The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-07-22
THE CHASE VERSION OF THE MATTER.
From the tribune.


In his undertaking female at,ache of ONO of
the theatres in town who lodged in the same
building where two of the female annn,o~oaS
of the Treasury Department resided IN ,So;r
absence the detective and actress entered the;r
room, rumaged their repositories of private
papers distracted diaries, letters. and notes
carefully collected the history of wbatev np't n
dscretions they could discover. and when one
of the girls returned arrested her, told her that
her roommate had made full confession of
various intrigues and immOralities, and that
nothing was left for her but to make similar
confession or be sent to the Old Capitol Prison.
The actress, playing the role of special female
friend, advised her to make an unreserved con-
fessiOD, and then having her alone with the de-
tective, and the prospective horrors of the
Old Capitol, she signed statement written by
the detective. When her roommate returned,
the same measures were used and a similar re.
suit attained. These statements, written by
the same har |, were singularly cOncordant.
Both concluded with the statement that the
disclosures were made Voluntarily without
fear, duress, or fee. 1t was on these state
ments that the Hon. Mr.. Brooks founded his
charges against the superintendent and female
employees of the Printing Division of the
Treasury department, and these were to be
placed on record as evidence.
1t can scarcely be necessary to follow in de-
such scandalOus proceedings as this. 1t is suf-
ficient to say that the committee give at some
length the history of each charge and of the
evidence upon it, and in each come to the con-
clusiOn there was no basis on which calumny
could rest. We extract one more passage
from this report which of itself is more
than sufficient to expose the animus of the
charges:
Colonel Baker was very active during the
whole investigation in assisting Mr.. Brooks to
find testimony. Nearly every witness sum-
mOned to prove the alleged imnoraities in
the Treasury was previously manipulated by
him, and in several cases written abstract was
made by him of what the testimony would be.
In one instance with a barbarity rarely sur
passed. he arrested funeral procession, took
| from the coffin the corps of q young lady, late
an employee in the Treasury Department,
charging that she had died in an attempt to
procure an abortion, the result of immoralities
in the Treasury Department. The case was
examined by justice of this city, and a post
morton examination held, which resulted in a
decision that the young lady died of pulmOna-
ry consumption. The physician reported that
the post norton examination afforded incontes-
tible evidence of the unsullied virtue of the
deceased"
Let us hasten to close the case by one other
| quotation from the report of the committee:
Reviewing the whole case the committee
part the result of an effort on the part of some
to break up the plan of printing in the Treas
ury Department, and parely the result of a
conspiracy on the part of Colonel Baker
and the female prostitutes associated with him
to destroy the reputation of Mr. Clark, and by
the odium thus raised against the Treasury De
par:ment shield himself and justify the unau-
thorized arrest of one of the officers in the
Printing Bureau. The injury thus wantonly
inflicted, and the publicity thus gives to these
shameful and .unfounded charges, appear in a
still stronger light when contrasted with the
exceedingly weak and inadequate evidence adj
duced to sustain them. The charges are eX-
ceedingly unjust and cruel from the fact that
they have, to some extent, compromised the
reputation of the three hundred females en-
ployed in the printing division. A majority of
them are wives or sisters of soldiers who have
| fallen in the field The committee feel that in
| no community in the country will there be
found larger proportion of noble and respect
able women than those employed in the Treas
| ury Department.