The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-06-24
Uncle SANS srRoNG.B0x.
The Recent Mysterious Then OF e45 900
How General spinner once Shptured


IConsspondsnce Chicago Inter ooesn.I
WAsH1NcToN,. June 4. 1875. The ons
topic ali through the eits IS the Treasury
robbery. In departmental circles the ex.
element is very great. and each clerk and
especially. clerkess. has a theory of hoa
when. and why It was dene. or coura
the facts OF the discovery have been tele,
graphed all over the country, and we.
who live in the very shadow Of the depart.
meat, know no more about the MATER
than you Chicago people. The papers
this morning are full of hints and assur-
anees that the culpfits viii be arrested be-
fore night, but fancy all that Is glitter
ing generality complimentary 10 the de-
tecfive force, for the man who was plucky
enough TO steal nearly $50, 600 In broad
day light, under the Eyes OF TIVE nty Pe0ple.
would be adrof enough TO bold on 10 u
for awhile, any how. Every visitor TO the
Treasury remembers
THE CLASSROOM,
that spacious and sunny ap- rtment panel
ed and fioored with no less than twenty
different kinds of marble, foreign and do
nestle. n he counting and sealing Of the
packages OF money 10 be sent away goes
on In the northeast part of the room in a
corner screened with glass partitions, AND
every bundle Is counted and recounted,
sealed and resealed, and done up IN such a
tangle of red tape generally that you
wonder how even its rightful owners ever
get it. After six clerks have performed
all the prescribed ceremonies over lhe
packages. these are taken TO the elevator.
which is nothing but piece of the floor
that lets down into the express Office di
rectly below. This elevator, which al
ways reminded me of the guillotine. is the
vault which adjoins the cash-room ana
communicates with another vault above
the room of the Adams Express Company
below. To this waiter the money has been
tracked; there il disappeared, and as the
waiter is dumb water, it can't tell any
thing about IT,
Isuppose one result of this disturbance
will be the total exclusion of visitors from
the vault, for the clerks connected with
the vault and cash-room very Justly refuse
To be re- ponsitle for money II
= A PROCESSION OF STRANGERS
passes in an out daily. All the cssh-room
lying behind the counter l. supposed 10
he stTicriy private even messengers are
excluded. and the vault is intended 10 be
still more carefully guarded; but the Gus
tom prevails pf admitting pei pie by card
finite annoyance of the clerks and the dis
appointment of the vi TORS. For there Is
absolutely nothing to SEE in the vault;
there isn't one cent visible; true you
know tpar inThese aem ure brown envel
opes and monotonons yellow boxes, piled
tier above Tier on their iron shelves, art
millions and millions of dollars, and the
z, nGleman VITO. with christian resignation.
does the Lonors OF the gloomy spot, amir
ably allows you 10 tlihk thai some com
he elnpties cut of a canvas bag ION an av-
e age twelve Iimts day.. is the " JEFF
d Wis p0iti',-the gold that was captured
an J' Il; bur between you and me. the
original = JEFF Davis goldn was melted up
long ago. All say the same thing when
they get in there:
oh MY! WHERE'S THE MONEY ~
and then tia, Y b,id ii Sl.U00 In com and
Trey SAY: '0u! amt it awful heavy"
and then hel hold s 600 900 in paper
and lucy say: '.0hl amt it awful
light, jail do Iteiitw and then the patient
ci'eraf lets fheln take up a 5 1, 900 600 or
$50 600 GO package of unsigned coin GER
tificates. and then they say: "Ohi let's
run away with it y and then they go on
tn ar way rejoicing and the much abused
clerk IN charge locks up coin and curren-
cy and trits to do some work. Occasion
ally tourist makes an original remark.
remember one very gOrgeou>ly appareled
bride they are nearly all brides) who on
" spoke once while she was in there and
then she looked all around and above her
and said (: Don't this look like pawn
brokers' shop?" We didn't ask her how
she knew.
During Inauguration week visitors
trooped in there at the rate of 500 dav.
AL work had to be suspended during the
regular office hours. They were admitted
eight at time, and the clerks relieved
each other showing the "Jeff. Davis
gold ~ and the other lions. A messenger
who came with many of the parties was a
gentleman of great huency of speech and
think impaired great deal of interesting,
if not original. Information TO the for
tunate hundreds he escorted. ..-
Il suppose the number of visitors Just
now is very large" one of the early
corners said to him. "Yes, rather" re-
pied the guide, graciou>ly, but only
faint fac-simile of what we shall have next
week."
THIS ROBBERY
is the most serious that has ever Occur red
in the Treasurer's ofice-indeed, 1 be-
heve, in the whole department About
twelve years ago General Spinner had his
suspicious aroused by the sudden increase
of fortune of one of the Registers clerks
who was doing duty in his office. He
told the Register, but the man had such
an excellent character that his chief re-
fused to doubt him. But the General
worked away at his theory all by himself,
and he found out that, sure enough, the
clerk was stealing-stealing every other
day in the week. by taking half notes out
of packages cancelled for redemption,
piecing them and presenting them for re-
demplion second time. The General
kept his own counsel very discIe etly for
some time, and it must have cost his
frank, outspoken nature severe struggle
TO carry on such an organized dissim la
ton. But finally he got all his meshes in
good working order, and one fine after
noon he respectfully requested the Secre-
tary to step down 10 his Office, WHITTIER he
had invited the Register and the Chief of
the Treasury Police. Then a message
such as Is heard i'm the Office forty times
day, that "the General would like 70 see
him" was sent 10 the clerk, who answer
ed it promptly and unsuspecting. As
soon as he crossed the threshold, the Gen.
eral walked over to the door, locked it,
turned TO the Secretary and other officers,
and said: "GeBtlemen. this mans name
is =. He has stolen $40 600; if he says
he didn't he's liar, for have the
proofs" After which novel but direct
way of administering Justice, the General
left them to deal with his prisoner. The
money was all recovered, think.
Another time he played detective, and
BY hiding behind door discovered a wo-
man stealing notes from the clerks desks;
but that amount was small, for, hr says,
WOMEN ARE TOO cowARDIY
to take big sums. In 1870 $4,000 was
stolen from the Division of Issues lin the
Treasurer's Bureau) by two men who
came into the room with party of visitors
whom collector Tullock was showing
through The chief of the room thought
they were Mr.. Tullock's friends, and Mr..
Tullock thought they were the chiefs
friends. so they passed leisurely down the
lsng aisle, and while one addressed a
question 10 the messenger, who was