Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-03-14
The Sewer Certificate Frauds.
GEORGE n. PARSHaM's CONFESSION.


brought here from Sing Sing prison Friday
Dignt last and taken by Detective McElfresh
otfore the District commissioners, when he
voluntarily offered TO make full statement of
the facts as to his connection with the $1,000
sewer bond theft This confession was made In
pies pce of MIR. Riddle attorney for the Dis
1ict; MI. Richie. who subsequently came into
possession OF the bonds; and the prisoners at
torney. Mr.. jeremiah Wilson. The statement
was taken down In short hand and subsequent
~ written out in full Farnham said he took
the bonds from the board of audit himself.
They were kept under the counter just at his
feet where his place was In the room. They
were tied up In bundles and at the time be took
them he had no idea that they were OF any
value, but one day he pulled a few out and took
them home with him as curiosities. At that
time he was drinking very hard and spending a
then occurred TO him OF disposing OF them for
money with which to buy whisky. The cancel
Iatlon was simply aStamp mark, and very faint
at that, so that II could hardly be noticed what
II was, and 1t was the easiest thing to erase it.
Which he Gid with soap and water. Had he
thought at that time that they could be disposed
OF he could have taken out $le8, 600 OF them and
disposed OF them In the same way he had done
| the 81 ,oo0 and there was nothing TO have pre-
| vented the rest or the clerks from doing the
same. Ine bonds were open and he could efstly
have taken more. He had taken In the neigh
| b rhood OF s. 600. he had no knowledge OF any
| ore else taking bonds away.
| SELLING THE CANCELLED BONDS
He did not remember how long he Kept them
| b fore diSposing Of them; he was drinking nj
| that time, aud his memory Is cloudy about the
matter, but he thinks he took them in FEB
the same year, just about the time OF the Cen
tennisl, as he wanted money to go there. The
first sale was TO Gen. Whitaker. and he thinks
be sold him two $500 bonds for which he pot rs
cents on the dollar making $3.50. He (rarn-
han) made no statement to Whitaker as to
where he got them, aud Whitaker was limo.
cent about 1t. The next sale was to Mr.. Henry
+. Davis, who kept an office at the Metropoli-
tan bank. The first sale to him was Farm
ham thinks, 81 SEQ. He made TWO sales to him
afterwards. BE sold him IS 600 at So cents
He thinks this sale was after he went to the
CehtenDlal-1n July. he thinks, but 1T might
nave been In August or September. That
made s., 500 sold 10 II. F. Davis. He did not re-
member whether OF not he had sold second
batch to Gen. Whitaker, but he thinks he did,
but how many he old not remember. The rate
he sold them was So cents on the dollar. He
afterwards left some With Gideon W. Larner
who was employed by Peter Campbell In his
branch Office on AZ street, where Gen. Whit
takers Office Is now. He gave them 10 Larner
who took them to Campbell to sell for him
{Farnham). He could not say for certain that
Peter Campbell knew they we're crooked, but
his lmpre ssion is that Campbell knew what he
was buying, as MI Lafner remarked to him,
why don't You go to Mr. Campbell yoursef?'
He replied, "Gid., / don't know Peter Campbell,
nor what sort OF fellow he Is; don't know
whether ne VIII have any thng crooked or not"
LaTner said, 80, he'll, he will buy anything
he did hot know whether Larner told Mr..
Campbell. He sold the balance he had TO
tdtUpDtH lie went 10 see y. NJ. starr ABOUT
them once. but don't think he took any. All
that he sold were 10 Whitaker. Henry f. Davis
anu Peter Campbell, the latter through Larner
AT this time he was
SORRY THAI He BAD NOT TAKEN MORE,
as he was making beast Of himself drinking
whisky. No one but his WIFE knew he had these
bonds and she did hot know anything a bout
his business. He left The District In August
last. He had made no secret of where he had
6een since, nor where he was stopping now.
