The New York herald., 1872-09-20
The Story of How the Robbery
aa $3.50 Was Committed.
What Assistant Treasurer General Hill
ss n. house Says About It.
An Interview with the Cevrnmsnt Expert
Who Discovered tht Delaleation.
The Loss to Fall on the As
sistant Treasurer.

The revelstons as to the defalcatlon In the Sub
Treasury made q genuine sensation In Wall street
yesterday. The statements which had appeared In
the morning papers were 80 contradictory, and the
statement from washington that the report had
been made out of whole cloth, only served to en-.
hance the interest Of the story. Itwas evident that
not alone the public but the authorities themselves
were totally at sea In the matter. was Johnson
swindler or was he An honest man That was the
momentous question. Nobody knew Johnson on
the street. He was not Of sufficient Importance
for that; but the fact that he could steal his
dreds Of thousands Of dollars gave him fictitious
value in the eyes Of moneyed men which can
only belong to either great nnanciers or
great sc0undrels. On the Stock Exchange
and In the Gold Room people were talking
about Johnson who never heard OF him before, and
everybody was asking the questions, "who is hef
What is he s'' and nobody seemed able to answer
them. 1t all showed that the man, whoever he
was, had opened o new road to swindling which
had never been heard Of or dreamed OF before.
Under such circumstances Q reporter OF the
HERALD was despatched to find out the particulars
Of the case. As before mentioned, nobody in the
street knew anything about 1t except what tho
papers had stated, and like unto the papers, some
believed that a defalcation had taken place and
others believed it had not. There was
NO SATISFACTION
to be had among the brokers. The thing didn't
concern them. and SO they knew nothing about it.
Had 1t been sto<as or gold then 1t might have been
different. But stamps, taught What had they to
do but TO buy them, and they were only waiting
until the 1st Of October, when It would not be
necessary to buy them any moro. rg
AHRRALD reporter then called In at the Treasury
building and asked for General Thomas Hillhouse,
the Sub-Treasurer
The reporters name was sent in, and Q
courteous request came from the inside to wait
while the General transacted o little business
only matter Of five minutes. In two minutes the
HERALD man was ushered In. General Hillhouse
seemed to be very busy, but welcomed the reporter
quite cordially.
WHAT THE sUB-TREAsURuR SAYS.
"Is there anything can de- for you ?" he asked.
'Only one thing" answered the HERALD repor-
ter. 'What about Johnson ?"
"That's the great question Of to-day, isn't 1t ?"
said General Hlhouse, pleasantly. "Well, know
no more about Johnson than you do"
"You probably mean as to where he is."
'.PrecIsely; that's what do mean.n Ia.
'sThe object Of my visit is not to know where
Johnson is, General. I guess we would both be q
long time finding that out. The question is is
Johnson guilty 4"
"That don't know" answered the General. IL
have my opinion, but that Is ALL"
'sHave you any objection to stating what your
opinion may bef"
'Not the slightest. I am sorry to say have no
doubt that Johnson Is guilty OF the charges which
have been made against him." 1 rleT ..,
''You did not 60 so far as this yesterday"
mo, that Ia true" said General Hillhouse; 'but,
you see, yesterday did not feel myself at liberty to
say anything / am ready to recognize as quickly
as any one that what is going on in public office
the public have right to know, and further
recognize the only means they have OF knowing
anything Is through the press. But In such q case
as this felt 1t my duty before all things to attempt
to nnd the man who has committed these frauds
As long as appeared to 4N
KNOW NOTHING OF THEM
my chance was very good to discover their perpe
traitor. might 60 to his friends and say "When
did you see Johnsons and pretend to be Interested
simply in his coming back and would probably get
straight answers. But II went to these friends Of
his and said, johnson Is criminal, want him,
tell me where you saw him last, their lips would be
sealed. Now, II the story appeared In the papers
it would be Just as bad as telling them this, and
Spesy But when ONCE % the
published in Washington, and from my SUPERIOR
why then my lips are uDseaed, and confess my
self willing to give you all the Information In my
And General Hillhouse leaned back in his chair In
readiness for any further questions. ie
REPoRTER-what were Jolnson's duties here2
General HILLHOUsE-He was at the head OF the
Stamp Department; he had a the stamps under
which he has held for some years. l always
looked upon htW or 3
and would have trusted him as much as any man
in the building. He was steady and never missed
REPoRTER--There was story anoat that he had
got on "drunk," /" and had stayed away in conse-
quence
believe he ever was drunk. No, he took his vaca-
ton OF two weeks and did not come back alter
that nor since. For some time we thought nothing
the frauds came to light. l11L-' ''' 80
REroRrER--You are certain there is dlscrep-
General HiILHousk.-T is a discrepancy be-
tween his accounts and the accounts OF the Inter-
nal Revenue Department In Washington. There is
just a possibility that 1t Is the department In
Washington which is wrong, and that Johnson may
turn up OF these days and prove US all to have
greatly injured him. But do not think this is the
case. The acts point to Johnson as the man, and
1t Is very evident that suspicion must attach to him
before ANYBODY else. af Di IrJIf -.r.
TO find Johnson at presents
General HnLHoUsE-Yes. But very likely by this
HE MAY HAVE LEFT THE COUNTRY
and be out Of our reach. II he Is he no doubt
waited around to see when the matter Would be
papers he thought It was time to go.
REpoRTER-Have you any clew to his where
General HILLHoUsE-wel have several detec-
tives after him, and we hope to be able to catch
him. But that is matter leave entirely IN their
hands. doubt very much myself whether he will
be caught, for man who knows enough to steal
the sum he has generally knows enough to make
away with IL.
REpoRrER~At how much do you estimate the
amount OF his defalcationY
General HILLHoUsE--we cannot tell definitely as
yet. think 1t viii reach $150O00, but that we can
not tell until the examiners are through with their
work. As yet the sum can only be matter OF
guesswork. Tney are now here and are advancing
as
RAPIDLY AZ THEY CAN
with IL.
REPoRrER-Have these examiners come here on
purpose to inquire into this matter?
General HILLHousR-Oh, no; IL Is the regular ex-
animation OF accounts. which takes place once q
year according to act OF Congress. Mr.. Leopold,
the head Of the examiners Ia an expert In accounts,
and goes round from one Sub-Treasury to another
searching for any mistakes which may have been
made. He just happened to come here at this
time. f l. .t tr
REpoRrRR-One more question, General. Had