The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-05-11

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ing reading, and discloses state of Tacts
in regard to the management of that in
stitution which will certainly astound
the whole country. The witnesses who
threw the most light on the shameful
transactions, by which the poor, ignor-
ant freedmen were swindled out Of their
earnings were Anson M, Spery, c, B.
Purvis, Joseph G. Bigelow and j. J. Stew
art but in long and tedious examina-
tion of ]. W. Alvord, G. W. Hayden and
G. W. Stickney, great deal of valuable
information was drawn from them. The
first three named witnesses were willing
ones, and wanted to tell all they knew,
The fourth, Mr.. Stewart, was also will
ing witness, but his information was con-
fined to single subject. -,
Sperry was the general inspector OF the
bank for several years, and travelled
about the country examining the differ
ent branches. He showed that not only
were majority of the managers dishon-
est and incompetent, but he made it plain
that the concern here was wholly man.
aged from the beginning in the interest
OF the men who afterward became all
powerful in the District Government,
and at the same time Sperry shows that
there was the grossest mismanagement
on the part of the subordinate officials
The majority of the Finance Committee
was composed of Cooke, Huntingdon and
Clephane, who ran the business as they
chose, scarcely ever meeting to transact
any business in the regular place assigned
for that purpose. The first aCtuary, D
L. Eaton, was simply the tool of these
men, and his successor, G. W. Stickney,
was no better. The first cashier, w. j.
Wilson, and his son-in-law, Thomas 5.
Burton, were both dishonest, and one
clear case of forgery and theft is made
out against them.
The testimony of Purvis shows not
only the dishonesty and mismanagement
of the bank under the old regime, but
throws suspicion on the Commissioners
appointed under the charter to wind up
its affairs. This suspicion as to one of
the Commissioners, Mr., Leopold, is con
firmed by subsequent testimony given by
one of the members of the old Finance
Committee Leroy Tuttle. Purvis testi-
fed that Leopold announced, soon after
he was appointed, his intention of max
ing all he could out of the Office, and
Tuttle testifes that he was told by some
of the depositors that Leopold was trying
to persuade them to sell their deposit
books for 20 per cent. due thereon.
The testimony of Bigelow showed that
there was a conspiracy between Boss
Shepherd, his brother-in-law, A G..
Bradley-the same fellow who acted as
Babcocks counsel in the dealings with
Bell-and the actuary ofthe bank Eaton,
to swindle the heirs of Francis MCGahon
and the Freedman's bank also. This
transaction is most sCandalous one, and
Cresswell, who was then Postmaster
General, and now one of the Commits
sioners of the bank, was mixed up in 1t
in disreputable manner.
J. j. Stewart points out in clear man
ner the way in which the bank was led
to invest in District securities against his
protest. As its solicitor he had demon
strated that these securities were not a
safe investment, but in spite of this the
men who were managing the affairs
of the bank loaned large sums of money
on them, and often did not require sufi-
Cient amount ofthese deprecated seCuri-
ties to be deposited as collateral to secure
the loans advanced He saw how things
were goi and he resigned from the
Board of Trustees, and refused to act any
longer as solicitor of the bank.
Alvord was the President of the con-
Germ, and claims to be one of the original
founders of it. He seeks all the way
through his examination to evade the
responsibility of his own acts by claim
ing that he was practically ignored in the
Finance Committee. At the same time
that he tries 10 show that his associates
we're doing all the wrong things that were
done, he had to admit that he knew they
were wrong, and was nevertheless travel
ing through the South exhorting the poor
freedmen to deposit all their earnings
with the bank, which he knew was being
mismanaged.
C. W. Hayden, after a good deal of
trouble, was finally compelled to produce
the stock book and cash book of the
Maryland Freestone Mining and Manu-
featuring Corporation, or the Seneca
Sandstone Company, as it is more fami-
liarly known. The transfer stock book
shows among other the following:
Stub No. 12-200 shares of stock issued
to U. s. Grant, November %, 1867. Re-
ceived the above stock, W. s. Hunting
ton.
No. 1890 shares of stock issued to
F. d. Dent, November %, 1867. Received
the above stock, W. s. Huntington.
No. IA is for the same amount of stock
issued the same day to w. H. Seward,
and receipted for by Huntington. The
same day similar amount was issued to
Surgeon General ]. K. Barnes, and to
Caleb Cushing, all ofwhich was receipted
for by Huntington.
On January II, 1868, the stock book
shows a transfer of 100 shares to E. B.
Washburne, and on May 5th, 1868, 100
more shares to E. B. Washburne. All
these we're received and receipted for by
Huntington.
The cash book shows that no cash was
paid into the treasury of the company by
any of these persons from this stock.
There was considerable difficulty expe-
Hienced blythe committee in obtaining the
cash book, and it was not until February
20, that they were able to lay hand upon
it.
The Treasurer Of the Company, Hay
den, clains that DIR. Kidwell, II. NJ.
Dodge and H. D. Cooke, sold the stock to
the above named parties, but there is
nothing to show that these parties paid
in any money on account thereof The
whole amount of the stock, 5000 shares,
was issued to John L. Kidwell, H. M
Dodge, H. D. Cooke, J. H. Dodge and
Thomas Anderson. In January, 1870.
5000 additional shares were issued and
distributed proportionately among the
then stockholders The property was
purchased for Stall, and the money for
Improvements was secured by the sale of
first mortgage bonds, and by loans ad-
vanced by TIE Freedman's bank, on sec
ond mortgage bonds So far as the books
disclose, the parties who received stock
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