The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-05-12
Correspondence of the New York Herald.
e - s.s.. = WAsHINaToN. May Z. 1866. 8

4 sese,s WAsHINGToN, May q. 800. Z
i Some rich Developments are coming to
4 light concerning the operations ofthe Freed
/ mems Bureau in the Southern States. The
record of its officers is likely TO be. one long
black list of perversion of official position
for the subserviency of private ends. Nearly
every one is engaged in private specuiatlons,
| and the rumors reaching US from all parts
concerning their official malfeasance are so
well authenticated as to no longer be sub
ject of doubt. The principal officers OF the
Freedmen's Bureau in the State of North
i Carolina, for instance, are known to be en-
gagged in cultivating plantations or in some
other occupation tending to their private
emolument. Dozens of instances could be
cited, but few will suffice. Col. Whlttle-
sey, the Assistant Commissioner controlling
| the State, is running one OF the finest cot
ton plantations in North Carolina, in connec-
ton with the Rev. Horace James, formerly
Massachusetts, army chaplain. This farm is
situated in Pitt county. The following lit
tie circumstance will show how official posi-
| ton is prostituted to private gain "A dar-
| ky was discovered stealing from James
store. He was brought before James, who
| acts as an agent of the Bureau without pay
in the county in which he is planting, was
convicted and sentenced to dig bitches on
James farm While undergoing the sentence
he managed TO escape and made for the river.
James called to him to surrender, and as he
did not do SO he fred at him. The man
dropped out of his canoe and has never been
seen since. The case was referred to Colonel
Whittlesey, James partyer, and the Assistant
Commissioner of the State, who replied that
as the affair took place at night, and as the
body of the man had never been found, it
was not certain the shot took effect. There
fore no flu tier action was called for. Capt.
F. A. Seeley, Superintendent OF the Eastern
District, is cultivating Il farm IN Wayne
county. Captain Rosecrlnz, Commissary of
subsistence at Newbern, is partner in
firm in which Mr.. Brooks, OF Mass, is
leading member and which firm is running
| at least half dozen plantations in the South
1t has also been found that commissary stores
have been removed from the commissary
buildings before the usual hours of business.
In one instance, four barrels of pork were ta-
ken i'll this way and conveyed to grocery
store in the town. A brother of Captain
Rosencranz, who acted rs cOmmissary SER
geant, stated, when detection was unavoida-
bic, that the pork hail been carried to the
grocery by mistake, and that the mistake
had been Immediately rectified. The gro
GER on being questioned, stated he had the
four barrels of pork in his possession, and
that Captain Rosencranz had been to him
that day to ask its return. He also stated
that Captain RoscncranZ had exchanged at
least two barrels of white sugar for two of
Drown, Tor winch he pald the captain SIX
cents 4 pound in exchange. The fact is well
established that at Goldsboro' large quanti-
ties of clothing sent from the North for graf
uitous distribution has been sold privately
and at auction. Captain CLAWS, Bureau
superintendent for this district, is running
two plantations on his own account and one
for the Bureau. At Wilmington Maj Mann
and Maj Wickersham, permanent officers of
the Bureau, are both interested in rice plan
tations. Maj Wickersham, by his contract,
is bound to see that the freedmen work; if
they do not they arc placed in the chain
gangs. The effect of the system is to enable
the agents of the Bureau to control the best
labor in the State for their private interests.
The most singular feature of the whole is
that the worst cases of malfesance are found
at the doors of New England philanthropists.
Several arrests are reported to have been
made, and others are expected to follow.
We publish the above without vouching
for its correctness. We see no objection to
officers of the Bureau cultivating cotton
farms, provided they do so in just and hon.
est way, and do not, to any extent neglect
their duties. When we say just and honest,
we mean justice to both white AMI black,
and integrity in theuse of government stores.