Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-10-21

was about gone up, and he meant to
remove these funds to have some
thing to go on" 1t was first taken to
the house of an Italian named Riva.
and no further can it be traced. Riva
is now in Italy; Fisher was at the
time of the investigations we are stud
ying, still in the United States and
poor. From which it is to be inferred
that the Italian was too sharp for him,
aud he sustains his share in the ohio
guy of the theft without sharing in its
profits. In addition to this $4,000
keg, two wagons and eight mules, the
property of the bank, became invisible
to the naked eye during the war
Doubtless they had been used to con-
vey the assets from Nashville to Geor-
gia. Those who remember the state
of things South at the close of the war,
will understand that mules were mules
in those days, and eight of them were
no very trifing assets. However this
limits the stealage during the war, to
$4,000 in specie and two wagons and
their teams, worth in those days prob
ably not less than $1,000; the main
body of school fund remained intact
in the vaults of the Georgia banks to
the amount of considerably over $780,
600.
Let US state here, to make the mat
ter clear, that the school fund had
been so embarked in the business of
the bank of Tennessee that it formed
an undistinguishable part of its assets,
so that in fact the bank assets and the
school fund were one. In no other
way could the fund have been made
available for producing as large an in
come as, before the war. it paid for
school purposes. So that when we
seek the bank assets and the school
funds, we mean the same thing-the
school fund was the bank and the
bank was the school fund.
We now come to the date 1865 when
the war is over. Brownlow, Governor
of Tennessee, with a Legislature from
the election of which all white men
were excluded except carpet-baggers
and scalawags.
One of the first things achieved by
4bok rrOvarrroan% uoO 20 bu1k Nm fha
missing school fund. To do them
justice the Radical rulers of Tennessee
had always a keen eye for the monies
of the State what they wanted with
them will appear hereafter.
We are obliged to be brief, but ev-
cry word of what we are going to state
can be substantiated from the official
record of the Legislature of Tennessee
from 1865 to 1868 inclusive.
The first thing was to bring the
funds that might have survived the
vicissitudes of war from Augusta, and
May 20, 1865, the Governor, Secretary
of State and Comptroller were instruct
ed by the Legislature to take charge
of the assets of the bank and receipt
for the same. Some more leakage
must have taken place somewhere, for
instead of over 100000 which ought
to have remained after the abstraction
of the $4,000 keg and the mules and
wagons, the amount was only SAG, 49,
20, in gold, with this U. S. 730
bonds we're purchased to the amount
Of $618, $50; these, bonds being at the
time at discount of 40 per cent
From this time no one had the hand
ling of the money thus recovered from
the perils of the war but strictly loyal
Republicans. But the truly loyal
seemed by no means to have agreed
among themselves as to who should
undertake this great responsibility,
which seems to have been hone OF
contention among them, so eager were
they all of them to share its burdens
and one of the provisions of the act
for winding up the Bank of Tennessee,
was that this fund should be placed in
the hands of the Treasurer of Tennes-
see. The report of the Governor, Sec
rotary and Comptroller (Feb. 10, 1867,
in which they take great credit to
themselves for obeying this provision,
is rather amusing reading a sardoniC
grin pervades the whole of it. We
are told how the Treasurer, with his
finger on the law, demanded possession
of these packages of 7.30 bonds then
in the Comptroller's safe, and how
1.-The fund was counted by the Comp
troller, placed in the hands of the
Treasurer aud his receipt taken there.
for, and the undersigned ceased to be
responsible for it.
The next step was for the Treasurer
to deposit the fund in the Tennessee
National Bank at Memphis, together
with $40, 1925 interest due. This
step, as soon as known, was received
with loud cutlery from the truly loyal
at Nashville, including the Governor
Secretary, Comptroller and Legisla.
ture. What the sacred fund which
all the high priests of Radicalism IL
Nashville were so eagerly Jealous tC
take charge of, placed altogether be.
yond their reach. Never The Treas.
urer was impeached for his unauthOr.
lied act; it was charged against hin
that he had received bonus from the
Memphis bank (Which, though never
proved, seems to this editor exceed
ingly probable), aud that at any rate
such deposit was not lawful without
the concurrence of several officers
What became of the Impeachment OF
the Treasurer we have not inquired
suffice it that he vanished from history
at this stage of the proceedings.
A committee of the Legislature is
appointed to go to Memphis, furnished
with two checks on the banks in ques-
ton signed by the Treasurer Ga new
one we infer had been appointed), one
for S3lS, $50, and another for 100000
a Il.