The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-08-12
THE TREASURY THEFT.
UNRAvELLING THE,MYsTERY.

A dispatch to the Sunday Chicago Tribune
,zivas an sccount Of the capture of the S47,-
OO0 treasury thieves: Elmer Washburn,
chief OF the secret service, has been follow
ing for Two months the clew which seems to
have led 20 the discovery OF The
nerson Who on June 2, in
broad daylight. so mysteriously rob-
bed the treasurer OF S47,5CO. The story In
brlef is Thu: Benjamin b. Haileck, clerk
in the eash-TOOm, has from the outset been
suspected. He WAS one or the persons
through W hose hands the package must nave
passed before being placed upon the eieva-
tor 10 % carried 10 the express room. le
was his duty 10 affix the seal to the envel-
ope. and it was easy for him to have
known the nature OF the package, and
to have understood that IL contained
only National bank notes, Of whose number
there was no record in the department. From
that dsy his every movement has been
Swallowed ty the secret service force.
daily reT ort was made OF his life, showing
every place he visited, every drink he took,
every dollar he expended. IL was soon Cd
served that ne b. gan to frequent more than
usual the saloon of one William ii. Otman,
on PeDnsylvanl avenue, near Iwefth
street. There be frequently became lntoxi,
Gated and lost considerable money a. small
cards. The
sUsPTCIoNs OF THE OFFICERS
wore further aroused from the fact that
Ottmsn was in some way connected with
the Jackson defalcstiOn in the treasury
some years ago. washburn Immediately
adopted the theory that Halleck had stolen
the money. and had made Ottman a confed-
crate to assist in disposiDg of the large
bills. IL Is rumored that Gilman has. at
different times, shown several bills OF large
denomination, and has said that he intended
to sell his saloon here snd buy one in Brook
lyn Tor $4,000 This theory adopted, both
these parties were Swallowed, as was subse-
quently an old gambler with wooden leg
called ''Peg-leg Brown" The latter seemed
to have come into the partnership very
early, bet attracted less attention on account
Of having lett the city almost Immediately
after the robbery. IL was through Brown,
however, that the arrests vera pfecipitated,
as win oe seen. Brown was mere when the
robbery was committed, and immediately
left for baltimore. While there he changed
some $500 bills. This fact was Immediately
inside known to tie offit'eTs here by the
Baltimore detective. 3 wn then went to
Canada, where ne dispos. q; OF $1,000 in $500
bills. He subsequently, went to Saratoga.
Here the cupidity OF some gambling asso-
ciate whom he seems 10 have made his c0nn
dant brought the dete, lives upon him The
Washington City dete ives and the Secret
Service officers had bean following the same
track. Ten days ago Detective Miller, of the
city force, received 81 telegram from Saratoga
informing him that Brown was there, and
hal a good deal Of money. Miller immedi-
atelv went there. The proposition was then
made TO him ~ shake" thieves slang tor
dividi6g the money ard letting the man go.
Miller was
TOO HONEST
man 20 yield to such temptation, and re-
fused the offer, out by some ruse deluded
Brown into coming to Washington. Miller
, has no authority to arrest Brown in New
! York, as 90 was only Washington local
officer, and not a secret service detective
, Brown came, and it is said did net know
even that Miller was detective, but thought
him q pal OF his friends. They arrived
here together on MONDAY. Since then
Brown has been under forced arrest. To-
day his attorneys eudeavored TO
secure bis release on habess
corpus, but he was remanded by
the court, which thought in such case q
man could be held on so strong suspicious.
Meanwhile Haileck, the treasury clerk, left
for New York on Monday to take his annual
months leave. One of the secret service
shadows followed him. He was tracked to
Tiffany's, TO costly jewelry and ssddlery
establishments, but was not detected in
passing any $500 bills. BE made agreements
to purchase. He was Joined in New York
by an unknown person, whose eescrip-
ton was Immediately telegraphed to
Washington. This description was exactly
that of Ottman, the saloon keeper. De-
tective McDevitt had by this time got on the
trail OF Halleck in New York. McDevitt
TO-DAY ares. both Halleck and Ottmsn in
New York, aud arrived here with them to-
night at O'Clock. McDevitt was informed
of the New York address OF Halleck through
the treasury department. The trail which
both the Secret Service force and the local
detectives have been following for two
months seem to have been the right one,
but the arrests were precipitated, and
"a ~ raria
OF the gambling friends at Saratoga.
SUNDAYS DEVELOPMENTS.
A dispatch to the Chicago Times of Mon
day gives the following later details: The
developments to-day in the case ofthe treas
Hry robbery of the $4,000 package of money
are very full and complete. 1t appears that
the clerk, b. B. HaIleck. was merely
stO0l-pigeOn for William II.
Ottman, the saloon keeper, and that
"Peg-leg" Brown was only implicated in
the robbery to the extent of being used to
get rid of some of the stolen money. Hal
leck is one of Gen. Spiuner's own ap-
pointees, and his residence is at Spinner's
home, In New York. HIS father, Uni
versalist minister, was burned ap in rail-
road accident, leaving his family in very
poor circumstances. Gen. Spinner came
to the relief of the family by giving the
young man an appointment. Hslleck has
always borne good reputation. He
IS fellow extremely subject to influence,
and was used Oy Ottman, who surrounded
him with bad associates, and persuaded him
to commit the robbery. OttInan was the
man who put up Johnson, treasury clerk,
to stealing $4,000, and appears to be an old
hand at cOrrupting clerks. Halleck's wife
visited him at the station to-day, and, at the
request OF Gen. Spinner, she persuaded
her husband to confess. This confes-
sion implicated Gilman as the principal.
Gilman kept the whole sum after the robbery
was committed, and only dealt out small
sums to Halleck and Brown. Halleck says
he has thus far received only $500 in money.
1t appears, however, that Gilman bad trans
ferrec to Halieck his saloon on Pennsylvania
ayenue az valuation of $1,000. From all