Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-05-29
AT LAST.
The Sad Story of the School Fund
of Tennessee Officially Told.
Fraud, PeCuIatiOn and Thsft---S20,
900 in Bonds Stolen.
George R. Butter Tells a Tale, and
Gives the Real Names Of
3 the Actors.
The Greatest Of all the Wrongs In
fictsd upon our State by our
Late Radical Task
Masters.

maoAOA0a l
From the Nashville Union and
american, of Friday, we copy the fol-
lowing STORY Of our School Fund"
! which will be read, if not with pleas
ure, certainly with profit by the
friends Of the APPEAL. It shows up
Radiealism in its most hideous form:
Mr.. Speaker: The Special Commit
tee, raised by Senate Joint Resolution
No. z, adopted November IL, 1863,
and subsequently authorized by an act
passed February y, 1870 to prosecute
during the recess of the General As
sem bly,, the alleged frauds connected
with the School Fund of the State of
Tennessee, having done to the best OF
their ability all the q uties imposed
uTOn them, the said com mittee desire
to submit this their report to the Cen
eral Assembly. The conn uittee We're
under the impression that to system
atieally prosecute the investigation Of
the so-called School Fund frauds 1t
would be necessary to follow the Bank
of Tennessee from the time it ielt the
State in 1863 until the same was re-
turned in 1865, as this bank was tHS'
custodian of the fund generally known
as the School Fund, and which was
said to constitute or make up the
specie assets of the bank. IL was the
/ custom of the bank to render from
| time to time statements of the eOndI-
ton of the affairs of the bank and its
branches. From one Of these state
ments-the last that was rendered,
and published at Chattanooga in 1863
I'VE find that the specie assets of the
bank consisted of 5000, 1852 65, gold
and silver. This Was regarded
as the School Fund, and was
put up in kegs and boxes, and
| sealed. From the deposition
of h. l.. ClaibOurne, who was Tor a
number of years principal book
keeper of the Bank of Tennessee, we
learn that there were no sources OF
diminutiOn, except the salaries OF the
officers of the bank, from the assets OF
the bank from the time of the state
ment referred to above, until the bank
was turned over to General Upton
ard brought to Nashville. Pursuing
the investigation, the committee learn
further from the deposition of the
said ClaibOurne, that when the assets
| of the bank were deposited in the
! vaults of the different banks in the
city of Augusta, Ga, one keg contain
ing about $4,000 was not deposited
! along with the other boxes and kegs,
| from the fact that the vaults would
not admit of it, and was under
the direction of Mr.. Fisher, the
| Cashier of the Bank of Tennessee,
carried to the counting-rOOm of a firm
doing business in Augusta, Ga. Some
time after this, the witness ClaibOurne
says he saw Mr.. Fisher removing
/ some bags of gold from the counting
room of the firm referred to, and that
he supposed the bags to contain gold
taken from the keg spoken OF, and
were being removed to a place OF
greater safety, and that he heard
nothing more from this keg or bags
taken from it, as he supposed. From
the deposition of Mr.. j.. g.. Stewart
we learn that he occupied a room
with Major Joseph Naulx and John
a. Fisher, at Augusta, Georgia, and
that a part of the assets We're deposited
in this room, among which was one
keg, marked $4,000, and contained
gold, and he was informed by Messrs.
Fisher and ClaibOurne that S5O,OO
was what the keg contained. In 1860,
March or April, Mr.. Stewart LETT An-
gusta, and upon returning, the keg
marked a above was gone, where ne
do not know, but gave the commit
tee differences and impressions that go
materially to substantiate b testl-
mony of Mr.. Richard McCpnn, who
informs the committee that he was In
Augusta, Georgia, Just before the sur
y GNl-z-nI 4 naf1 .nNwuw in TAkh L
and stopped in the same with
Mr.. Fisher a short time before the as
sets were seized by the United States
authorities. Mr.. McCann slept with
~. Fisher, the Cashier, and in con-
VersatiOn with him he said that ''the
thing was about gone up referring
to the rebellion), and for fear of there
being a capture OF the bank and its
officers, he would provide against
any such contingency, and would re-
move a certain keg of gold, said to
contain $50, 600, in order to have some
thing to go on, as he said. The witness
heard Mr.. Fisher tell one Riya, |
an Italian, TO take sthe keg out to
his house, q short distance from
the city of Augusta. The keg was
accordingly moved that night, and
the witness knows nothing further
with reference to its final destination,
and Mr.. Fisher made no inquiry as to
the whereabouts of the keg next
morning. Nh. Mccain further states
that he is confident that this keg was
not turned over to Gen. Upton or any
of the United States authorities. This
Riva referred TO is, according to the
best information, now in Italy, having
Immediately after the surrender gone
to New York and from thence to Ita-
ly, as is supposed. From impressions
derived from various sources and h
inferenees and eireumstantial evidence
afforded the committee by the various
witnesses, they cannot eXOnerate Mr..
Fisher from any criminal connection
with the actual appropriation OF any
of this money referred to, though his
after life from the time of the surren-
der, was characterized by poverty
rather than riches; but the committee
cannot come to any other conclusion
than that through RiVa and said Fish
er, the State has ultimately become
loser to the amount of $50, 900 in gold.
Whether any action should be taken
in this case is for the Legislature Of
the State to say; but the,committee
are OF opinion that, cOnsf4Ting all
things, it would be wisest to allow
this to go into that general account of
losses and degradation that has so
long burdened the State. The Com
mittee were led, from the voluntary
statement Of witnesses, to prosecute an
incidental issue with reference tOsOme
wagons and mules belonging to the
Bank of Tennessee, and brought to
Nashville by n b. Lanier, who says
! that he came from Greensb0FOugh,
Ga, to Nashville, after the surrender;
that he had three mules Of his own,
and subsequently bought Of John A.
Fisher FIVE more, making in all eight
mules, which he brought through
with him, and two wagons. Three Of
| these mules were seized by the Fed
/ eraI forces, and were never recovered
by him; the others he sold. Accord
ing TO the deposition of MI. Mccain,
| Mr.. B. Lanier owned no teams, and
that the teams referred to belonged to
the bank, and that he heard Mr.,
Fisher frequently speak OF bank
teams,n and in the witness 0wn lam
elage, he SAYS: 81 am confident b.
Ianier owned no teams" Mr.. Stew
art. in his deposition, says the Bank
| of Tennessee owned two wagons and
eight mules, which were brought
| through from Augusta, Ga, by HIM
self and b. Lanier, and were left at
J, b. Parrish's livery stable, in Nash
Vile. They received a permit from
| Gen. Upton to bring this property, be-
longing to the Bank of Tennessee,
thrSugR To and vJorn di-