The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-07-17
LIGHT ON YEARS OF FRAUD.
III fcoSTIS usplrhoh 26 pAar !


and swindler, who with the aid of Treas.
ury Confederates stole the money that
belonged to widows, lunatics, orphans
and foreigners. The forged signatures
were unlike the true ones, and WiIiams
confederate, Interest Teller Jones, made
no. comparison or test of their reality,
violating thus the rules of the office. All
these officials but one, Baker, are still in
office, and Porter has been made Rnan.
cial clerk Of the Coast Survey, while Wy
man and his hondslnen have been freed
from responsibility. The sole punish.
ment meted out was that to Supervising
Agent Moore, the one man who persist
emily tried to expose the wrong and who
was reduced to subordinate post
When the Grand Trunk Railway was
opened, the exports from Canada passed
over it through Vermont, New Hamp.
shire and Maine to Portland, where they
were shipped abroad. This trade soon
grew 80 large that whole lines of ocea
steamers were built for it, and 100 la,g,
bonded warehouses were set mp at Pofl
land to accommodate it. Under tn
Treasury regulations the commodities
were loaded on cars in Canada, the cars
then being sealed by the United States
Consul at the starting point, and run
through without opening or delay, to the
port OF shipment in the States Thus
they passed free of, all annoyance By
Custom House officials, not being snhieG,
TO duty, as they merely passed through
the country The Joint High Commis
sion, which framed the Alabama Treaty
agreed (Article 20 Of Treaty. that this
should 90 on. March 80, 1875, the Sec
retaryof the Treasury issued, an order
confirming and regulating the practice.
Within a month after he published reg.
ulations practically abolishing it. ii,
required that all goods coming from
Canada should be entered, opened, in.
spected and put under bonds for their
shipment abroad, at the first port OF en-,
try they reached after crossing the Dor
der. On the Grand Trunk railway thin
was the small town of Island Pond w.,
where the facilities for making the ent
ries were so inadequate that the order
could not possibly be carried out, TIM
penal bonds required amounting to mil
lions of dollars at a time, all had to be
executed by two persons who were worth
but few Thousand dollars, which made
the bonds worthless, and showed that
the stoppage at Island Pond gave no Sc.
curity against smuggling. The fret ef-
feet OF the order was to enlarge the com.
pensation of the Collector of Customs at
Long Pond to $40 900 or $4,000 year
three or four times that of the Collector
Of New York; but the second result was
10 destroy the in transitu trade; to drive
1t out Of the States back down the Saint
Lawrence river; to ruin the owners of q
hundred bonded warehouses at Portland;
10 break up the steamship lines from
chat port, and to inflict heavy loss on the
owners OF the Grand Trunk railway. To
this outrageous piece of tyranny is due
much of the hard times that have lately
prevailed in northern New England. 4
is said this exploit was engineered by
Judge Poland, in exchange for his sup.
port of Secretary BriRtow at the Cincin-
natl nominating convention, where Po
land violated his constituents instruc.
tions by such support. Senator Ed
munds, however, wrote letter to the
Glover Committee, claiming for himself
the credit of arranging the Island Pond
achievement, and stated at the commit
tee room he did it to benefit the collec-
tor, who was in some way related to him
Jasper W. Johnson of Oregon. Secre-
tary of the Liberal Republican National
Committee. was appointed in 1876 an In
speCtor of Customs, and kept on the pay
rolls several months, receiving several
hundred dollars without rendering any
service to the Government. He was
sent by Asst Secretary Conant to B us
ford Wilson at Cincinnati, to help cap
ture the convention for Bristow.
A system of theft, which had gone on
for years, was detected at Norfolk in IT
by Maj. Moore, special agent. Instead
OF turning into the Treasury duties col.
lected from merchants on goods, the COL
lector of customs and other officials stole
the monev and omitted to enter it on the
books. While Moore was engaged in
exposing these frauds he was suddenly
dismissed from the service, and the mat
ter was put into the hands Of Aver and
Chamberlain, the special agents whose
neglect to examine the books had made
these frauds easy.
A habit Of smuggling wines, ETC., by
the officers Of naval vessels returning to
this country has long existed.
In 1876 while the sixth Auditor was
confined to his bed by illness, whole.
sale removal was made of the more ex-
perienced clerks, and raw hands were
substituted. The Appointment Clerk of
the Treasury explained it by saying that
the Secretary had promised appoint
ments for political purposes, and must
have vacancies to fill.
L. E. Cannon of the Supervising Ar
chitects Office, was detected in criminal
dealings with contractors. whose aCCt's
heexamined and passed on, He admit.
ted his gnilt, but Was neither punished
nor dismissed. After some time he re.
signed, and was given two months leave
of absence with pay. He has since been
permitted to practice before the arChi
tect's Office, where he committed these
wrongs! as claim agent and representa-
tive Of contractors. .91uasg
When the page of the Sundry Civil
Appropriation bill, containing the Hot
Springs appropriation disappeared from
the bill last year. Chief James ] Brooks
Of the Secret Service, employed Tho6ae
A. Britt to obtain proof that the missing
sheet was stolen by Senator Conover of
Florida, out of spite to ex Gov Stearns,
one Of the Hot Springs Commissioners,
whose pay depended on the appropria-
ton. Asst Chief Simon B. Benson soon
took direction Of the inquiry, and pur-
pose was soon revealed to make up q
case against Conover that would either
force him to vote to seat Corbin in place
OF Senator Butler Of South Carolina, or
remove him from the Senate by prosecu-
tion and conviction in time to prevent
his voting. Britt picked up two fellows
in drinking saloon named VIM. G. Cole
man and T. II. 8. Boyd, to whom he pro-
posed that they maze aft davits implica-
ting OoAover. They hesitated, whereon
Benson gave Britt note to show them,
promisipg reward. To this note he at