The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-02-12
washington l,os,.l

Tho rather remarkable letter when was
,cceived at the Treasury yesterday ehcios'
INC n check for $500. and STATING 'hs' ,"',
Was sent by an old woman on her ueatk-oeo
in reparaiion Of theft OF similar atnouu'
which she had stolen from the ireosuI!
tveniy.seyeu wears ago when eiDpUyes =.
a cl,,k. reads well to the general puu'Ic,eu'
sounds rather suspicious 10 lbe iie's"s
o,uboritics. There arc several iacis apo.''
n which lead 80 the conclusion 'na' III.
s,o,y Il not genuine ei'e. IN wv
first place, iwenty-seyen wears az
there we're no women ehp'oyCu ~
the Department in any capacity. al
,ba, time. SAID an Official, in every room
there wss q pile Of tobacco-quRH III the
corner. and the clerks sat with theif iee'
on tho uanieIpiects. salmon j. Chase ap'
nolnted the first woman 10 p0SitioO ID tue
Treasury. and that was IN the yea IoOI'
the sweeDirg even was done by men
Tben. again. in those days the revenues
~ the Government were ligct, ana
the entire expenditure was comparatively
small. so that there was Out sii'ai
amount Of money kept III tne
Treasury, and tive hundred dollars "ou|u
have been very soon missed. Al any '''e,
IL this money was taken II was made gooo
by some bonded officer who was fesPohsi'
bic. and therefore il now does not belong o.
the Government. There j. no record %
any such occurrence. AnotheF
SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE
is that the letter is written on sheet OF pa
per from which the printed heading mas
been torn, ard the paper has TIE same
waier.maIk and l. Identical with the paper
used in the Department. This paper Is ol
apecuiar manufacture, and Is not genera'!
in the market.
From these facts the conclusion Is reach
ed at The Treasury that the story iSa manu-
factu,e ed one, but whatever may be SAID OF
the penuiDeness Of the story, there Is nc
doubt OF that of the 500 note, which has
already been received into the Treasury
The money is good, but the letter Is eyh
IDENTITY made up. There are several theories
advanced to account for this singular incl
dent. One il that the person wished 10 paw
that amount into the Treasury, and in order
10 be certain that its receipt would be an
nounced publicly invented this story. As
sistant. Secretary UPTON, who has wide eX
perence with the ways OF the CORES pond
ents Of the departments, thinks That th'
money was sent and the letter was VIII
ten by craZy person, who had an idea tha
lie or she owed the Government TINS money
He saws that 1t is common thing for pe0
pie TO get such notions, and while perfectly
sane in Other matters, are insane in this par
ticuIar. He believes that the larger part OF
the contributions 10 The conscience fund IRE
sent by this class Of persons. They are
really not indebted to The Government, but
they get ap idea that they are, and send in
sums OF money. The result Is 10y no means
improbable TO the Government.
THE CONSCIENCE FUND
has always been a sour &c OF much speculi
ton, but beyond the bare amount and some
times the pOst-ofiice from which it was sent
nothing has been known.
In former years these amounts were PLACED
10 the credit of the customs or internal
revenue receipts If the sender indicated fol
what purpose the restitution was made {; bu
when nothing was indicated by the sender
it vas swallowed up in the miscellaneous
items OF the Treasury. Since 1873, how
ever, all receipts from this source have bee,
stated separately to the Register Of tn,
Treasury, and the record OF thi, fund since
that date is an interesting one. The tota
amount for each year is very large. cOnsld
ering TINT it Is made Of small sums. Tb'
following are the receipts 10 the conscience
fund for the years specified