The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-04-15
A STARTLING BURGLARY.
MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF
BOOKS AND PAPERS.
Crooked ways Of crooked sugar, Cotton
ana whisky Men.

For several years past Mr.. Martin
Gordon. ~ well known business man q
New Orleans. whose Office is on Caron
delet street. has had in his charge. and
stored In "a secure apartment OF the
fourth story Of the building in which he
has his office, books and papers OF q
number Of his friends and customers
Among these were papers Of >. !. Griffin
and A. II. D'Moza. Mr.Gordon has him
self kept the key Of this room. andiit was
impossible to enter ii except by the door
Thursday last he visited the room in
which tho documents have been kept
and was astonished and COMPOUNDED at
the spectacle which met his gaze.
THE ASPECT or THE ROOM
The widest confusion prevailed on
every hand. Iron bound chests, double
locked large boxes which had boon Sc
curely nailed scattered fragments OF
books and papers, covers OF books,
s,naIls boxes. otc were torn or broken
open and lying scattered around. and all
the documents, except n few scattered
fragments. were gone. The leaves 81
the record books were cut out and, with
the other documents, carried off and
the backs alone left behind.
THE GRIFFIN AND D'MEzA PAPERS.
Tho papers of s. =. Griffin had been
securely enclosed in tin boxes, these
placed in heavy wooden boxes and nail
ed up. and finally deposited in chests
and locked These were all broken
open and carried off. Not u vestige Of
the D'Moza documents remained. Mr..
Gordon has instituted an investigation
into this daring and extraordinary bur
glary. but 50 far has found no trace of
the robbers.
THEORY OF THE BURGLARY.
Only one rational theory Of this bur
glary has been advanced. In the
palmy days Of 1866 and 1866, $. =. Griffin
was Interested, with A. s. Mansfield.
Ames and others. in large speculations
in crooked cotton. Many OF his con
federates were men high In influence
and authority in Washington, and
consequently they had extraordi-
nary facilities for carrying on their
nefarous transactions. D'Meza. upon
the other hand, was a large importer of
sugar and molasses at the time OF the
immense sugar frauds of 1867 and 1868,
during and prior to Collector Perry Full
ler's time. It's known that large ear
goes of molasses and sugar were brought
TO this port. and passed through the
Customhouse free Of duty. This molas-
ses, beyond question. went into the
hands of whisky men and was converted
into crooked whisky.
There is no doubt that the books and
papers of Griffin and D'Meza contained
documentary evidence OF the crimes
committed by the cotton, sugar and
whisky rings of New Orleans, and that
they would have implicated many in
tluential officials, politicians and private
citizens in these shameful and reckless
frauds. 1t is probable. therefore, that
the guilty men. having discovered the
place where these documents. so essen
tial to Justice and SO terrible to them,
were deposited. took desperate, and it
now seems, successful, means to destroy
the evidence against them. Evidently
some person having af total interest
in the destruction these tell
tale records, or some one
largely paid to run the risk of entering
% room in the very heart of the city and
carrying off a large quantity Of valuable
papers. committed this burglary.
1t is to be hoped the matter will be
Investigated and the parties brought to
Justice.