Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1876-06-01

elSHt years WOuld still be pur-
sued, and the multitadinous IN
vcstigations which have result
ted in such notifying disclos-
ures would have never been
heard OF. When, where and
how the reign of wholesale
corruption in Government Off
Gals from the highest to the
lowest would have ended, if in
deed it would ever have done
SO, is difficult to determine. The
fair presumption is that the next
Centennial would have witnessed
it in all its hideous forms and
proportions. But the end is
not yet. Every day something
new is brought to the surface
which like the bloated and of
fensive corpse of drowned man,
requires first an examination
and then aspeedy removal. And
now among all the damnable in
EQUITIES that have as yet been
exposed, none have equalled in
hideous heartlessness and glar-
ing inhumanity the manner in
which the Government Insane
Asylum has been managed by
Doctor Nichols. This investi-
cation has been in progress for
the last two months, and has
disclosed a state of affairs
shocking in detail and revolt
ing in the extreme. Doctor
Nichols has been fairly proven
to have been with his family liv-
ing at the Government expense
in a style of almost princely
magnificence, while the patients
have been fed on moulGy bread
and tainted meat, and more than
one of them it appears did not
get enough even of that to sus-
tain life. Many of the patients
have been found covered with
vermin and suffering for food,
while the scantiness Of their
clothing was an outrage upon
decency. The details are sick
ening and sonnd more like the
overweight imagining Of a
distempered brain, than the
plain and substantial facts they
have beer proved to be by I'M
impeachable testimony. All
the facts in the case are upon
record and may be obtained by
any one who will venture to read
the filthy history of crime and
cruelty. The Freedmen's Bank
investigation discloses a case
Of as we'll devised and ably per-
fected swindling as can we'll be
imagined. This institution was
chartered by Congress with the
best intentions to afford advan-
tages and facilities to former
slaves who felt disposed to, lay
up money or engage in mercan-
tile affairs. Its first managers
were men of unblcmished repu-
tation who used every exertion
to carry out the views of the
originators of the project. Sec
ton 9Th Of the Charter express
ly provided that the money Sc
cured on deposit should be in
vested only in U. S. securities.
But when the smallsums brought
in by the poor, Ignorant and
confding Feedmen began in the
aggregate to assume gigantic
proportions,it attracted the ever
watchful eye of the Washing
ton ring of cormorants who de-
light TO batten on plumber, no
matter where fo3nd or how ac-
quired. Their great political
influence with the dominant par
ty enabled them at once to get
the original managers removed,
and some Of their chosen and
well-tried associates appointed
in their stead. Then, to get the
Charter so altered as to allow
them to deal in any kind Of
stocks they might please, was
but the work of a moment, and
the thing was accomplished
The most reckless robbery and
bare-faced stealing that the an
nails Of crime has ever disclosed
was now commenced in good
earnest, and this too under the
guise of friendship. Some idea
of the heartless villainy of these
men may be formed when it is
stated that 10000 poor hard
working Freedmen were robbed
of the earnings accumulated by
years of toll. Some of these
men, it seems, in 1873 went to
New York with a warrant is
sued here to arrest Mr.. Dana Of
the Sun, who saw their object
in seeking a change in the
charter and at once exposed
them. They were defeated in
their design and returned crest