Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-12-23
THE CONFEDERATE SPECIE SCAN
DAL.
Another Interview With Joe john
sion

Another interview WIN Joe JOiih-
stOn.
A Cincinnati Enquirer correspond
ent asked Gen. Joe Johnston if the
interview published in the Philadel>
phia Press was correct, and received
the following reply:
I could not have said the direct
things attributed to me in that inter
view, because I did not positively
know them. l think it was in No
vember q remember it was a cold
night that I was introduced to the
gentleman in an omnibus going from
the depot to the hotel i'll Richmond,
and, getting into conversation with
him, one subject drifted into another,
until, after entering the hoe!, he
said: Il would like to talk with you
on the subject of the mysterious dis
appearance of that Confederate specie
that has now and again appeared i'll
the newspapers This all occurred
in the public room Of the hotel, and
[ discussed 20 the subject, as l
have repeatedly done before
not for moment suppos-
ing l WAS being interviewed
until we had finished-when he re
marked something about publishing
it, to which l said: You will please
! permit me to see anything you have
to say of this conversation before
I going to the newspapers He prom
ised to do so, and this is the first III
timation of it. l certainly did not
say tAat Mr.. Davis had received any
/ direct or indirect benefit from this
money, This | could not have pos
sibly known; but I did say, substan-
italy, what he says in reference to
my sending my aid, Col. Mason, to
the secretary of wal this was the
source through which l communi-
Gated with the goyernment), and re
questing him to use portion Of the
specie then in possession of the Con
federate government 10 pay
the troops off as far as
IL HCula SO. ~ MY 1CiiSl
received telegraphic acknowledg
ment, but after several days waiting
Col. Mason returned to me very much
Disguised, and said each day of his
stay in Richmond he was put off W tn
one or another excuse; and Icing
convinced that he could accomplish
nothing, realized the uselessness of
his warming his toes around the res
ception room of the secretary And
then the old general, with a merl v
twinkle of his eye, said: "If there
had been 30 specie, would my aid
have to wait such length of time to
have been informed of the fact! !
think not. You are aware, of course,
sir, that when Trenholm was called
to the secretaryship of the treas
ury. almost his first act was to
announce to the people his inten
ton to collect and accumu-
late every dollar ef specie pos
sible, that it might form {
basis, as used to be the case in the
, State banks issuing their own notes
For instance, the Virginia banks, OF
foundation of each dollar in specie
were permitted to issue three dol
lars, and so on. It is further know
to every intelligent man in the Soutl
that there was large amount thu
, accumulated"
What became of it, General 2
1T was the undoubted opinion o
General Beauregard that at leas
S2,50O,0O0 went South from Char
lotte, n. c. The reporter made
mistake IN the number of wagons
/ said that the Confederate office
told me that there were hfteel
wagons Three weeks, or therea
t bouts, before my surrender to Gen
1 eral Sherman, special detail wa
o made from the navy, the sailor
ranking as privates, with few com
miseioned naval officers, and wer
sent to Charlotte as an extraordinar.
= guard for the mint wherein thi
t specie was stored; and thes