The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-09-22
Conpoiiy's Stolen vOuchers-Light mt Last.

Some light promises to break at last upon
the dark mystery of the stolen vouchers.
Two men, the janitor of the new City Hall
and the captain Of the watch, are under arrest
and have been held for examination by Judge
Bowling on the charge of having burglariously
purloined and ruthlessly destroyed by fire the
precious documents. The wife of one of the
prisoners has also been captured and
taken before Justice Ledwith on a
similar charge. The parties are ac-
cused in the affidavit of one Mary
Conway, who was in the service Of the
janitor, Haggerty, as cook. 1t seems that
Mary rose betimes on that famous Sunday
morning when the Comptroller's plate glass suf-
fered at the hands of the robbers, and accord
ing to her statement Mrs. Haggerty, in night
gown arrayed, endeavored to persuade her to
return again to the snug shelter of the sheets;
but ''being as l am up" said the wakeful Mary,
II guess I'll dress myself" Accordingly Mary
did put herself into presentable garments,
and, leaving her chamber, her attention
was attracted by the sound of knocking Be-
ing doubtless imbued with the customary
amount of feminine curiosity, Mary deter
mined to ascertain who it was that was
knocking at the door," aud she was re-
warded by the discovery of the two men issu-
ing from the Comptroler's Office, with bundles
of papers in their arms, tied with red tape
and Mary is very precise, as a lady ought to
be, on the subject of the red tape.
Afterwards Mary found the kitchen
CRATE filed with the ashes of these
bundles of paper, tied with red tape,
and saw one Of the men carrying away yet
others, stuffed into a pillow case. All this
important knowledge Mary kept to herself
until last Wednesday, when her conscience
troubled her, and she unburdened herself to
Comptroller Connolly. not, as she naively ex-
plains, s'for any reward money, but to
clear the Comptroller in the eyes of the
people,"
There appears to be some sort of fight
going on between the Police Justices for
the possession of the prisoners implicated
by the conscientious Mary. Two of
them have been taken by the Police
before Judge Bowling, but the Committee of
Seventy, who are just now running our NUM-
cipal affairs, seem to have an especial desire
to arraign them before Justice Ledwith, and
the latter has actually succeeded in getting
the female prisoner into his clutches. 1t is to
be hoped that full justice may be done in the
matter, whoever may examine the case, and
that the parties who stand behind the accused
may be brought forward to take their share
in the punishment At the same time it
must not be forgotten that these are
not the only vouchers that have disappeared
from Connoly's Office. If Haggerty and
Baulch are found to be the guilty parties in
this instance, let the committee next 60 to
work to discover who stole the vouchers that
disappeared before Mr.. Watsons death.
There is something quite as mysterious
about the first robbery as about the second.
1t seems singular that Deputy Comptroller
Storrs sitting on one side of a desk,
should have addressed formal letter
to Auditor Watson, sitting on the other side
of the desk, asking for return of the
vouchers, and that the letter should have
Dead men tell no tales, and it is convenient
now and then that they cannot contradict
official statements. But, as there is just now
q fever for investigation, why not bring Con-
molly the younger back from his European
travels, and ascertain whether he has it
in his power to throw any light upon
the first voucher robbery? Haggerty
and Baulch are secured, and it would have
been fortunate for them if the lesson of the
former loss had served to make the Comptrol-
Ter more careful of such documents. Now
let us know something about the Watson
batch of vouchers. They embraced some
heavy and important accounts, and the people
would like to learn whether they, too, have
been smothered in pillowcase or reduced to
ashes in cooking stove.