New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-02-06

Can YOU s.a Ir,ited states from the evidence de-
rived by the seizure Of books and pape OIL the mer-
chants he amount You gave on Saturdays A. Yes
OF so,,tor Bavard-That sum, you say resulted from
cases where YOU had sezedbooks and papers alone A.
examination was made at the house 5000, .,o 700.
d What the payment IN that casef a FlooOG
that IS included in the s656,OO0
THE PROCEEDS DIVIDED.
senator In giving the amount on Saturday you
stated what was paid to the Governments now how much
was tho informer's sharei A. About S15OO, as figure
iup
O. would like to inquire what proportion yQp 70
ceved for yoursefi A. by the books of the Treasury
Department. would be shown think to have received
t25.OOO $4,000 less than that. -
wSald be about $4,000 suppose; ,. " ,.
charged TO upon the books of the Treasury Depart
ment-been awarded TO me- ~
O. Did you retain all that awarded TO you or ava
You divide it with othersi A. divided with others,
frequently.
O. To what extent1 A. I suppose $4,000 or $4,000.
O. Can't you tell how muchi A. cannot tel! exactly.
J. How much would that leave youl A. $4,000 to
senator Pratt-n all these cases the goods had gone to
consumption, ana the Government had lost duy upon H
and the recovery of these judgments the United
would have received nothing in the shape OF feye
nue. from the goods A. Yes. SIR except where the
suits are in rem and the two cases. OF so5oO and
O. understand you to say that the mOiety received
by the United states largely in excess OF whaI wou
About three times, Think the account OF duty upon
the goods against which suits were lns'ueu was uo
SS9O gold suppose reducing that 70 currency az me
rates at which gold was selling at the ume' "ouo p"s
ADRorr swINDLING.
O. Have YOU any other general statements to submit
to the COmmtteel A. would state that in portion
Of these suits the Of the examination was the ey
dence found in these dockbooks in the prosecution OF
those examinations was led to discover other khus OF
frauds a., . ,.,
same firms: where short weight had been
obtained in the examination of their papers, having their
other frauds than that particular kind for instance.
man would have importation of coffee or sugar; the
would make correct return of the weight, and then,
by collision With hqndating clerk inside the
the entry by destroying substituting some other fig
raa l the e ORSS the S ana ons
there were 1000 boxes Of sugar the appraiser
had classified them 800 boxes below No. II Dutch
standard entitled to pay cents duty per pound and the
other above 70 and below IS, entitled 10 pay 81
cents the weigher had returned the sugar at 100000
pounds the liQuidanc clerk had qudated the entry
though was 100000 pounds and as though all Of the
sugar had been classified mt cents In these cases the
lna warehouse entries with the invoice upon which
The classification had been made were withdrawn
the CustOm-hOuse and destroyed; / suppose
they were destroyed, at least I was unable to find
them arrived at the result by taking the records OF
the Cus'om-house ana reproducing the papers;
singular fact and 1t is true that under the system
one paper that be DESTROYED but what that paper
can he reproduced, with all its checks, BY person
Appraisers Department will show what the classihca
ton was the record kept at the Cashiers desk, the
records in the Surveyors Office viii show what the
weight was, il it was goods paying specific duty-nd so
al through the different Departments.
The Charman-Are there, in that respect, sufficient
strucon of papers A. There is sufficient check lut
for the tremendous volume or business which makes
NcwY0rk CustomhOuse much like searching for needle
O. Is the difficulty in the system7 A. The difficulty
moi III The system, think; yet there are, doubtless,
yn m1sP d e a l hS Se
Of coffee; was it done by collision between the importer
aud the hqu1atins clcrk7 A. 1t was.
q. Do you know who the clerk vast A. Yes. Sir.
q. Is he 10 the employ Of the Government now a.
lie IS not
@ DO you know anything about the seizure OF the
papers Of Ezra Wheeler3 A. do.
@ What you state about that1 A. I had learned
that frauds had been committed upon the revenue by
Wheeler Co.. that they consisted in some SCI OF
manipulation with regard to entries 0f tea went
o the records and got al the bond dmbers Of the goods
hat had gone into bond; : then made search for
10 entries; l found tae warehouse entries from
gone then made search for the corresponding
npcr7 u iae Collectors ONCE in the Naval Oficc;
arch IN the Appraisers Department for the records OF
hose impoItaons where me warehouse entries were
allowance that had been made and the percentage
'ty Of the goods damaged; / then got up the dock
BOOKS filed In the Surveyors once ana fOnnd what the
original returns had been in the Surveyors ONCE COM
Jared those with Naval Office copies OF the warehouse
ntres and found that upon three m2ortati9ns OF tee
here had been 1900 pounds thrown on making $1,000
Inference in the amount Of duty paid another dnsrehcG
IN ty nj
made mention will say however, that at the time
ne seizure was made had reason TO believe that Mr.
an an examinson in Efforts to obtain the evidence
had The evidence reproduced, so coud ten eXactly
n1 mon those two; account Of his sales were kept
be same books as the others; was enabled to prove
rom - books where found copies OF the original ln
ces with amounts Sold that fraud had Deen com
ncd upon the five entres those were by iaise AQnda
O. With whom was the colusoni A. The ooliusiOn
with man by the name OF Davason lu,uaeiiihs
,crk i'm the Naval Office; 1t Of necessity required colu
,on IN both the Collectors office and the Naval Once;
he clerk at 5 n2 S S nave been Unable to
ind him from that time until the present. ne had Az
he only direct proof that we had OF the collision and
rand and he accepted by the United states AtVor
- Isbe IN the Custom-house nOwi A. No, Sir; he was
,cinoyed Immediately by Mr. Grnneu' the theh Naval
o. So one of these clerks removed and the other
bad abscondedi One had a9sconded previous TO tat
On account think, of being detected III sone HIegu
This was In collision with the firm of Ezra Wheeler
& Co.. any other parties tot A. Either some memDer
Df The Arm ia tie interest OF the trn sup
sosed that COLLISION with of the clerks OF te
sonse: the money was paid by former clerk Of MI.
Wheeler: paid 10 the iquidatlng CLERK. ~
amount paid think was Oneqnarter Of duty saved;
when we went 10 the Office Of Mr.. Wheeler, his books
store we did not them in his Office. but we found
confusion; hut were so close that Mr. wheeler had
he books brought back took 1t for granted that
,omobody in house knew better than we did which
cooks we wanted he Sooxs yerT we assorted
hey had taken away and they brought them back
senator stewart-Was it understood that they were
,oxed up DC delivered TO !ou or to be kept from yon
Soks' however somewhat mutilated but was enabled,
~ analysing the accounts, commencing WIN the edSef
Tie Northumberland was tho result Of your inquiry
hereI A. The result was that suit was brought ftr
e recovery Of S12Osl7 CO. which was the value OF The
i've importations and confession Of judgment the
part Of Wheeler Co. for that amount MI. .. a..
q. Was that the amount they paidf A That was the
amount they paid.