice to appear
/ before them. He declined to obey it. The chair.
man then addressed him a note. explaining that
| he had been inadvertently summoned. and DO
/ litelv requested his attendance. To this he re-
/ ulied that he would answer anv question that
might be uropounded to him. in writing. See
Ling that he stood no pertinacously ON bid priyi.
leee a. Senator. it vas not thought consistent
with the duty of the committee or dignity Of The
| House to press any other inquiries. unless the
| House shall 20 order.
i Had the original Intention Of Withholding
from the Secretary ali knowledge of the fraud
| until within faw davs Of the 4th of March been
carried out. the confusion incident, to a change
4 of administrative officers would have prevented
lprompt investigation. and deprived Mr.. Thomp.
son Of the means of immediate defence.
j .uprToR FULLER THE CAUSE OF THE EXPOSURE OF
THE FRAUD.
Mr. Ra;lev. in the exercise of forethoupht pr,i.
| .Ient IN avoid detection. made M his stock nc.
connt FIR the current wear. showing on its face
that all the bonds were safely in his custody and
| had caused it's presentation to the Second Audi
tor. Mr.. Fuller. That officer refused to approve
| il for the reason that the coupon account, de
signed to be a check upon It. did not accompany
1 IT, It ia. perhaps. to this refusal that may in
mart he attributed to the ea,ly disclosures of the
fraud.
II will be observed that. while Mr.. Baley's
/ statement is dated December lst. 1860 and EN-.
braces the entire number of bonds, and fixes the
month Of July as the time at which he entrust.
| ed them to other parties. the testimony of Mr..
Russell shows that they were not all delivered
1 at one time. but that three hundred and thirty.
| three were transferred to him on the 18th day
| of December-neary two weeks subsequent to
| the date of Mr.. Baiiey's confession. The only
satisfactory explanation that can be given OF
this noticeable discrepancy is the superstition
that the statement was actually prepared on the
| day it was given to Mr.. Wagner, and the day
i the last bonds were delivered to MIR. Russell and
dated wrongfully sDecember lst," to allay any
i suspicion that might be excited if it were seen
1 that the date of the abstraction was identical
with the date of the last acceptance which was
1 issued bv the War Department, for the purpose,
| as YOUR committee think, of making up def
| mite amount Of securities.
~ THE NEW YORK INVESTIGATION
As soon as the abstraction of the bonds was
made knewn to the Secretary of the Interior, he
applied himself diligently to discover with whom
i they were LOGGED, LnaG proceedings might De III
stitnted for their recovery. Moses Kelly, Esq,
his chief clerk, was despatched to New York,
and he there caused wrts of Injunction to be
served upon few parties in whose possession he
had reason to believe some of the bonds to be-
i But, ascertaining this mode of obtaining the
desired information to be both slow and unsatis-
Efactory, Mr. Thompson advised that your COM
| mittee should hold some of its sessions in the
| city of New York Being DESTROYS ofexpediting
the investigation and of avoiding the heavy ex
pense that would be incident to the summoning
| OF large number OF witnesses from that city,
your committee concurred in the propriety of
this suggestion, and having asked for and OBJ
tanned leave to sit in such places as they believed
the public interest required, they proceeded at
considerable Inconvenience to New York.
now THE BONDS WERE DISPOSED OF.
From the testimony there procured, it was ap-
parent that the bonds were disposed of by Mr..
Russell and his agent, and that Mr.. Russell did
not have it in his power to restorr any of them.
|, FLoYDs COMPLETELY IN THE swINDLE
The probability is that when the acceptances
were returned to Governor FLOYD BY Mr.. Russell