Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-09-20
LIEUTENANT FL1PpER,s CASE
Full Details of His Arrest and ths
Charges Against Him.

dubuque HefGkG gives the following de
tailed account of the arrest of Lieuten-
ant Flipper, the colored army officer
A few days ago General Small tele
graphed to Colonel S. that certain com
missary money due from Mr.. Flipper
had not been received, and to ascertain
the reasons the Colonel sent for Lieu
tenant Flipper, read him General Small's
zdispatch, to which Lieutenant Flipper
: answered that most of the money,
$3, 700 and something, had been trans
emitted on the Sth of July in checks re-
4ceived from officers. The Colonel
Thought the matter over, having per
suaded himself that Lieutenant Flipper's
strepidation was the natural anxiety of a
SyOung officer in possibly losing checks
j to such an amount. Lieutenant Flipper
was then asked to give the number and
amounts of each check, when he con
fessed his inabiltty:to do this, as he has
4Jily mailed them from his own quarters,
land neglected to make note of each
lone. He was reprimanded for his gross
carelessness, and told that he would
be relieved next day. That even
ling, as Colonel and Mrs. s. were
taking their usual drive, they noticed
Lieutenant Flipper's horse completely
equipped with saddle bags, etc., tied in
zfront of Lender & Liebenhorn's store,
about half mile from the garrison, on
S the road to Mexico. Again recurring to
! the events of the morning, his trepidaI
ton was thought possibly fear, and as
I the Colonel knew Lieutenant Flipper had
about 81, 900 cash in government funds,
{ and that discretion is the better part of
valor, he drove back to the post and sent
5 his Adjutant to overtake Lieutenant Flip
] per. If Mr.. Flipper contemplated trip
to Mexico he could have crossed the line
before morning. Mr.. Flipper returned, ]
and the Colonel asked him where his
cash balance was. He replied, in his
own house. This added somewhat toI
the Coloneps suspicion, and he told Mr..
Flipper to at once turn over the money!
to the Lieutenant, who would relieve him.
;the following yesterday morning as A.
sC. s. He turned over about So, 300.I
The affair was talked over subj
rosa yesterday, everybody sympathizingI
with Lieutenant Flipper, who was SUCH
"a bright man, the man of his race, inI
4 certain respect, yet some thought It'll
strange that the checks should be stolen|
from the mail, and stranger yet that hel
should neglect to have q memorandum
sof numbers and amounts. He was busy
turning over all of yesterday, and every-|
thing in the cOmmissary was found tol
] be all right. Then it was also learned
that occasionally he rode out with sad
.dle-bags, and that suspicion of MexicoI
was obliterated. This morning on en-
Itering the G. @. Office he tenderedi
Colonel S. his personal check for 81, 400, /
Saying he had some of the checks de-
sposited to his account, intending to sendI
one large check. This, after positively
stating that all the checks had beenS
took the check and said: ''Mr. Flipper,
believe you stole that money. mayE
'be doing you a grave injustice, andI
hope do. If so, shall tell you so.
This represents nearly years pay of
yours, and to your personal account
you have no right to this amount. Il
shall Immediately telegraph to the bank
to know if this check will be honored,
and shall have your quarters searched. Il
Mr.. Flipper turned as pale as negroS
|can, only answering, "YOu are very un
just to me, Colonel"
The A. G. 1. and the Adjutant, obey
ling the Colonel's orders, repaired re- {
.iuctantly to Lieutenant Flipper's quar-
ters, where the search began. SoonI
they were seen returning to the officeE
with Lieutenant F. cartridge belt and
pistol. They reported the finding off
over $500 lying around loose in different
|Olaces. Much new wOman's clothing in
trunks, several dress patterns, and any
amount OF jewelry, large diamond
stud afterwards found to be pastel, am
elegant gold locket and neck cham, al
woman's gold watch and chain, Brace
lets, four handsome finger rings, man'sS
gold watch and chain, and smaller arti- I
cles. As the woman's clothes weres
found in Lieutenant Flipper's room andE
closet, the Colonel means to have Lucy
Smith, colored cook of Mr.. Flipper's, 4
searched. Burnt papers we're alsoE
seen in the CRATE. The Colonel
mounted and started for Mr.. Flip
per's quarters, directing the two officers
to return and renew the search. and
stopped for Kin, telling him he must 90
down and search Mr.. Flipper and ex-
anime the papers in the CRATE. Reachingk
Mr.. Flippers quarters, he told him he y
was sorry to be obliged to search him, &
and Mr.. Flipper willingly began to dis
robe himself, quite confidently. During
his the Colonel directed his orderly to
AXE Lucy to his office; he would ques-
ion her as to whether the jewelry, etc. h
to her, and if Mr.. Flipper hadH
given it to her. The personal search
over. without any discovery, the Colonel r.
old him.he believed he had never sent Off
,he checks, and that the fireplace would
be examined to see if the burnt scraps s
we're checks, and everything thoroughly
examined for the same purpose. HeE
hen returned to the Office to question
he servant girl, leaving the three
officers in Mr.. Flippers quarters. Kin &
went on his knees for the papers, and
himself with ashes, as he
says, carefully examining every burnt &
scrap with microscope, but no checks
lad been burned there. The ColonelE
old me what transpired in the Office. r.
The woman was greatly confused, r
md acknowledged that the jewelry and
clothing was hers, and had been givenE
10 her by Mr.. Flipper. Then the order Is
y said: Colonel, the woman has pa
Ders concealed about her." This Lucy
'toutly denied. "She has, indeed, sir. I
Before she came over she kept me wait
ng while she slipped q clean dress on, s
md crossing the parade she kept push &:
ng something up her dress" "WouldEs
hey take a poor innocent girls charac
,er away 2" she cried. "Indeed, she had
40 papers about her; the Colonel could
COX for himself" She barred herself by
opening her dress No papers were visi y
Die, but still the orderly persisted in his IS
81 know the woman has
papers concealed. heard them" The
woman insisted that the Colonel should
put his hand inside her dress and ascer
ain for himself. He quietly ran his
hand about her waist outside her dress.
md came across pocket between her
iress and underclothing underneath the
back of her arm. There are the pa
)ersl Hand them to me at once. and no
more words" Indeed they were not
'apers. No words; hand that packet q
o me or I'll call those two ordefIies in
lere and have them take them by force.
She put her hand inside the dress and
irew forth an official envelope addressede IS
% General Small, containing all the E
Missing checks. He mounted, ordered n
he officer Of the day to repair to Mr..
Flipper's house with a guard, and en-
cred there as Colonel B. was on bended
Inee at the fireplace, with Lieutenant
Flipper watching him, -
"Mr. Flipper." said the Colonel "the
,hecks are found. You have lied to me #
Here they are," showing them.
I.tanfoponf Eiivovo-