The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-07-11
THE ALLEGED CUSTOMS FRAUDS.
Examination Of MI. A. O.
DOOlittlP.
The Defendant HOnOrably Dis
charged.
UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS COURT.
Before Commissioner White.

1en0onh son OF senator DOOttle, OF WlScOnsln, was
charged with implication in alleged frauds said to
have been committed by certain weighers Of the
Custom House. The other parties charged are A. W.
Van Wrinkle. Henry A. Smalley and Edgar M. Carr.
Separate warrants had been issued the arrest of
these parties. Two Of them, Doolittle and Van
Winkle were arrested and baied to await exami-
nation Smalley is at present IN Europe, and Carr
has not yet been found. The circumstances attend
ing the swearing OF the adavss against the accused
and the arrest Of three Of them are as follows
About four weeks ago Mr.. A. b. Cornell, United
States Surveyor, suspecting fraud IN the of
Mr.. william ]. Carr, an ex- weighmaster OF the
custom House, exhibited them to Mr. Moses ii.
GrinneiI the Collector The latter at observed
that the services OF unnecessarily large number Of
weighers were charged for small amount OF goods,
and on further inspection, became convinced or
the existence Of extensive frauds He directed the
surveyor to use every means Of seeking out other
cases Of the kind, and the result was that three
more ex.weighmasters, Henry A. smslley Jacob
T. Van WinAle and A. o. DOolltte, Jr, were
found to be defaulters In their accounts All these
officials had been appointed by ex-COllectOr
Smythe, az the close OF President JOhnsOn's i'm
parchment trial.
DoOttle is the son Of the ex-senator from WiscOn-
sin and Van Wrinkle Is the Of the Senator from
West Virginia. They were all removed by Mr.. Grin
nell on his accession to ONCE, but Van Wrinkle sub
sequenty received the appointment Of inspector
which he held until his recent arrest DOolitte and
Van Wrinkle were arrested but Smalley is absent In
Europe and Carr cannot be found.
The charges against the accused are that they
made irauduient time and pay rolls Each weigh
master has u district, and Is allowed foreman, q
deputy and certain number OF Overseers. There
Is gang OF five men to q scale, and an overseer
cents an hour and are required to sign q
voucher Tor the period they have worked, speci-
flying the number OF hours of each day. The
Weignmaster certies to the correctness OF this
voucher on oath. When approved by the Surveyor
the funds Tor the payment OF all the men under his
control are PAID to the weghmaster, who then pays
his subordlnates returning the pay roll with his
endorsement.
The foregoing gives in substance the charge
against the accused.
Fhe examination of Doottle occupied several
days. resulting In his discharge yesterday. The fol-
lowing are the principal points In the testimony
JOhn J. Rowan sworn for the prosecution Am eX-
amner OF accounts IN Auditors office, Custom House.
for December 1868, produced, and for January and
FEBRUARY, 1861 The pay rolls for weeks ending De-
cember 8, December 10. December II, December "a
and d. cember 81 were presented and examined; all
the pay rolls tor January and February passed
through my hands; have no doubt those are the &C
previously Signed by the Surveyor or Deputy.
AnsOn r. Adams swOrn-Was employed by Mr..
Carr and later by Mr.. Doolttle; was employed by
week ending December 81, $14 co. Tor January Z
81, for next week SIS 49, succeeding week $l7 90,
ceived all the money that had performed work for.
lPay roll Of week ending January showed to wit
for weeks ending December IA and 81, also for De-
cembsr 81; don't know man named Arson Adams
Donaldson; told Mr.. Jayne OF those things
William Folay sworn-W0rked for defendant,
DoOlittle, weighing old iron; on the Both received
three dollars and sixty cents for work done; same
during week ending 18th; was paid for oil the work
did; received no other money from defendant dur
Donaidson pad me; supposed he kept the time
have an impression signed a receipt: am now en-
p!Oyed by weigner Blatchford have been paid by
Francis McGrane sworn for prosccution-was en-
ployed In weighing department., Custom House;
kept no account NJ time; worked week ending 4th
January, to the best Of his opinion; the most he
ceived any week In January was sixteen dollars;
during four weeks may have received fifty dollars;
the receipts sgned IN blank; no other party Of
nis name under Mi. Dooittles employ; all the pay
rolls arc receipted by me In my handwriting.
CrOss-examlned-Has been employed on and on in
the Custom House since February 4, 1869; have
signed pay rolls weekly since that time, invariably
IN blank; has been In the employ OF three weghers
IN shat time; seldom saw poottle there; the
sms ann
Mathew II. Cooper swOrp-Live at 23l East
Thir!y-ninth street; was last employed as foreman
for Mr. Spler, United states Weigher was connected
with Mr.. DoOittle as foreman while he was wegher;
worked with HIM about two years and q half ago,
has goods to weigh he has his foreman to do the
business; Mr.. Doolirte was only casually there; it
was business to collect the time from the various
gangs; as mater OF fact 1t was not customary TO
render the account Of time to the defendant far
as have any knowledge the time was honestly
given to Donaldson the time clerk; IL has been the
practice with all the four weghers to enter against
. mans name more than he received; never made
OUT any kay rolls os sn wa a@e Of tho once
was put down to labor; that was the only way that
rent was paid for did not know OF names being put
down on pay roll previous to election OF persons
Wlnam Donaldson sworn for the defence-Am the
some Of the pay rolls; made them out on January
and February 1869; defendant never made one out;
defendant took the pay rolls to the Custom House
and received the money, but Mr.. Cooper or myself
paid the money out; Mr.. Cooper directed me to put
In work" &C, on pay rolls; defendant never
directed me; when presented pay rolls TO defend
ant l represented them correct; there were men
sent to us rom the Custom House 10 perform work
but VINO used not 10 perform as much work as they
were PAID for.
INSTRUMENTATION was paid to Mr.. Cheese
bor0, believe; never knew John Long as laborer;
ceipted for the rent 'lab0r;' received all my in
structons from Mr. Cooper as foreman; he directed
me to put in the items have named, rent, &C.; the
defendant never instructed me to do so.
Mathew H. Cooper recalled-The same Office was
used by all the three weghers that worked under;
Mr. Doolitte never made any change; Mr. Pomeroy
Insisted upon changing the word rent, and he went
TO the AUDITORS ounce and was there tod 10 put
down the item as labor; and after that we did so;
James l.. Benedlck sworn ior the prosecuti0n-Am
special deputy surveyor; have been for sixteen years.
look after the weiRhers; am empowered to employ
ali necessary labor; was allowed nothing for rent, as
rent but fty dollars for storage OF tools or rent.
John Long sworn for the prOsecuti0n-kn0ws The
defendant; knew the place ne occupied once;
was agent for Cheseb0r0, and collected the rent for
him; never received more than fourteen dollars
month; never signed pay roll, and never authorized
any one to sign ior me; gave receipts on slips OF
paper.
Cross-examned-To the best OF my knowledge
Mr.. Doolttle never paid me the rent; he was some
times In the office when collected but whether he
knew what was about can't say.
Charles A. Howard sworn for the defcnce-Am
employed by United States Weigher, William NJ
Este; have been employed In Weigher's once since
March 81 was IN the same capacity In 1852 and 1853;
made out pay rolls; when men worked little time
but were not there to sign the pay roll, put their
time opposite other mems names; this he believed
was the practice OF all weighers; the practice has
been changed since this investigation commenced.
william J. Bunce sworn-Was foreman weigher;
Henry H. smith made out pay rolls; got the men to
sign when could get them; when / could not get
them to sign would put their time to other mems