The Benton weekly record. [volume] (Benton, Mont.) 1880-1885, 1881-12-15
How aHowgate Carried ore His
Robbery

Of 26th says: It has been something Of
lie mystery how the enormous frauds ON Il
Is signal service fund could have been perm
l. frafed SO loEg and SO successfully witho
!. detection. An explanationof the methoe
70 employed will clear itup. Howgate Is
Y thoroughly equipped man Of business,
e much organizing capacity, and endowe
ii with great energy.
r In 1875, Gen. Myer, then at the head I
: the signal service, became seriously ei
d feebEed in mind. There had been an II
: vestigation of the financial management
the bureau. and the ACCOUNTS would nc
: balance by some forty or fifty thousan
! dollars. This disagreement was the result
OF ignorance rather than of crime.
) After the discovery it became necessar
60 find new disbursing officer FOR the b,,
reau. Gen. Myer offered the vacancy +
HoWgate, who declined the proposition
several times, and, as Is now believed, witt
, the object of drawing Myer on TO furthe
solicitations, go chat he might finally die.
tate his own terms. At last Howgate ac
cepted the place upon the distinct condi
tion that he should have exclusive confro
OF the finances, and that even Gen. MveI
himself should not be authorized to inter.
lere with their management.
Previous TO advent, deficiencies for the
service Were regular every year. How.
gate pledged himself to stop them, and to
live within the appropriations. He kept
his word In thisrespect, and thus strength
ened the confidence OF Gen. Mver in his
ability and in his integrity. After he had
thus established himself Howgate pro-
posed TO resign, giving as reason that he
could better his condition outside.
He had rendered himself indispensable
to Gen. Myer, and this suggested resigna-
ton, repeated several times, was a mere
trick to make his power more absolute and
TO throw dlrtin the eyes Of vigilance, al-
ready drowsy from Indifference or neglect.
The scheme succeeded. Howgate was COM
pIete master Of the situation. Not dollar
~S@A3 SS GA pLEi0CN WALk1pNL ItS cOEYSpFlL.
nor debt contracted.
The appropriations went into bis hands
exclusively, and he put them where they
would do the most good to himself. He
drove hard bargains for the office, with the
double object Of preventing deficiencies.
and OF providing larger margin OF money
to devote 70 his own operations. His svs-
tenn was admirably arranged for deception
because it was ostensib1y based tlpon the
idea Of economy end Of II gid man anagesnent.
Gen. 3Nyer vas completely taken in by
Howgate,s methods, and indeed he was
untitled by mental condition to counteract
them. Consequently he signed the multi
tude Of so-caIled vouchers that were daiIy
presented co him without question, and as
q matter Of mechanical duty. He had not
the remotest suspicion Of wrong, and the
guardians OF the Treasury, seeing every
thing In form, passed the accounts almost
as Il matter OF course. HoWgate had taken
care to conquer prejudice in that direction.
Ife possession OF such undisputed au-
thorIty turned Howgate's head. He ex-
cited jealousy and malice among the sub
ordinates, who were divided into two fac
tions, for and against him, the larger, of |
course, being on the side of power. But
his enemies were bitter, active and intelli- |
gent. Some of them had watched him |
closely, knew his habits, saw his specula-
lions, and concluded that the pay OF Il Bre-
vet Captain would not justify his mode Of
lite nor his investments in real estate in
They insisted that certain bsyouchers'' |
should be examined; and when the inyes-
igafion was made they turned out to b.
'ank forgeries. Then the whole iniquity
exploded, tor IN going back over the clocu-
nents tiled away as satisfactorily settled,
he frauds were found 70 be systematic,
md pervadr1g nearly the whole period OF
tenure Of office.
Personal enmity and accident led TO this
'oyery. Il HoWgate had been polite in
lig intercourse with the subordinatee.
here is no reason why his SYSTEM should
lot have continued without interruption
wenton prosperously for years, and i
rev stronger constantly. His offensive
finally invited bold defiance.
nj his exposure and ruin were the neces-
ary consequences Of that quarrel.
Thus far the stealings Of Howgate, sub