Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-11-07
MORE ROTNTY FRAunS.

1t appears that the thieves and swindlers
regard the government under Grants adj
ministration as proper subject for spolia-
show that they have Piled fhaffi 'i vocation
more successfully during the Present-Tak-
er'S reign than during the administration Of
any other President we have yet had. The
Washington Republican Radical) says in
its issue of Nov. A: Investigations are on
foot by the proper Departments relative to
charges against Judge J. w. Wright, of this
city, formerly OF Indiana, in relation to the
collection Of bOunties and pensions due In
dian soldiers of the Creek, Cherokee, and
Seminole nations, who served on the from
tier during the rebellion. II IS said that
payments aggregating hundreds of thous-
ands Of dollars were made to Wright, who,
it is alleged, forwarded part of the money
to his agent in the Indian Territory, then a
United States pension agent, and was by him
turned over to the members of ring OF
traders, (Wright's son being one,) who
were instructed TO pay the Indians in whis-
ky and gew-gaws from their stores. 1t is
further charged that the Indians received
but about 20 per cent. of the total amount
of their claims, and that this amount, in
most cases, was paid in suffers goods, for
which exorbitant prices were charged. Rep
resentatives of the Indian soldiers came to
Washington some time since and laid the
facts before Secretary Delano, who at once
ordered commission of investigation. In
formation is said to be in possession of the
Government that large number of the
applications for pension and bounty were
prepared in the name of deceased soldiers,
and the money obtained from the Paymas-
ter-General upon forged receipts in the
name of these same dead men,
1t appears that some Of the more intelli-
gent Indians, becoming satisfied that they
were swindled, complained to Maj. Craig
an officer of the regular army, stationed in
the Indian country, who recently reported
to the Indian Office that immense frauds
were being perpetrated, not only in the
payment of pension to bona .fde complaints,
but by the wholesale manufacture of ficti-
tious claims, backed up by forged affidavits.
TOillustrate the manner in which additional
bounty was procured in many instances
where the soldier died before it was paid by
the accounting officers of the Treasury, the
following extract from one Of Wright's let
tiers to his confidential agent in the Cicero
kee Nation is given:
"WAsHINGToN, d. c., Aug. q, 1o69.-
DEAR SANDY: | hold the
receipt of the widows in each case, but ]
fear it will not pass, and if | file them in
the Second Auditors office, | NAV lose
them, so forward me seventeen receipts
with no names on them but yours as a wit
ness. | wish you would
send me blank receipts in the name of the
soldiers. 1 think my original power is
sufficient to endorse them, and | will do
so, but say nothing, and as soon as you
send them will get the money"
Here followed list of seventeen names
of Indian soldiers, all of whom were dead.
1t appears that Wright's irregularities "
were discovered some time ago, and he was
called upon to straighten out the crooked
places. The Washington Star of the Sd
inst. says:
"As the status of Wrght's accounts with
the Indian Office was not deemed Satisfac-
tory, quiet investigation was recently Or
dered by that office, which resulted in the
discovery that his disbursements were not
properly vouched, and he was called upon
to produce bona fide vouchers covering
about 1885, 600, the total amount of his dis
bursements being about 100000. The
vouchers, which it was suspected were spu-
| rious, it is now stated have been suTepti-
tiOusly withdrawn from the Indian Office
within a few weeks past, it is believed by
some one in Wrght's employ. a simple
list or abstract of these vouchers was left in
| the place of the stolen documents"
The soldier and the Government are
equally the prey of the harpies that have
sprung up like mushrooms all around Grant,
and they have had full sway for nearly three
years. ....... ...