The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-01-23
His Own Account Of What He Wanted
and How He Got 1t.
'That Letter of Grants" and An.
other from Washburne to Come.
Is a Guest Who Pays an ''Hon-
orary" Boarder?
The Profits of the General
Order Business.

After the usual budget OF letters had been disposed
Of Colonel G. X Leet was called, and, having been
sworn. was examined at length In regard to the de.
tails OF his general order and bonded warehouse
business. the pecuniary results OF which were as
follows for the year 1s7l:-Expenses, NOT including
carriage, s943l1 "a; carriage, $751; sos 90; receipts
Sos. ese 6s. The profits, therefore, were about
U.s. 900 year, si2 900 OF which was received from
She bonded warehouse and sac 900 from the general
order business This evidence was Of course, only
She prologue 70 the Examination In regard TO the
means by which Colonel Leet obtained the business
Thc letter Of recommendation from General Grant
having been produced. was read. tits as follows:-
w.su,noT E1Eo e y M Mnss 4 ,sss
DEAn slnTha win Introduce TO yGS Colonel e. Lss
DAY, from the vcksbarg forward staa officer.
Dsore The q a FOR
f. ne new sSs ~ as
~ qualities necessary 70 inspire confidence Yours
Colonel Leet was then examined as follows:-
Q. DID you threaten Mr.. Grinnell or any one that
unless he gave you the business You would have
him removed2 A. No, sir; mad no influence to get
him or any other oHlcer removed.
Q. Was there any one Interested with you In this
business besides Mr.. Bixby when you first went
Into 1t? A. No, sir.
O. Was General Porter or General Babcock In.
terested In NS A. No, SIR.
O. Did you ever give either OF these gentle.
men any money IN consideration OF This business4
A. No, sir.
q. What about this messS A. did not belong 10
any mess at the time got this business, nor after
wards; was living with my family; have been
married eight years; both General Porter and Gene-
eal Babcock had families also, and were living with
them they lived IN the same house. at 1O8 street;
lived for some time with them, not as member
snveh n favpntlU hnfa Inf rAotrn
thing; soon alter the war General Porter rented o
house, and had mess, so that we might 1--we more
few months; my family were not in Washington ut
that time; when lived with General Porter and
Rabcock was only a guest, but insisted on pay
ing art OF the expenses.
q, Then you were a sort OF honorary b0arderf A.
! suppose SO; owned no part or the furniture and
Was moi responsible for the rent or expenses In any
way; think was not with them longer altogether
than lew moitbs-,ron about April or May, 1868.
wiz" Via, did you Contribute VIII IN gu were ineres
A. About $40; certainly not more than $50; the rent
H. the rent was only about $40 month.
q. When this arrangement was made with Mr.
have certain guarantee and MALI the profits
t1o0oO the profits were less than $4,000 was to
o. How many stores were occupied by Bixby
during your continuance with h,mf A. TWO
that arrangement continued until June, 1906 bixby
then Still continued IN the same business. but wcng
,nto partnership with Mr, Stocking and Mr. Horton
Q: what share OF the general order business was
assigned to you them A. we had the French line,
the Williams g. Guon, the Anchor line, and osi.er
tines Of transient steamers landing on the North
nverj alter while air. Horton got frightened and
Afier few questions In regard TO the prices for
storage. the witness was asked-Have you not
We have charged az high as s25 for single pack.
age; that was carriage for mr. LoIillard
by you are too nigh inc Collector can make you re-
duce Ihem2 A. Yes sir; the rates were originally
Tor together, and the charged higher than
thus speced; The Collector can reduce them TO that
standard; that list Of rates however very incom-
Q. That carriage that YOU charged $25 for was not
IN It suppose; suppose you had charged $3.50 for
pr A. In such case as understand 1t, the col
IcctOr would have power 70 reduce 1t.
Q. In your experience, have the complaints made
resulted In reduced chargesS A. There have been
very few appeals; we nave reduced them ourselves,
when We nave received reasonable complaints.
mines the charge Tor each package as Is enters the
0. Did you ever tell Mr. Lindsay that your share
Of IS 900 was not equal to your mess bills in Wash.
Ton! A. No, sir; never told HIM any thing OF the
Q. 1t has been stated that your nrm has been in
che habit OF brbing inspectors to hurry goods up to
your storesf A. II rs not true. SIR; suppose the
we're paid for IL; That would do us good, because
It would give US great many more packages.
order from the Custom Housea A. Ali goods that
have not especial permit come TO our store; Of
vessel
Q. Have losses OF goods from cases been frequent
We have never lost case. -
r do aes 0n i q c sSsas
Of profit TO u.s. on the contrary, think lose
o. DO you ever have any unclaimed goods ,nat
you have to keep lor year, although they are not
@ nat Is y no NJ the cse les
q. Then your only source OF profit Is labor and
storage; on which OF those Items do you make the
ers all the tme even though We have not enough To-
o. Your statement OF net profits at s4s 600 for the
general order business, ana $4,000 for the bonded
warehouse buslness-wno made that statement up 2
A. MY bookkeeper, but am satisfied OF its cor
Q. What liabilities OF loss are there in this busi.
ness7 A. Ii case should he aDstTacted IRON our
store we would be held liable; IL might be q pack.
age OF diamonds, worth $4,000; We are responsible
for the honesty Of all the men In our employment;
We do not insure building, but the goods them.
solves are insured: acting as warehousemen we
are supposed 10 take gooi care oi the goods, and
q What, then, is the use Of having these two
government storekeepersY "A. The storekcepers
receive and enter all goods, ana they exercise q
general supervision over the goods ana tney are
Obliged 70 We present In The store rom sunrise 10
witness then gave in detail the particulars OF
elr en %ens 20 AZ e eraGe
There is plenty OF accommodation Ia our stores ol
the entire general order business our stores would
Mr. A. 4. stewards goods for various lengths u
ume-s0me packages only y lew days and others fol
thirteen months and half.
O. DO understand you TO say that you do not
divide your profits with any one except Mr.
stockingY A. NO. sir; no one else has any interest
IN the profits nor have ever promised any one else
any share oil the profits.
Q. How old we're you when you enlisted IN the
army A. Tweny.slx; came from Pennsylvania,
Allegheny county; left there when was yeal
old. but never returned; entered the army IN 1852
4 became q member Of General GRANTS stan III
October, 1853. aud combined there all through the
war; after The war closed / sill remained
as Assistant AdJutant General; remained there
till 1869; was then on special duty with General
Rawlings IN collecting and putting Ia order the
recoras OF the war; rendered my resignation in
February, 1870, 10 take eject six mOnns hence;
tney then gave me six months leave; went out on
Ion