Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-12-22
JEFF. DAVIS.
A WHEELING aAA's vEasf0W ef IHe
Joe JOHNSTON sF0aE
mot a Aord Of Tneh IA lt'>.-fhe Ssty Ct
tho Decline, fAf I'D co1spss q
IT, eonfederz5 sndthe 60.
INA lure Of 10 Chief. ,N#
A VERY READABLE INTERVIEW.

| desty, Gt ". jackson anu Noi' hooctt ctufP
ion yIp were Discussing various matters.
prs,entJv the conversation tififted 10 the
interview in the Philadelphia Press, of TO
S"i,ssS sSe q ay. Mr. Reporter sfdthe Gov
\ ernor. "ths Doctor nad have hsd little
| opnye -atioa in rega-i TO the sutJcct inst
ter OF tbat sane article, and i AM little
| inclinef ncw 10 discrsdit it,
Takiny..adva ntase of this pointer, our
| scribe aSKed the DoctCr in regard TO his
kno~lsd % nf tn" truth 81 the statement;
| There IL not one wo.N of truth init. In
| the first placs there vas no srch an
| amount OF money in the 'Ccnfedcracy, and
i'm the next, ptsre JED. Dssis had uo,c Of
| what there was i'm his keeping. IL seems
| wonderful 90 me that this. story has lain
| dormant So long. Two million i've hund-
| red thousand dollars are MOTTO be gathered
| up every day. and would NJ q distance
| OF nearly twclty years, il scerns TO me, to
b. all the moro incredible.
When did this transactiorocrurv'
| 1T was in the summe of is'j, in June,
7 think. Jeir. Davis had goE. south and
| been captured.
| Where was th ,'mpncy takenNfrum"
Il was money belomging ~ tLrold hanks
| 81 Virginia, the H.nE OF Virginia and the
| Richmond was evacuated this money was
brought South. anf MAS irequerssy was-
| oned across tho country.
How much money was there
| In the neighborhood N three hNRdted
| thousand dollars.
| What was their roCr'
They went by way ~ Charlottc-S. e,
| down by Abbeyyille, and from there 10
| Washington. Ga. Thcse fellows got In one
night and got IL all. some disbanded ton-
federate cavalry did the whole thing. l re-
member il took place alcnt seventy miles
| from Washington. Georgia, the place where
| Bob Toombs lives at present.
| Then there was no COat~serate money
| left at alp
Everything was gone cy,ept little Coz
| fcdcrate coin, which was oil divided
saw the division of this coin between
| Bragg, breckenridge and somc other gen
cral officers That was previous 10 this
| event, The whole Corfsderacy burst
and disbsndcd right there in Washington.
Georgia.
How much was this swagr
There could not have bcem ,such of 1t
| very little.
What was the object Of this Avision'
| Just 10 give these men n chance 10 get
AWAY. They were very hard up for money.
| The Quartermastcrs could not buy provis-
| ions with Confederate money, and they
| had turned over to them lot " silver bui.
| lion which hal been taken from mint o.
some town in Alabama. They bad Ia take
some of thi, silver and buy bacon and
| -four with il to feed these s0idisfs who had
| been surrendered BY Lee.
| These stories In regard to Mr.. Davis hav-
| ing had a large amount Of money with him
| are all bosh. Twas on the gromh all ths
| time and know he did not have any money.
| A friend Of mine said to me ono evening:
| Il am going tO camp 10 select couple oi
| teams for Mrs Davis, who will he here
/ Lad him "a, gatn N and
| he got the teams. Soon after Mrs. DAVIS
| came into " a'hiIgvvn, aud oovld not get
accommodations there. The hotels refused
TO accommodate her and finally she w1
| invited toa private house, the home Of
relative Of my wife. She hal no
treasure with her whatever. her
baggage being only personal effects.
She had two wagons and an ambulance,
and was accompanied by five Or six chill
drcn and a number OF personal frisnds.
| When she went away / saw her baggage ali
packed away, and there was no money VI
| any description among IT, Mrs. Davis
| waited At Washington three days for her
| husband 10 come and join her, but he did
| not come. About thirty-siH hours after
she had gone Davis came, and lac inrnsdi
| ately sent u courier Ia overtakc her until
| he could come up. Davis disbandsd his
personal rctinue At Washington and pushes
| on almost without escort. ] know that st
| that time lac was totally destitute of every.
thing in the share Of money.
| Who, among the prominent COnfedcr.
| ate Generals. was with Davis nj that timey'
Brcckinridgc, Bragg and El,ey were with
| him, and probably Others. Joe Johustoa
was In North Carolina at that time, and
sherman was after him.
With regard tO that money having bees
Appropriated and subscribedby the bank
| ers for the protection of Richmond, $1,000
OOO would not have saved Richmond u
was the personal property of
those bankers. and IL in litigation
10 day. This money having been turned
into the Treasury by a resolution of Con
grcss, . special act of Congress would bs re-
sharp work came in-knowing u would be
next Ia impossible To get such legislation.
| II was private property. Two Of the cs-
corts were my old college chums-Ons of
them Is now dead. and the other WAS Prof.
William Strange. now of Richmond. Thess
two were there, and ! saw them. Mr.. Davis
10 not man that would take fartbinS
from any man. JEFF Davis wa ~ poor -
| any Of us.
How about the money belonging, 70 tie
Confederacy, now reported " be in the
Bank Of England
There never was dollar W the credit Of
the Confederate government in tho Bank
| Of England or any other bsnk. j was st
one time In England n nm agent of the
Confederate government was sent there
as an agent Tor special purpose--to buy .
ship. had 10000 belonging % the Con
federscy. The money WAS on deposit In
bank, but not W the credit 0f the Con
federacy. ID WAS placed 10 my credit
az an individual. There we're many
other Confederte agents in Englsnd wbs
bad money, but none Of II was placed W
the credit u the ConfeJersry.
DO you suppose that when the Con
federacy went under. these men placed tts
money which had been deposited In their
name to the credit Of the Corfederscy "
be divided pro rata among it, eitizfnsr
II would rather suppose that the rnes
who were In England at that time, having
possession Of money belonyias " the Con
lederate Government Put it into thsI
private pockets, II they did not have ~ al
ready deposited 10 private tsnis TO a'sir
| own credit "