New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-04-20

they did not know WnaJ Ihoi "''
doing These cases were put INTO 'he "''oi
news hands at his own solicitation
NO MERCHANTS INCULPATED.
nun ,rrsrr,ovy PROBABLY As MUCH SURPRISE TO
THEM AS TO THE GOVERNMENT.
ley TELEGRAPH TO TRIBUNEl
WAsuINGroN April 19.-The disclosures maze oy
General Curtis, special agent OF the treasury ~
partment to-day, in connection Win the oH"iso
and commissions" cases. will probably De more u.s.
+on,sbinq TO the reputable merchants IN "ho'e
names certain frauds seem TO have been commute"
than TO ANYBODY else; and 1t should De Dorue III
mind that there has not yet been produced scrap
of evidence TO show that any respectable merchant
ever approved or had the slightest KNOWLEDGE OIL 'he
practices TO which his legal representative re-
sorted IN in order to recover the sums involved.
The history Of these cases seems briefly to nave
been as follows: Albeit Douglass. il. with per-
bops some other lawyers whose names nave not
been discl5sea went regularly into the business o.
collecting old claims on account OF duties "Io"s-
fully collected on charges and commissions anu
solicited merchants to place cases IN his hahus MI
Douglass OH his part, agreed to pay all expenses %
litigation and to pay over TO the merchants % per
cent of the amount he recovered. The merchants
themselves rarely knew how muchh anything was
due to them, and generally would have made no
if they had not been solicited to do so
nv MIR Douglass or some other Interested
attorney. Having obtained the necessary authority
in a great number of cases. Mr. Douglass began an
examination of them. and soon discovered that the
merchants had either failed altogether to BILE the
protests which alone would give them standing III
court in suit TO recover OF that the protests we're
defective If Douglas had prosecuted only the cases
of which the foundation had been legally made the
ii l,x~n haar, in If-
nifcant that the game would not have been worth
the candle. He therefore proceeded TO manufac-
ture the necessary protests In where no pro-
test was originally fled he prepared one had II nth
ographed and by misrepresentation secured the sig
natures of the merchants to copies OF IT, Where IN
sufcien protests were originally made he prepared
amendments to them. and then getting access to the
original entries through collision of the employees
in the Custom House, he caused the fraudulent pro-
tests to be attached TO them, the amendments to
be added years afterthe transactions took place.
When the cases were brought into court the gcnu-
ineness of these protests never questioned and
although the present counsel for the claimants
asserts that every Secretary of the Treasury since
tbe time when Redfeld and Schell were collectors,
and every District-AttOrney and Solicitor OF the
Treasury for the last twenty-five years has refused
TO proceed with the payment of the claims until lie
had gone over their history from the beginning and
satisfied himself personally of their validity, no one
seems TO have Questioned the genuineness Of the
original documents upon which the cases were
based This is the more remarkable when 1t Is re-
membered that the evidence of the fraudulent char
acter of the protests in the possession of the |
Government, and the New-York Custom House, and |
was accessible to any one representing the Govern
ment's interests.
Members Of the Appropriations Committee ex-
pressed great surprise, to-day, that the facts set
forth by General Curtis had never been discovered
before and said that il showed an alarming loose
ness in the manner Of doing the public business,
both in the Custom House and in the District
Attorneys Office. Mr.. Abram S. Hewitt, mem
Der of the committee, knew something about
this subject before the inquiry began. The firm of
which he is a member paid 100000 in duties on
charges and commissions which were afterward de-
cided to have been unlawfully exacted. Thirteen
hundred dollars of this sum was recovered, but |
the remainder could not be collected from the Gov
eminent because proper protests had not been filed
at the time the entries were completed Subse-
uuently man offered to recover these duties. and
Informed Mr.. Hewitt's partner that the omission Of |
the protests could be supplied Mr. Hewitt knew |
that nothing of the kind could be honestly done,
and 30 these cases were not prosecuted 1t is |
proper TO add that many of the most eminent |
lawyers in this country have been at different |
times engaged to make arguments in favor Of these
"charges and commissions " claims IN the courts
or before the Department. Among them are Secre-
tary Eyarts Judge Noah Davis, Edwards Pierre
pOnt, and many Others. None of these men ever
had ANYTHING TO do with the preparation of the
cases, and were as innocent as the merchants |
themselves Of all knowledge of fraud connection
with them.
The gentlemen who now appear before the COM
mittee 10 urge the payment of the claims, Mr.. Jor
dan and ex-AttOrney- General Williams, became in
terested in them at comparatively recent date,
and the disclosures made by General Curtis to day
were as new 10 them as they were to the commit
tee. General Curtis did not complete his statement
to-day, and will finish it tomorrow morning.
THE SPECIAL AGENTS STORY.
MERCHANTS INNoCENTLY PARTY TO FRAUD-THE
CASES DESCRIBED AND SPECIAL INSTANCES RE- |
CITED.
lBY TELEGRAPH THE TRIBUNE.
WASHINGTON, April 19.-The The first bust |
before the House Committee Appropriations to-