The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-24

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who have violated no law, whose name
have been entered there, and have beel
reported on in the most terrible way.
Wild, the Secret Service agent at Ney
Orleans, was dismissed from the Depart
ment of Justice for taking money from
claimants in a case he officially eXamin
ed. The contract made by him with tn
claimants, and the check paid to him
are in the Department of Justice records
Yet he is now engaged 10 "protect" tn
Government and the public agains
counterfeiters and swindlers in severa
States. The report recommends the ab
clifton or thorough reconstruction of tn
Secret Service.
In 1862 Congress provided for Treasur.
special agents collecting captured ant
abandoned property at the South, anc
for turning into the Treasury the pro
ceeds CT such property, to be returned tt
the owners on proof before the Court o
Claims of ownership and freedom from
completely with the Rebellion. Undel
this act 175, 900 bales of cotton were col
lected and sold, the proceeds being a.
nearly as could be ascertained, S36,500
900. OF this, S9,910,7S7 were eaten uE
in Expenses" leaving over SGT 100000
Of this, S., ,545, 900 have been returned tc
owners under judgments of the Court o.
Claims, 81 ,623, 900 by the Secretary o.
the Treasury, $4,000 under special acts
of Congress and S1SS,000 under the act
of May Is, 1S72-in all $11 ,648, ,000
This should leave on hand over SIS $780,
600, but the report of the Secretary Of
the Treasury show but about $4,000, ,00C
on hand. What has become of the other
six and a half millions the committee
could not learn.
This great raid and seizure of It's, 600
bales of cotton, however, was not the
whole spoliation. Contrary to law, thou
sands and thousands ofbales were seized by
Quartermasters and other Army officers
and sold, the proceeds never reaching the
Treasury. In one year-May, 1868, to
May, lS64-the Chief Quartermaster at
New Orleans, Col. S. B. Holabird, re-
ceived 12,779 bales, worth at least 81
100000, yet he only acknowledged 1884, :
900 net proceeds, and states that this
sum was spent for Army purposes by Or
der of Gen. Banks.
.Also contrary to law, Admiral Porter,
while patrolling the Mississippi and its
tributaries, seized large amounts of cot
ton on land and shipped it to Cairo as
maritime prize of war. The Supreme
Court has decided that this cotton was
unlawfully taken by Porter, yet the
Treasury refuses to return the money to
the owners.
When the Committee on the Treasury
called in 1876 for the production of the
original records of cotton seizures, Cab
met meeting was held and an Executive
order was issued by Grant forbidding the
production of original books and papers
before committees of Congress.
The law placing cotton matters in the
Customs division of the Office of the Sec
retary of the Treasury has been disre-
garded and special bureau formed
without authority of law with chief and
assistant and clerks, and with salaries
from 81, 200 to $4,000 year. The duty
of Martin Luther Noerr, chief, is to fur
nish the Court of Claims true copies of
all records in that bureau pertaining to
particular lots of cotton. Judge Mott of
that court stated from the bench that
Noerr had furnished four different re:
ports of captures of cotton at Atlanta !;
the first report admitting the capture of
but twenty bales, but the last admitting
467l He declared that the Cotton Bu-
reau's statements rs made up by Noerr
were wholly unreliable, and stated that
the law requiring keeping of, "books ofac-
count showing from whom the cotton
was received, the cost of transportation
and proceeds of sales," had been fagi-
tiously and scandalously eyaded and de.
fed by officers intrusted with its execu-
ton. Noerr reported to the Court that
there were in the Treasury the records of
about $40 bales from Vicksburg, not over
$4,000. Mr.. Eveleth, Commissioner
appointed by the Court to examine the
cotton records, found that over 5000
bales had been seized at Vicksburg, and
that the proceeds had gone into the
Treasury, S925,000 Chief Justice Casey
of the Court of Claims swore that Noerr
showed no disposition to correct his
statement, and that he had tried in vain
to get Noerr to explain this great dis
crepancy. The Chief Justice also testifi-
ed that it was impossible for claimants
or their friends to get any information or
satisfaction at all in reference to their
claims from this division, except through
calls by the Court of Claims, the an
swers to which both the Bar and the
Court regarded as wholly unreliable. In
my judgment they (Noerr's reports)
were in many cases intended and design
ed to mislead and to prevent parties from
getting justice"
William Fessenden, assistant to Noerr,
was dismissed from the Army in 1864 as
defaulting additional Paymaster, for
embezzling $4,000. He lent the public
money to Salmon B. Colby, contractor,
and William Coombs, clerk in the In
terror Department, for use in speculating
in lumber. Fessenden to receive for TIE
use of the money 10 per cent. of the ac-
tual sales. The money was lost by Fes-
senden's treachery, Colby claims, and
Colby was bankrupted. Within year
afterward he was made clerk in the Cot
ton bureau, where he has since received
on an average $4,000 per year salary and
large sums for "extra services"
From August 25, 1865, to May S, 1873
the Treasury paid to attorneys, agents
and informers more than s., 900, 600
from the money which belonged to
owners of cotton. One Charles Fans
and various partners were paid within
ten months of 1866 and 1867 $420, 900 by
order of Secretary McCulloch, Sl5S,00C
being shared by Eames with John A.
Logan, then Representative and now
Senator from Illinois. In about eigh.
teen months of those years McCulloch
caused to be paid to S. H. Kaufman
First Chiefof the Cotton Bureau, $S2, 900
and Kaufman soon turned up as part.
ner with Boss Shepherd and w. Adams
correspondent of the New York IYorld
in ownership and managemnt of the
Washington Star, which has been con.