He had written 60 Mr.. Allen in the surveyors
once, to Mr.. Frank SullSon and a half dozen
others. He had come voluntarily 10 this City
with Detective MCEifresh.
AN EASY STEAL.
here Mr. jeremiah Wilson took up the exam
fDatien, hich ELECTED the facts that the bonds
were tied up in bundle and thrown on The
Moor. he pulled them from the bundle With
bis fngers for curiosity not knowing they were
worth cent Ii there are any more missing
he knew nothing or 1t. There were four clerks
employed behind the counter-Mr. Mills, Dir.
Ford, Mr.. Selkey and himself. only solne fav-
critic friends were allowed to go oennd the
counter; there was no difficulty In carrying
away million or them, nor was there any Oil.
1cIlty In removing the cancellation marks. He
did not remember the numbers on the certifi.
Gates. He cut on the coupons and pasted them
on the face of the bonds. The reason for this
was that he had some long envelopes, and the
purpose was to get them In these envelopes
without too much folding.
FARNHAMs TALK TO STAR REPORTER.
After the close Of the statement made by
Farnham he was permitted to return to police
headquarters and cautioned not to talk about
the matter. Here he stated TO a STAR reporter
that ne had no secrets about these bonds; the
law could not reach him, as the statute OF lm-
ual1CnS barred prosecution against him. He
knew this before he left New York Wltn Mr.
McEi1resh. He could have given MI. Nc
Elfresh good deal OF trouble had he chosen to
demand his authority to arrest him. but he
knew nothing could be done with him The
present District authorities had no knowledge
OF the abstraction OF these bonds at all. lie
stated that since he had been at the Commits
sloneis' office and given his statement, MI.
McEIresh had brought TO him one OF these
celled, with the word sscanceliea'
written In red Ink across the face and an at
tempt been made to erase the red ink la most
DungliDg manner. McElrresh asked him If
he had lost anything In the Commissioners
Office and on his replying mo" he produced this
certificate, which was for old material, and said
some one OF the employees had picked it up In
the passage In the Commissioners Office
short time before, and some one hal suggested
that he tFarnham) had dropped1t. This made
him angry, as the attempt had been made by
ating the impression that he (F.) had this In
his POCKET and had dropped it designedly or
otherwise. He secuted the idea, and said If
sold 1t long ago and put it In whisky.
Some one in there wanted to 1nture him.
He He did qddfs know know VINO IT was, but IL
to STAR reporter that the Office OF the board
OF audit Was run with perfect lOOseness, and II
he had known when he first went into it as
much as he knew the last two months he was
there he could have taken millions OF this kind
OF paper away. But little care was given TO
caneeiling redeemed paper, every one OF which
should have been cut effectually or mutilated
In some way. He proposed to leave for home
thlS evening, as he had got through what he
was sent tor. He believed this certificate found
On the floor had been distracted by some one
In the Office since he had come here for the pur-
pose OF throwing suspicion on him. He could
tell them. something about old material
II he choose to. but had not been
that the expert selected by the committee OF
Congress TO Investigate the board OF audlJf
books and papers, mir. John Morr1sl, had not
discovered the loss OF these bonds he, said it
had been discovered and brought out there but
no publicity given to IL, as this matter, with
other crooked acts had been sent by that com.
mittee to the District grand jury TO AXE in
dictments. Why the grand jury had not done
go he could not tell, but had often wondered
Why.they did not.
1T IS QUESTION OF CONSIDERABLE INTEREST
as to who is to be held responsible for the issue
second time OF these certificates, or rather
who Is TO be the lOoser. II the District author
tiles did not use proper vigilance in the can.
collation. OF them after their REDEMPTION but
by the carelessness OF its officials suffered them
to be used second time, 1t Is held by legal GEN
tlemen that the lOSsswlll fall upon the District
This Is, however, matter for the courts TO de-
termtne.
Peter Campbell's and G. ". Lar.
ner,s Connection with the
Newer bonds.
AFFIDAVIT OF G. W. LARNKR.