Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-09-21

and subservient majority in Congress stood
ready to supply whatever legislation was
necessary to enable these sharpers to carry
out their predatory designs. Their first
step was to secure an amendment to the
charter removing the freedmen's infallible
safeguard for the security of their deposits
the wise provision that the funds of the
institution should be invested only S in the
stocks, bonds, Treasury notes, or other Sc
curities of the United States.' This bar
rier to fraud removed, the remainder OF the
work was simple enough. All they had to
do was to help themselves, and they did it
without pity Or remorse.
BY the amended charter authority was
given to invest one-half OF the deposits IN
bonds or notes secuted by mortgage on real
estate.'' The loans of this class were gen.
orally made through the firm OF kilbourn u
Latta, as brokers. They also acted as the
appraisers of the real estate on which the
money was lent. AS might be expected,
the property was often falsely valued, be-
sides being subject to defects OF title and
prior liens. In this way bad debts were
created in Washington alone to the amount
of 81 ,473, ,226 .55. So much for the real es-
tate fund. We come next to the investment
of that portion of the funds which, for the
purpose of distinction, was denominated
the E'available fund.- This was profess
edly so invested as to be at all times subject
to repayment on demand, and in this way
practically subject to the check Of the OFF,
GERS, in order, as the charter expresses it,
''to meet the current payments of the cor
poration.' An immense sum was thus
invested in scrip which was absolutely value
less, or else was loaned to the tools OF the
Ring without any pretense OF security what
ever. A. B. Mullett obtained a loan on
shares of the Morris Mining Company OF
Colorado. Alexander W. Randall without
any security, Hallett Kilbourn and John o.
Evans on second mortgage bonds of the
Seneca Sandstone Company, +. III .Gassaway
on shares of the Seal Lock Company and the
Metropolis Paving Company, j. M. Brown
on stock of the District Car Loan Company,
HoltZclair and Bruff on shares OF the Cap
itOl Hill Building Association, j. V. W =.
Vandenburgh on claim for work on the
Washington Aqueduct, on bill for work on
Virginia Avenue. on certificates OF the
Board of Public Works, also as Treasurer
OF the Abbott Pave Company, and others to
the aggregate of many hundreds. This
sickening list comprises pay vouchers OF
! school mistresses, domestics, laborers on
the public works, and pretended claims OF
| all sorts on the bankrupt treasury or the
District OF Columbia.
| 1t is perhaps but just to state that the
names of Boss Shepherd, Measurer Bah
| cock and President Grant do not appear on
/ Spe roll Of defaulters to the bank. Neither
| do find the name of Rutherford B. Hayes
! OF LnaG OF w IlllaIl A. w utciSl,
| both of them, as Representatives IN Con
| gress. stood by, like Saul of Tarsus at the
stOning OF the protOmartyr, conSentlng u
the plunder of the unhappy freedmen. Mr.
| Wheeler, let it be borne in mind, Is hlmsel
a banker, and he at least could not plea(
ignorance Of what was going on. Besides
it is a sound political maxim, as 1t is an artl
Gle of Democratic faith, that 1.-The party il
power is responsible for all legislation Will
in power In many of the thirty lou
branch banks which, without authority o
law, had been established in various part
Of the country, as feeders to the main con
Germ, the officers seem to have followed IN
example of those in the parent institution
bv embeZZling or Otherv ise wasting tn
funds in their control. Palatial banking
houses We're erected. Peculation, vast
and fraud everywhere held high carnival
While this wholesale robbery was goln
! on, repeated efforts were made 10 lnduc
, the majority in Congress to order an lnVestl
CATION Of its affairs. Mr.. A. NJ. Sperry, tn
General Inspector OF the bank and II
branches, testifeS under oath that for wv
! years he knew that this colossal instltutIo
! was Systematically robbing nearly hun
dred thousand of the colored population I
the country; for two years he had pre-
nOunced against it in the councils OF tn
! Corporation; for two years he had sougi
Congressional investigation. To quote n
own words. and for reasons which Will al
pear III TIC ScuuSis dSh Noui
J tention to this point: - For two years, Nj
Chairman, | have been working to get
:. Congressional Investigation He furtht
, swears:
= - The affairs of the Freedman's Bank ought
| have been wound up long before, because IL w;
| a very unwieldy and anmanageabe Hnsttutol
Z and have been trying for year or two 10 ma
q L wound up. The cashiers at most OF |
= branches were a set of scoundrels ana % tnieve
e / mean particularly those at Beaufort. Jackso
Il Vile Florida, and Nicksbnrg. These fellow
Il We're all thieves and scoundrels, ana made
= bones about it. The casnler at Jackso.lSi a. !
: son in law, without security, in order TO ma
n up deficit which the SON n-law had IN his
: count tax collector in one OF the counts t,t
d They were all thieves and scoundrels, bat IN
% were all pious, and some of them were MN
% ters The cashier at jacksonville lie is mlnlst;
10 and to- day he has large Sunday school. !
almost all of them are ministers.
u In order to convey any thing like an ad
"a quate idea Of the atrocities perpetrated
: the management of the bank, it is necesS
- | nv to refer to the manner In wnltn Lhe
~ counts were kept. The experts employ
,, by the investigating committee testlhed
,S follows:
n We found leaves cut from the original ledg
a, leaves without number pasted together, b
= ance, not brought forward, and OF which, at l
:, date no trace has been found; and these on
y sions occur in every book so far examined.
OF is our privilege as well as our duty TO state I
l. a more perverted arrangement could scarcely
D. devised by human ingenuity, If the design
nt been to obscure the transactions OF the lnsu
- tion Incompetency at the beginning may
~ made an excuse for paipable errors ana ON
sions. But when eminent bankers (hke lie
ed d. Cooke ant William ). Huntingdon direct
IL vestments and indicate the business OF the in
ry tuition, this apology faiis.
ly But not to tresspass. my friends, too Il
OF upon your time, | hasten to the hnai cat
It's tropte From the moment that the Gr
n gang cast their greedy eye upon the milll
Il. which the poor freedmen had saved fr
IL their pay and earnings, the doom OF
,ir bank was a. inevitable as the grave.
sum of suffering and woe occasioned by.
9. failure may be family estimated when 1t
" known that the unpaid depositors mum
g nearly one hundred thousand, scattered
IL over the Union. but mainly in the South
he States. The funds of many Of their char
EN- bile societies were lost in the general wre
er The Hon. Joseph II. Rainey, OF south Ca
Ter lima, himself colored man, IN MS spe
ed delivered in the House of Representatl
nd on March II, depicted the distress WI
'ty had heen inflicted upon the colored Tac'
to the consequence Of all this criminal T
- tiioacy. | envy not the man who can