Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-09-30
ROBBERY OF COUPONS.
y. wade, Charged with the Rob-

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y. wade, Charged with the Rob-
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Considerable excitement was caused
in Nashville few days ago by the arrest
of Mr.. w. Il. Wade, chief clerk Of the
State Comptroller, on suspicion Of alb
stracting from that Office about $4,000
OF coupons, $1,000 of which were
fundable, i. Q. such coupons as by
former acts Of the Legislature the Comp
troller is required to issue in bonds upon
their presentation. This funding act
was passed several years ago, and the
market has since been stripped Of these
coupons. Mr.. Wade had told a clerk of
Mr.. I. S. Mari, banker, that these cou-
pons were for sale. The latter asked
Mr.. MARI the value Of them. Mari was
surprised at both the character Of them
and at the Comptroller clerk having so
many for sale. He saw Comptroller
Pennebaker and Informed him of the
facts. a Union and American reporter
visited Mari and obtained statement
from him, the material portions of which
are subjoined. Mr.. Mari says:
The Comptroller seemed TO think
that something was wrong, though he
could not suspect the clerk, Mr.. Wade.
Without going fully into the details as
to what transpired between myself and
the Comptroller, / will say that he asked
Mr.. Wade how he came in possession OF
those coupons. He said that > X.
Joynes, of Memphis, had left them with
him for sale. The Comptroller agreed
with me that circumstances were very
suspicious. Another very suspicious
circumstance, both to him and me, was
that 1880 of these coupons dated back
to in 1856, long previous to the funding
act, and long previous to the date when
the State ceased to pay It's interest
Mr.. Wade promised to write to Mr..
Joynes in Memphis, and get from HIM
an explanation Of the delay in the pre-
sentation of these coupons, so as to re
move all suspicion"
A forged letter was returned from
Memphis, and it soon appeared that no
such man as r. Joynes resided IN
Memphis. Mr.. Wade was arrested, an
at present is confined in prison to await
investigation. 1t has been discovered
that about $4,000 in coupons are mis-
sing from the State departments. The
following explanatory card from Comp
trolIer Pennebaker appeared in the
Banner of yesterday:
The article in the Union and Ameri-
can of this morning has left an impress
sion upon the public that the coupons in
question had been taken from my office.
They have never been in it, and least
since my term began. Every. coupon
which has come into my hands has been
we'll cancelled, posted in books, and
careful count this week shows every one
here to speak for themselves-so there
has been no negligence here.
| understand that by some | am cen
sured for not having Mr.. Wade arrested
at an earlier day. In reply thereto |
have only this to say, that | preferred to
belive him innocent until the contrary
was proven, and thought it best to await
the return of the agent sent to Memphis
to investigate the matter before making
a public arrest. AS long as there was a
doubt, it was no more than humane to
give him the benefit thereof. The case
will soon undergo q judicial inyestiga-
ton, when all the facts will be developed.
On that trial the proof will show that
all necessary steps were taken by me.
The abstraction of these coupons ante
dates the present administration many
months, and may lead to further discov-
cries. "a. ED r. PENYEBAKER,
Comptroller.