Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-06-09
The SfnXer Fraud

Governor MORTON is apOlogzing through the
press for his agency in the SLOWER swindle.
Although His Excellency may be the most limo
cent and virtuous of men. yet when he denies al
completely in this gigantic fraud for himself and
his associates he should explain several points
which look a little dark to the outside world. We
understand from several sources that the present
Agent of State soon after he entered upon the /
discharge of the duties of his office, nearly a |
year and half ago, had indubitabe evidence of /
the Fraud yet, for some unaccountabe reason,
the fact withheld from the public We know /
not the consideration or motive which Influenced /
this representative of Indiana to keep this i'm
portant secret In February last the Governor |
and the Attorney General of the State, as they /
admit, were informed of the fraud They visited .
New York to investigate this affair. They ad 1
vised, according to their statement, the Attorney
General of that State and the District Attorney /
of New York city, OF the existence of the crime
and urged the prosecution of the guilty parties.
Hon. d. S. DICKINSON, the Attorney General of
New York, in a published card, it is true,
says that these gentlemen called upon him,
nor advised by me" (him). And con the same
days." says Mr.. DICKINSON, IL received a note
from Governor MORTON saying it was
desirable the whole matter should remain a State
secret for the present" For several months it
was so regarded by the Governor, the State
Agent, the Loan Commissioners and the financial
advisers of Indiana in New York. In the mean
time an arrangement had been made with SLOWER
that his crime should remain permanent secret
if he retired for cancellation every week S25 900
or more Of the fraudulent bonds. This fact the
parties referred to were advised of. More than
this, they knew that SLOWER and his confederItes
had possession OF books containing blank bonds
of the State signed by State officers, which they
could issue indefinitely. And these instruments
| for the commission of fraud they knew were in
in the possession of men who had thus used them.
And we ask if even these facts not, for rea-
sons unexplained and inexplcable, withheld for
long time from the State officials here who should
have been promptly advised of the crime?
Strange reticence on the part of the State Off
Gals who had been advised of the fraud! There
may be good and sufficient reasons which
will Justify the Governor, the Agent of State,
the Loan Commissioners and A. OAKLEY HALL,
Esq, for keeping the fraud Estate secret"
for allowing the State Agency in New York to
cloak the crime of SLOWER and his confederates;
for permitting innocent parties to become pur-
chasers of the fraudulent bonds; for allowing
men guilty of the crime Of forgery TO retain in
their possession the blank bonds of the State
duly sgnei and which only needed the signature OF
SLOWER to give them currency, and for compound
ing with felony by pledgng the guilty parties to
withhold the knowledge of their crime on condi
ton of their returning the fraudulent bonds al
most at their convenience. All these facts Gov
ernOr MORTON was cognizant of, if not party
involved. He kept the secret faithfully, until it
became apparent that the swindc of such
magnitude that SroyER and his confeder-
ates could not fulfill their pledges, and that
it could no longer be concealed from the
public. The Loan Commissioners, in the mean
time, had disposed of the war loan without pre-
judice and they no longer had an object IN keep
ing the secret from the public. Governor Nor
TONS only apology is, that he placed the matter
/ in the hands of the District Attorney of New
/ York. and acted subsequently under his advice
/ This is no justification. Mr.. A OAKEY HALL
may be a very wise lawyer and very pure
man, but men of equal position and rep
utatiOn have been corrupted. What right,
| if Governor MoRroN was influenced solely by
the desire to subserve both public and private in
| terests to thus place himself under the control
| of 10 kua boI No.
committed. He knew that the parties to the
crime had the means in their hands to augment
the fraud. He knew innocent paIties might be
imposed upon if knowledge of the crime was
concealed. Yet for months he kept the secret
He advised the Attorney General of New York
cit was desirable the whole matter should remain
a State secret for the present" The Governor
may have acted from the purest of motives, but
it is at least a grave blunder, inexcusable in a
high public official who assumes a superior ability
in administering the affairs of the State We
should not have said this much if Governor
MoRToN did not invite the criticism And as he
has requested to publish an article from the
New York Herald to relieve himself from re-
sponsibility in the affair." it is no more than just
to that paper that we should publish the following
extract from it of later date. to show the esti
mate it places upon the conduct of the Indiana
| officials in the affair:
THE INDIANA FRAUDS AND THE TRIBUNE.
Greeley, in editorial in yesterdays Tribune,
endeayOrs to throw all the blame of covering up
the frauds in connection with the irregular issue
of Indiana bonds npon District Attorney Hall,
and at the same time to defend the Indiana State
officials frcm all blame. This mean and con
temptbie dodge will not 60 down. The Indiana
State officials we're here and knew the facts, and
it was their duty to 60 and make complaints be-
fore police magistrate, and have the guilty par
ties arrested. This done, it would have been the
duty of Mr.. Hall to follow it up and attend to
their prosecution. The District Attorney attends
to those matters that officially brought before
him. Arrests Of this kind are always made by
virtue Of complaints made before magistrate,
and the failure of the Indiana State officials to
make the complaint makes them guilty Of com
pounding the felony. Ii was theirs, and not Mr..
Il HaI1,c dtfv IN fto fhis con,nlairf