The Indiana State sentinel., 1875-07-29
A HARDENED CRIMINAL.
SUCH JACKSON PROVES.


MONEY.
The Courier-Journal draws some serious
lessons from the Jackson deialcation. IL
says: One of the wisest of the human race
uttered many apothegms of rare excellence,
but among them all there is not one OF
greater worth than that which declares, "a
word fifty spoken is like apples OF gold in
pictures Of silver" A recognition OF this
truth would have saved all the ruin that
George n. jackson has inflicted upon large
number of persons who are now suffer-
ing because they befriended him,
hefriended him when, daily ard hourly, he
knew that he was entirely unfit to be trust
ed. when there was any property lying
loose near him that belonged to other peo-
pie. The most mysterious thing connected
with the defalcation, amounting to upward
of $4,000, brought about by the robberies OF
Geo. N Jackson is ia the fact that even in
OH ial positions, in the same building in
which Jackson, as an official, was enabled to
commit this stupehdOus robbery, officers,
who saw him acting cashier of the cOllec-
tions of this wealthy district, and who knew
that he was q thief, keps this knowledge TO
themselves. The deputy marshal who
went to JaCkson's hCuse on Thursday
evening to arrest him for this recent roo
berry is the officer who arrested him for forg-
ing voucher while he was clerk In toe
quartermaster's department, when Gen.
Palmer was commander of the military dis
trict of Kentucky. The entreaties OF Jack
sons mother and sisters wrung from Gen.
Palmer a reluctant consent to release the
wretch on condition that the money was re-
paid TO the qUartermaster. a poor man lent
him the money, and long afterwaTd Jackson
swindled him out OF a considerable part OF
the amount thus lent. When Jackson, in a
state of moral and pecuniary ruin, was hunt
ing employment in the Office OF the clerk OF
the District Court of the United States, the
marshal who had
ARRESTED HIM AS A FoRGER,
is said to have spoken in severe terms of the
attempt of such a character to procure rec
ognition or employment in the clerks of
fce. But this gentleman saw him installed
in Col. Buckner's office, in a position to
steal thousands of dollars, and remained 81
lent Had he given the information he pos
sessed TO Col. Buckner, be might have saved
that unfortunate citizen and his family
from ruin, Why was not this done?
ga word fitly spoken" would have
bsen to Col. Buckner and his friends
many 'apples of gold in pictures of
silver, in the Office of Col. Kelley, the PEN
sion agent, the chiei clerk is gentleman
who was in the quarterlnaster's department.
when Jackson forged the voucher. He was
thoroughly acquainted with the whole trans
action. From his desk in the pension Oh
the collectors Office. When be saw him In
this employment, even for a single day, his
imperative duty as citizen, to say nothing
of his official duty, was to go into Col. Buck
ner's Office and announce to him in the
presence OF Jackson: This man was con-
nected with a neiarious crime in the quar-
termsster's department in this city
into which you should look" This
might have saved Col. Buckner from
ruin; if it had not, the copsc ence o! 10
clerk would have been free II I'm he II
a very untimely and inexcusable retlcenca,
for surely no one can pretendstaat silence in
these circumstances was virtue. In addi-
tion to these official witnesses there IS gen.
tleman of great worth in this city, whose
testimony would have been obtained easily
he was employed at the headquarters OF
Gen. Palmer, aud was the officer who de-
tected the forgery Of the voucher. He Is not
ceusured in this matter, because we have no
reason to know that he knew OF
JAcKsoN's EMPLOYMENT
in the custom house. Also we have the
statement that member of a well-known
firm on Main street was cognizant of dis
honest &C. on the part of the defaulting
cashier, made evident some time before his
appointment by Col. Buckner. He had
proved himself thief while in the employ
Of this firm, yet, while presumably known
20 them as occupying very responsible po-
sition in which he had control OF millions of
money, no hint of his previous character
was ever given TO the gentleman who has
now been ruined by his dishonesty. There
is reason to believe that Jackson be-
gan his thieving OF the customs as soon as
be settled down TO his business and discoV
cred where the stealing could be done with
the least chance of detection. His ample
experience in this kind of work enabled him
to see that the tobacco stamps were the best
field for a thieving harvest. The whisky
and beer stamps were armed with checks
that showed his experienced stealing eye
that robbery connected with them would
lead to prompt detection. We hope that
the d sastrous results of the conduct we
have described will be fruitful in teaching
that silence is often criminal: esDeci-
any when man wellknown to be thief Is
placed in position of trust, in which his
dishonesty may infiict irreparable damage.
No man can be justified in commencing
notorious pickpOcket to company ofpeople
ignorant Of his qualities. Mr.. j. H. Almond
formerly a reporter On several of the city
newspapers, was employed during part of
the summer and fall OF 1874 by the secretary
aud manager of the Louisville board of
trade to assist him in the accumulation of
local, manufacturing and other
STATISTICAL INFORMATION.
These facts were to have constituted part
of the secretsry's annual report. The work
of getting the inform alton was systemati
cally and energeticsllv prosecuted for nearly
three months-the different interests being
first classified and then taken up separately,
until all of the representatives of each class
had been visited. Mr.. Almond called upon
nearly all of the tobacco manufacturers, and
obtained from them a statement under the
different heads: "amount of capital invested,
"amount of sales per aunum," "cost Of
product" etc. After getting these state
ments, in order to test their correctness, he
called upon Mr.. Ayres, in Mr.. Buckner's
Office, and asked him to furnish for the use
of the secretary and manager of the board of
trade an aggregate statement of the stamps
sold from July, 1873, TO July, 1874 the board
of trade year,, tor tobacco, cigars and ale and
beer. The statement given by Mr.. Ayres
Tailed closely with the figures already in
Mr.. tlmond's POSSESSION from other sources