The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-05-03

The reference made in these columns yes
terday to some historical incidents rclatin!
to the Capitol has revived in more speci
fic manner one or two facts. There wa
indeed robbery in the Capitol, but not il
the manner rumor has stated-not by tho
sliding. down Of the robber from attic Il
basement through an open space left by thu
builders in the middle walls. The Urea
surv Department was not kept at the time
in the basement, and such 4 space did not
exist. ..,.....sr.
In 1902 the Bank Of Virginia was char
tered, and from its establishment the no.
new Of the State was kept OH deposit in that
bank, the State Treasurer being constituted
n director of the bank. When the Farmers
Bank was established, the State deposits
were divided between the two banks, and
It was provided that the Executive should
appoint four directors and the stockholders
five in each bank.
In 1911, while General john PRESTON, OF
Montgomery, was Treasurer, the robbery
above alluded to took place. Owing to the
damDpess of the basemcnt-room occupied
by the Treasury, the Treasurer was permit
ted to occupy the northeast room IN the
second story during the recess of the Legs
lature-thc same room formerly occupied
by judge MEnEDITH's Circuit Court ana
lately bv the Governor, his aid, and the
Secretary of the Commonwealth, the large
room having been sub-divided into three.
In September Of that year, in the absence
mr.
happened to arrive the same day, ana the!
paid into the Treasury. at late hour, Il
considerable sum of money, which the chic.
clerk was unable to count and receipt fol
before the banks closed. During the re-
ceipt of this money JouN MCCALL, who haa
been a clerk il the Registers office, ana
knew all about the capitol, appeared at the
door of the Treasury and sa" what wa.
going on. He secreted himself in the ROOT
Old Colonel QuARRIER, then captain OF the
Public Guard, locked up the building after
the officers had left, and MCCALL came from
his lliding-place, and at leisure broke
through the partition wall and abstracte"
the money received the evening previous
ind not deposited. 1t amounted to some
thing near $4,000. MCCALL, having hi>
prize. quietly awaited the opening of the
doors in the morning, and walked away
unobserved. This event created, in city
of some 5000 people at that day, trench
dous sensation. Some weeks elapsed before
the thief was detected. A portion only OF
the money was discovered, at a house Of
ill-fame. MCCALL had fallen on evil ways
from having been IN efficient and trusted
elerk-had turned quasi gambler and given
himselfup to bad habits. lie was convicted
and sent to the penitentiary.
The next point touched by the rresen
rumors is the case of GERMAN BAKEE' III
and his friends ousted General PRESTON
and, singular to say, the hue ana cry raise'
against him was on the score OF some mode
rate deficiency in his accounts and his sue
ressor was, after few years, the larges
def,n,lter then known in the country.
At that time the Trcasurer's simple checl
was sufficient to draw money from tn
banks. BAKER used his privilege for hi
own account, and employed the State fund
for his personal benefit. His orerdrat
finally became so large that he found it i'm
possible longer to conceal it, and, driven t,
despair, he took his own life. He did no
kill himself in the capitol, but in his Owl
house-the building now owned by Mr.. Z
II. MEADE, on Sixth street north Of Leigh
He took laudanum first, and then, fastening
one end of his suspenders around his throat
and the other to settee in his parlor, he
sulfocated himself by showing himself from
the settee with his feet. This was in 1881
The sunaof the dedication was near $50, 600
His sureties to a very late day were heavy
sufferers on account Of his infidelity, and
were appealing to the Legislature for relief
1t wasafter this that the present secure
system of checking was adopted for the dis
bursement Of the State funds by the Chase
ment officers 1t was chiefly the invention
of the late venerable Mr.. JAMES BROWN
Second Auditor Of the State.
The most OF these details we have iron
the venerable Mr.. THOMAS DREW, now II
his eighty-ffth year, who is hale ant
hearty man for his age, and his recollection
is as fresh as that of man Of thirty. HI
was In ths Theatre when it was burned In
1911, and has lived TO see the next greatest
calamity that has happened in Virginia.
pa ss-- ---------------------------------
1t was. MI. s, WILilAa A. BUFFERS, of Chi.
..,, sose,afs ss5o fny ffa sufferers and !, M