The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-01-24
TuE CUSTOM HOUSE COMMITTEE,
Another Days Examination Of
Custom House Officials.
Senator worton's General letter Of Recommends.
ton to Mr.. Stocking Not Given for any Specific
Purpose-Some:hing About Pilfering from
Cases-Mors Complaints Of Extortion.

but slim attendance of the outside public and the
proceedings generally were extremely duh. no new
facts being elected.
The following correspondence was read
To s4x s o. Ss
AND KETnxNoHNENT;-
~ % =
submit sSs% os r -, ' 1917
"Hon THOMAS MURPHY, Collecior:- 49, '--'S' 80
~ % u. asss @ s!Ss
so6e s Oh: 81 s %s rom Esnp sS
The p: s IL: % e
% the @ b s % BE-
to hold you personally responsible for s return Yours
"a protest. of which the above copy this day de-
gSssd a. ne Custom House, y Az %a''
"NEw y9ax zig. N, March lsn:
into ii. Ssr Il aa s re-. %ss. +, %
@ nsSS sa sa 4. % ss
asd y applied +. Custom House. FOR
aud deliver same direct from the ship Before thai wa;
saS a. s s4ss sat "
goods which had boon landed from the vessel Beev
a . ssas
the amount refunded 70 mo- am &c,
up. Son other side will be found copy Of protest"
sIn am directed by the secrctaryto acknowledge
hs
5 % per Of It,
ease the has approved the decision Of the said
you ere referred for parHSu!as am 49,, n.
wnTlooK 3d. Is South street, u New YorS"
on receipt Of the letter from the Assistant Secret Of
cosots which stated a' near as w smey
sss w
to ses Ike fasy H upSn s
subject H. was shown article Ss Of rey;sd warehouse
seemed to fully Justify the 0olsoior in making charge
In reference 70 the injustce Of such regulation would
$ na m Ct s 0 Ss
spss ss S ( ss The s
as s4 's %
va. SsaScsd q skrssaa.r'ss q cent per bag Che
II anything more necessary to show the ipocy. MOTTO
collecting the duties imposed upon the Importation Of foreign
% s spd S o i the s Sdo
Sna for I'm eS n I %a BE- sund IN
w
f. ssan:s Without SsPF
The letter was ordered to be Incorporated with the
evidence, and copies sent to the Secretary OF the
Treasury for further Information
ExAMINArIoN OF CUSTOM HOUSE OFFICIALS.
Edward H Birdseil sworn-Am Custom House
S OF e. ~ 81 HE% Of nG bs us1n
o. Have you ever given gratutty 10 an In
speCtOrS A. Yes; 1t was to man named Wood; l
be love 1t Is common practice; the gratulty was
given to prevent the goods being sent to the de,
livnr nrflnr utn Yas ouna fftnn
AVOIDS annoy ance; the suggestion OF the gratuity
did not come from the inspector; he merely con.
called the Spain saved our firm SIS by gratuity
OF $l0 In the case VI another vessel the goods were
O. Was that money In your Sn'V opinion brpeY A.
No, Sir; thought 1t was to some extent recon-.
pense for our goods occupying the dock; the money
O. DID you pay the money yoursclfs A. No. sir;
only agreed that the firm should pay 1t.
Daniel A. T0npkins swOrn-I am deputy Collector
having charge OF the public stores; have been In
that position over two years. The witness then
proceeded to give tediously minute account of the
workings OF the public store business. He con-
fesSed that complaints OF abstraction were fire.
quent the total amount paid for carriage in 1871 Tor
goods from every point S7S 2l3 ~, 900 pack
ages; on one occasion as much as S25 had been paid
for the carriage OF single article, AN enormous
carriage; the ticket made out when goods are re-
ceived contained the mark ana number Of the case
and the name OF the ship and the Inspector, but not
so marked with stencil plate; the rent OF the
public $66, 010 they did call the car
man to account when he brought goods In bad or
Q. DO you know OF anything that you would call
mcnstrous abuse In connection with your depart.
melt2 A. No, sir.
H. B. Law, sworn-Am q Custom House store.
keeper, and am familiar with carting business; q
clerk never received goods In bad order from car.
man without telling MIN that the goods are In bad
order; am on duty rom eight A. NJ. I'LL sunset and
W. r. stocking recalIed-The letter of recommen.
dalton from senator Morton is as follows:-
wAsHINeroN, D. c.. Jan. T. 1870.
r. 4 nm nd
mine whom have known for several years. take pleasure
saS .ns
lIS.: AND confidence rsDosssS;sy or MORTON
rs.eesluy II Sss Governor Morton h.. said
ehssray recommend him fsXsgsss Very
WILLIAM y KELLOGG,
This letter was given to me by Senator Norton for
another purpose, put thought myself justified In
Examiner in tho
tHsf casiSH House are aicqetaeE jp9 general; In
short; IN such cases. as soon as one case Is found
short send for the consignee and open the rest in
are either distracted In the packing room or
somewhere on the 0tner side; IN one instance the |
Sew IS waS
IN that case, for the theft to nave been committed
on board the ship or IN tue genera! order store;
both in the public and general order stores; case
short never passes through our Appraisers onice
the merchant 10 complain OF goods being short
though ! had not reported 1t so; my
conclusion In that case Is that one dress was stolen
after examination; the case was repacked after
had examined II; was not looking on when ne
did 1t, because that would be PHYSICAL imposs.
bility considering that omen sixty or seventy
cases day; the only security we have for the hon.
esty OF our assistants Is their good character; have
four men under me whose business Is to open and !
repack the cases tnat individually examine; I
paid myself for the dress stolen; while have
been In my present position, two years and
half, there have been four cases oil this kinds three
OF them have occurred curing the past year; IN
one case box OF kid leather gloves was stolen; IN
another case IL was proved that the Camden and
Amooy people had stolen two pieceso or goods out |
Of q case passed by me; In another case am GER |
tain tnat half dozen gloves were taken by the ex-
press people; the cord and seal Is no protection
agains: small piece being broken In case and |
things being taken; we never send goods away |
except In perfect cases.
,rl,aa GnInrnirtoa ihan adionrnad unfu haif-nasf