The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-08-28

| in canal which supplies the oity of Alexandra for
drinking 30 low a. TO become sasnant putrd
This canal was also made the receptacle for filth and
DIAL OF all kinds ana IN IT, too the people performed
their additions When once the scourge broke out it's
progress wonderfully facilitated by the almost uni
versay unclean habits of the people The panic Gre
a.ed by lis sudden appearance was extraordinary
Ii estimated that twenty five to thirty thousand persons
immediately after Quilted Egypt for unaffected regions,
nearly all business In the was suspended, and
the principal occupation Of the living became tho buryng
| Of the dead. The epidemic broko out in Alexandria
about the 10Th Of june and at the maximum prev
alenca the daily Eumber Of deaths supposed
been hundred The total number Of deaths in
city during its continuance is estimated ro,n ave to
! seven thousand.
The Greatest svvIsaaie OF Ali--Fra uds in
the Army Pay Department.
The embezzlement. fraud and forgery that are
discovered to have been carried on in the Pay
Department Of the United States Army will
prove to be the gigantic operation Of this
swindling period. Ketchum. with his two mil
lions, will sink out Of sight when all the facts
of this affair are made public. One fact already
known indicates this pretty clearly. That fact
is that Norfolk bank, whose securities were
less than one hundred thousand dollars in
amount was entrusted, by the manipulations of
paymasters with seven millions dollars of gov
ernment money. Corruption of the most ex-
tensivc character is evidentin that simple state
meni. II would be visionary to expect an
honest purpose where we find such dispro-
portion between the trust imposed and the Sc
curity cXacted, and 1t would be perhaps equally
visionary to suppose that officials would be
superior TO such temptation if this distribution
OF government money resulted from accident
or oversight.
This grand piece of villany first comes to
light in the Richmond pay district, ana that it
comes to light at all al present. perhape, results
from quarrel between the national banks
there and those at Norfolk. The rogues fell
ont. Colonel Binney, recently chief paymaster
in that district, seems just at present to be the
Moan I'D front of it, and II is alre"dv rr""-'ed
'.'a's ely % III " ---%..I Z: = rw,U-s --r"".y-
that fourteen other paymassofs>>Ja ipney's sub
ordinates-ere involved in the frauds II ws!l
be found that tho operation has extended
beyond the one district named. Our Richmond
correspondent informs us Of the suspicion that
20 large number Of Northern paymasters are
involved in similar transactions" and hints at
what may have been done in the immense dis
bursements made at the various depots 10
which the homeward bound troops have been
sent from the seat of war; simultaneously with
this 1t turns up that corrupt practices OF some
character arc just coming to light in the Pay
Department Of the United States Army 10 this
city. One arrest has been made and there is
undoubted evidence of the guilt of the arrested
party. 1t is alleged that the crime in this case
involves forgery, and there is an attempt
to give the impression that it is merely matter
of selling forged discharged papers to soldiers.
This is probably blind. There is no doubt
very intimate connection between tho swind-
ling here and that in the Southern cities. They
are parts Of one stupendous scheme OF plumber
in which the INSCRIPTIONS creatures OF the Pay
Department have worked together, and in
WHICH The gov ,,s BIZ bessa yictimisod e
an extent Of which the figures that have already
leaked out hardly give an intimatioD.
How the swindicrs operated is not yet certain;
but u appears :? hsye been by means of the
seven-thirty bonds In one statement 1t u alleged
that seven-thirties wore drawn by the paymas-
ters anterior to the date ut which their interest
began, and that the government allowed interest
from The date Of sale; that the officers paid
the troops in the bonds and pocketed the inter-
est allowed above what was borne on The face
Of each note. And the statement Is that the
paymastcrs, being in collision with all the
brokers and bankers in the Richmond district,
paid the soldiers in seven-thirties and then
realized large discount for the exchange of
the bonds for legal tender notes. But these
epauietted fDanciers never submitted their
money making purposes TO any such slow or
inadequate machinery az this The financial
condition of the Richmond district especially
shows that they operated In a bolder way.
There arc three banks in Richmond and two in
Norfolk, and each OF the five has q capital Of
only one hundred thousand dollars. Doubtless
Oil are u The hands Of the paymastcrs. Binney
was Interested in Tho Norfolk banks, and we
hear That Stanton, his SUCCESSOR, is Interested
in those at Richmond. BY means of these in:
situations the paymastars were using govern
mens money TO such an extent that one bank
held seven millions. The full figure OF the five
DuuhS Will iOoe up uctHcHuOtSiy. Nun VIII
such financial machinery as this ~ their dis
posal were moi satisfied with making eight dol |
lars on a thousand, or even four on hundred |
Keeping 80 near shore as that WAS for smaller
boats than theirs. the forgeris spoken Of
in The arrests here point also 20 larger |
operation. We have beard throughout the |
war of the discrepancy between the num-
bcr Of men who appeared on the pay
roll, and those who appeared In the
line Of battle. Perhaps these forgeries will lot
us further into the history of that discrepancy.
If there were thousands Of bogus soldiers there
would also be thousands Of bogus discharges,
for which the forgcr would get not five, ton, or