Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-15
UNJUSTLY SUSPECTED.

UNJUSTLY SUSPECTED.
Il Bank Oficsr.s Repwtati0n Cleared Of a
Cloud that Had Rested Upon tt for Years.
In the early days of the republic the
transfer Of government funds from one
part of the country to another was attend
ed with many difficulties to which the Gus
todians of United States treasure are not
now subject. Railroads and the telegraph
were alike unknown and unthought of,
and st. Louis and Washington were about
month apart in time. Government
funds were intrusted for safe carriage and
delivery to private messengers, and the
responsibility necessarily put upon them
was in many cases very great. An int r
esting incident connected with the trans
fer of large sum of money from this city
to Philadelphia was yesterday narrated to
Globe-Democrat reporter by Secretary
H. L. Clark. of the Virgins Ferry COM
pany.
Said Mr.. Clark: 'Just prior to- the ex-
tinction, of the United States bank, in
1886 or 1887. l think it was Mr.. Cist, a
rusted messenger of the United States,
one of whose sons has since been cashier
of the State Savings Institution of this
city, came here from Cincinnati with in
structions to take the surplus fund of the
st. Louis agency of the Commercial bank
of Cincinnati, government institution,
and proceed with it to Philadelphia. At
that time was discount clerk and assist
ant teller in the St. Louis agency, and re-
member Mr.. Cist's visit we'll. The
money for which he came was between
100000 and 100000, received largely
from the sale of government lands in this
and adjoining states. People had con-
fidence in other folks honesty then and no
hesitancy was felt in turning this large
sum over to Mr.. Cist. This was before Ger
man gold began to circulate and the
money was all in paper of different de-
nominations. The entire sum was counted
and placed in an ordinary carpet-bag. such
as travellers in those days were accustomed
to use. In the lot was one small package
of 100000 in 100 $1,000 bills, to
which Mr.. Cist's attention was especially
called. From here to Cincinnati the jour
ney had to be made by river, consuming
about a weeks time. The carpet-bag was
turned over to the clerk and kept in his
Office until the city was reached. There
enough money was obtained from the Com
mercial bank to bring the entire sum
u: to $1,OOO,OOO or $1,2OO,O0O. With this
amount Mr.. Cist proceeded by stage over
the mountains to Philadelphia. Arriving
| in that city toward night, he found himself
too late to gain admission to the United
States bank on that day, and so made ar
| engagements with noted hardware COM
| pany of that time-McAllister & Co.-to
put the money in their. safe for the night.
This was accordingly done, he removing
the precious contents of his carpet-bag
and placing the various packages on the
| middle shelf of the safe. On the following
day the money was removed and taken to
the bank, but judge of Mr.. Cist's conster-
nation when the package of 100000
proved to be missing. He remembered
distinctly of having seen it in this city and
in Cincinnati, and was utterly at a loss to
account for its disappearance. McAllister
d Co.'s safe was searched, and
no stone left unturned to dis
cover the money. The Commercial bank
Of Cincinnati offered $4,000 reward for
the detection of the thief or return of the
money, but it was all to no purpose. Sus-
picion fastened on Mr.. Cist. The charac-
| ter which he had always borne for honesty
and faithfulness was blasted, and though
no positive proof could be found of his
guilt, his reputation was entirely destroyed.
About eight months later small sum of
money was found missing from McAllister
d Co.'s safe, and in the search for it an
employe of the company found small
opening behind the middle shelf on which
it had been placed. An iron hook was Sc
cured and its depths explored. The very
first haul brought to light the mysteriously
missing 100000 package, and several
| sums were also recovered from the depths.
Mr.. Cist was made happy again, and the
confidence formerly felt in him was
restored. The $4,000 reward was claimed
by the person who made the discovery, but
for some reason the payment was objected
to, and the matter was brought into litiga-
| ton in the court. I don't remember how
it was settled, but take it all in all, the loss
of the money and its subsequent recovery
was one of the most remarkable occur
rences in the history of tie United States
treasury monetary transactions in early
days."-St. Louis Glo5e-Democrat.
SLOW SUICIDE.