The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1876-03-28
WASHINGTON NOTES.
Four Hundred Thousand Dollar
Pension Fraud.
OpenIng OF the Black Hills Country
Determined Upon.
s.n An,onis's Twsniy-fiVe Thousand
Dollar Boaus for Military Head
uuarters--A Suspicious Story
About BrisiOw.

WASHtNhToNi hhIcl Sos- ne THUS
Committee on Pensions have discover
ed most remarkable fraud which ha
been practiced on the Pension Ofiic
during the past three or four years
amounting to some 100000. 1t ap
pears that combination was forme
Of three or four claim agents, residin
in different portions OF the country, b
which they represented themselves a
administrators OF deceased persons en-
titled to bounty warrants from tn,
Pension office. On submitting bogu
proof OF these claims, which had neve
been called for by the proper owners
they were made out to the so-cale,
administrators and duly issued, ant
afterwards sold by them in the opeI
market for cash. 1t appears that tn,
bona fide owners were not aware tina
they were entitled to these warrants
either through ignorance or by tn,
willful negligence OF some of the Pen
sion Office officials. At the time the
greater part of the alleged frauds were
committed, Won Arnum, ofNew York
was Commissioner, and G, w. Seaton,
Chief Clerk.
It appears that the authorities here
have determined upon some definite
and positive action In regard to the
opening Of the Black Hills country.
An officer stationed at Camp Sheridan
writes to q friend here that orders
have been received to break up that
post and remove the troops stationed
there to Camp Robinson, where the
force Is to be increased to double its
present strength. The Indians, he
says, are to be forced back to the Mis-
souri, river, and the Black Hills open.
ed up. A gentleman writing from
Denver to IN acquaintance in this city
reports Q gaOd deal Of excitement
among that adventurous class Of per-
sons who inhabit mining countries,
and says that arrangements are quiet
ly making for the outfit Of several
large parties that are to leave for the
Black Hills as soon as the winter
breaks.
II turns out that Belknap was also
mixed up In the Kentucky mule claim,
for which Bristow was attorney, and
regarding which the latter testified the
other day. 1t will he remembered that
ono point made against the case was
the significant failure of the govern
ment to appeal 1t from the Court of
Claims to the Supreme Court, where
upon the whole amount, over one hum
bred thousand dollars, was at once
paid TO the claimant by the govern
ment. Ex-Assistant Attorney General
Godforth testified to-day that he argued
the case before the Court of Claims for
the government, and that it was not
appealed from that Court at the re-
request made in writing from Belknap
to Attorney General Williams. God
n forth said the claim belonged to one
branch of the service of the War
Il Department, and hence the request
was needed.
A correspondent of the Courier-Jour-
nal writing from Maysville, Ken
lucky, tells yarn about Bristow that
y seven more astonishing than the re-
h cent mule story. The correspondent
treats the matter lightly, but, says
Isaac C. Reeves, a stock raiser of Flem-
Il Ing county, stated at the Bancroft
House, Maysville, in the presence OF q
creditable witness, whose affidavit can
behad that In 1875 or '87, while in
Cincinnati, he was arrested by a
United States Marshal, charged with
q Illicit distilling. He was taken to
Louisville, where. after inffectual ef.
lorts to secure trial, he procured
dismissal of the charges by paying ia
Bristow, then Prosecuting Attorney Of
the District Court, the proceeds of one
Athogs, amounting in all to two thou.
sand seven hundred dollars.
The House Committee on Postoffice
aud Post Roads have examined j. d.
Chidester, mail contractor of Arkansas
he testified that he deposited in the
contract office last spring a bid fol-
lontes from Dallas, Texas, to Jacks
0Nr9, and that the contract was
swarded to some one else, and that
when he called for his bid and the
security check attached to 1t, they were
handed to him by the Second Assistant
postmaster General with the remark
aat the bid had never been registered
VI considered. The witness did moi
Know whether 1t was the lowest bid oil
aoI 1t was, however, just after the
uscovery that Channel and Floyd
department. clerks, had suppressed
SUI distracted numbers of bids. The
'''ness was asked II ]. J. Hlnds hat
wv demanded, when they were max
"s the settlement of some joint bust
aeSS interests, that certain sum, per
aaS hVe thousand dollars, must be re
,e',ed or paid for the benefit Of Sena
spencer. He replied that nothing
!. .ae sort had ever occurred, and h,
.. no recollection of having ever sale
"@ any person.