New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-02-28


have tempered with the weigher, but without his
knowledge and consent. underweighng the cargo
could not profit him. But for an asserted loes OF
only $500 at most-a loss of which tho firm OF r
Balcn u Co. knew nothing, and by which they
gained nothing-their penalty was fixed at Sl4,JcO'
After holding ont for year the rm at the solici-
tation of their lawyer and to avoid further embar
rassment, paid the whole amount, $l4,50o; but Mr.
Baen now says that he regrets having yielded TO 30
manifest injustice.
T1IRTY-sIx THOUSAND PoR LOSS OF $3.50
The of Emanuel Hoffman, importer of To-
baccO at No. $40 Water-st. was settled on Feb. 70,
1870, the gross amount paid being $36,75l CO. The
penalty claimed upon q cargo Of 10000 pounds
of Yara tobacco from Manzanlo, Cuba, which 1t
asserted had been underweighed 1000 pounds
by weigher who, u claimed. had been bribed
by the of Mr.. Hoffman. Emanuel Hoffman de-
clares that the only possible ground for such
statement was that his gave the weigher $25 to
induce him to be careful and fair in weighing, and
that no himself knew nothing of the matter OF
dreamed that tho cargo had been rated at slack
weight until his books seized year after and
double the valne of the cargo demanded az pen
atty. TO avoid embarrassment and loss in business
and because of the handle which the informer had
in the act of his son. innocent in intent as that was,
he paid the S3G75l 60 demanded though the Gus
derweighing. lie denounced the affair artfnl
conspiracy to entrap him, and could find words
too strong to characterize the corruption In the
Custom house which made snch things possible.
A WRITTEN CONFESSION OF FRAUD by THE CUSTOM
HOUSE OFFICERS.
The case Of George III. Penniman ct al. was closed
May H. 1870. by the payment of $4,000. Mr. Pennl-
man, who is an oil merchant at No. l39 Front-st,
brusquely refused to furnish any details of the case
which he declared 1T would do no good TO bring up
again. He would simply say that he held written
admission from the officers by whose orders his books
were seized, that they had been in the wrong, but
declined to show this
MARKED INJUSTICE.
The case of Willett c. Ward ct al was closed Octo-
Der IS, 1873, by the payment of $4,000. Mr.. Ward
is an importer Of fruits at No. 90 Frontst. He as
serted that there wac marked injustice in the clam
made, but to avoid unpleasant publicity and more
embarrassment and delay in business, he yielded to
the extorton. As discussion of the matter now
would not regain the money, he declined to enter
into it.
JAYNE ADMITS CAsE A HARD ONE, But EXAcTs
$4,000.
The case Of j. V. Onatavia, importer Of sugars, at
No A Soutbst was closed March -, 1873, by the
payment Of $4,000. Mr. Onatavia said that when
man has been robbed it is sore subject for him to
20 over again and lie not willing 10 furnish the
full details of his case for publication. de SAID
that Mr.. Jayne himself admitted that his case was
an unusually hard one, in which, without bad intent
on his part, he had been put in such position that
heavy penalties could be extorted from him. He
compared the operations of such infomers as Mr.
JAYNE to those of the bandtti of Italy They catch
man by the throat. and then in effect ask him how
much he will give for his life. IT, he says, perhaps
$1,000 they answer, Pooh you're rich man.
Won must give $4,000 to get of = and finally, II
they think they extort no more they come down
TO $4,000 or 10000 He asserted that the feehng
against the exortions and corruption, the thieyery
and swindlina of the Customs Service If especially
strong in the sugar trade where the wrongs against
importers have been many and grieyons' One ugly
way of catching them on the hip is the following
The Appraiser orders the sampler to take samples
that will indicate the actual value Of each lot OF
sugar. If the sample is taken only from the
top Of the hogshead, the sugar will be lighter than
at the bottom, and will indicate higher
grade than the lot really belongs TO- In
selling the sugar the importers always show samples
of both the top and bottom sugar. III the top only
is taken the value would be set half cent per
pound higher than il realyis The sampler comes
to the importer and suggests that he intends to take
samples from the best part of the sugar. The I'M
porter points out the unfairness of taking from the
only, but mas III 10 CIose tho Va
the sampler to get him to dowhat is simply his
duty. That payment of perhaps $40 or $50 per
cargo 10 the sampler, to induce him to take the
trouble TO make fair samples, renders the importer
liable to the loss of the whole cargo, and several
valuable cargoes have been already seized on this
account and the importers heavily mulcted
THE CUSTOMS OFFICERS SHARES.
As previously stated fears are still entertained
notwithstanding Jayne was repeatedly requested by
the President TO resign and that when finally ten
dered it was accepted with uncompmentary
alacritv. JAYNE will be encouraged by the Collector
Naval Officer and Surveyor as well as by Mr. Butler,
TO establish Bureau of Informers and continue to
prev upon the merchants as heretofore. They cay
that these Custom House officers profit more by
Jaynes nfamy than by all other sources. That this
is true is very probable. as the following tables
show that the receipts from seizures OF the coee-
tor Naval Officer and Surveyor are immense The
figures and names taken from the off cial report
Although they do not occupy much space, II may be
interesting to know that it required the labor OF
three rapid accountants three days each to compile
these three tables and prove the figures
WHAT COLLECTIONS RECEIVED.
Chester A. Arthur. too,ofo os
Thomas Murphy .:.........'......'-''''''
Moses H. GrnDell. sy61g %
Henry A emythe ........... ............ l27l7 80
Simeon Draper ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 1872
Hiram Barpey Observation-Disclosures. coo
Total S7s,lSo0
WHAT The NAVAL OFFICERS RECEIVED:
s. A Merritt ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. +.l64 "a
George f. Dennison. 7ls7e