, 1864-04-18
ASTOUNDING FRAUD ON
RECRUITS.
Letter from Gen. DIx-Thc Cnse of
IIaW1ey %. Cinpp-The Layfh5ctte
Kali Aonnty ErokcvH-Iccruits z]e-
ftauded out OF over 100000.
The following letter from Gen. Dix to the
LegIelature WAS rtccf1cd to-day:

1Ic lotlONlu4 lekLcF IRON GeQ. DlE 10 Lrt
Legislature was received to-day:
nEAp9uAn1Ens DErAn1sESr or TIE EAST
NEW York C1TE, April II, 1864.
hon, CnAs. ]. FoLaEn, Chalsman Of the Eenast
Judiciary Committee;
DEAR s1R: Your note Of the 9th inst, wa:
received yesterday, anu it affords me pleas
nre to furnish you With the facts and circnm
stances attending the arrest and imprison
ment Of Hawley D. Clapp,
Wien your note came to hand was com.
pletfng report to the Secretary Of War G
copy Of which accompanying papers In
close,) giving detailed statement of tue
atrocious frauds committed upon recruits in
this city, ard particularly ut Lafayette Hall
where Mir. Clapp was the principal bounty.
.broker-one OF claes Of agents who were
brought into existence By the system adopt
cd By the Committee Of the Board of Super.
risors, for procuring substitutes whose ser.
vices were entirely unnecessary, and whose
principal vocation, either By their own direct
action, or through confelerates, was to cheat
men entering the service ont Of their boun.
ties. The Committee, when the frauds Ind
become too palpable and too extensive to be
borne, obEiated the evil, as far os they could,
by the adoption Of proper precautions, but
rot until q military order had been Issued re,
quiripg the full amount Of bounty to DO paid
to the recruit.
II Is only by the summary process of q
military arrest that these fraudulent transac-
tfons can be reached. II they are brought
The recruits src the only witnesses, aud the
exfgcncfes Of the country will not permit
them to be kept from the field.
The only alternatives, therefore, were to
allow these etupendous frauds to go unre.
dressed to the patriotic men who are offering
their lives on the altar Of their country; be
robbed Of the provisions which their fellow
citizens have made for their families, aud to
suffer the plunderers to escape With their ILL.,
gotten gains, or to take, as have ddnc, some
Of the principal agents In these frauds into
custody, to be held till they make restitn-
tion.
The. amount of which recruits were de-
fIauded at lafayette Hall. where and while
.Nr. Clapp was chief broker, cannot full short
of s40o,0co. have succeeded in recovering
about SEQ, eco, and am not without hopes OF
adding largely to this amount. >.
Almost every Imaginable form Of outrage
and deception has been Developed In the
cases il, which Mr. Clapp was agent for the
payment of the bounties.: Men, bota white
and colored, we're offered employment as
tcamstcrs, wagon-mastere, aud officers serv-
ants, receiving from $50 to $50 as .spay in I'D
vance," and fndirg themselves enlisted rs
private soldiers-E lille Mr.. Clapp received
from $500 to S315 in each case. With what
confederatcs the money was divided, no and
enough that it was received by him and not
paid to the recruits who were entitled to 1t.
In some cases boyg have been Eeduced
from their homes to secure their enlistment
in others, men have been drugged and en-
listed while unconscious; in others, they
have been promised furloughs, and where
the full bounty was not paid, they have been
told that they would receive the balance as
soon as they should arrive at Rtket's Island
In short, there is no artlfice or fraud which
has not been resorted to In carrying out this
system Of pil1age. In one case reported to
these Headquarters By Mr. Supervisor Blunt,
Mr. Clapp Was compelled to make restitu-
ton, and Ills conduct Was such that he was
not allowed to transact business with the
Supervisors In his o1fn name, but continued
It IN the name Of other parties.
1feel convinced that no class OF men would
be likely to take part in these outrages upon
our gallant soldiers, or sympathlze with the
perpetrators, unless they cherished secret
sympathy with those who are endeavoring
by force of arms to overthrow and destroy
the Government OF their country:
| have the honor, also, to transmit here
With certified copy Of the order under which
NJ. Clapp was sent to Fort Lafayette by
City and Harbor.
am, very respectfully, your ob't serv't,
JEo. A. Dix, Major General.
REPORT OF GEN. DX TO TIE SECRETARY OF
W4R-ExTR4CTa.
When was Informed That recruits were
defTauded Of their bountIes at LAFAYETTE Hall.
I sent for Gen. eptno1a and communicated to
him the information I had received, "He
denied the truth Of the statement. and as
sured me that the recruiting regulations were
fully complied With; that no man was enlist
ed without being fully appriaed Of the nature
Of the service in which he Was enpac1no
that no recruit was detraudcd ofhis bounty;
and that where less sum than that allowed
by the county Was paid, it was always b7 vol
niitary and smicable agreement = i,
.Old men and boys, and persons 1aborlne
under incurable diseases, were, in numerous
instances, thrust into the service Under thIa
to the troops and to the Government" =