Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-08-04
THE STOLEN ARCHIVES.


A1 ~ AVN -
concerning the outrageous vandalism
at the Capitol created much comment,
and the theft is still the subject of a
great deal of talk. The ~looseness that
permitted such a thing to be possible
was spoken of in emphatic terms, and
the general opinion was that it had
been a great mistake that a superin-
tendeut had not been appointed who
would have had charge Of the proper
ty stored in the armory. Further in.
vestigation fully confirms all hat was
said regarding the extent of the de-
struction, and shows that even in
stead Of six volumes of the Supreme
Court docket were taken away.
An American representative yester-
day visited the armory, from which
the books were stolen. As is well
known, the armory is in the basement
of the Capitol, and is used as a store
house for guns, cannon and munitions
of war, Tennesses's pro rata furnished
by the general government. Besides
these there are a number Of divisions
or bins, which are used for storing
away surplus copies of all volumes
issued by the State, journals of the two
houses Of the Legislature, reports,
acts, etc., besides which there are now
contained in them a number of vol
umes of the archives of the State. As
a gentleman, who knew what he was
talking about, remarked: Things are
carried on pretty loose, here lately,
and almost everything is packed of
down there" 10 the bins spoken OF
there are thousands of volumes of the
kind referred to, which are constantly
n demand by pirties all over the
State. In fact, the way it became
known that the last theft occurred
between noon of July Z and noon Of
July 8, was that some copies OF
Gaines Reports we're wanted in one
of the offices. Mr.. Dautel. the gar
dener, who had noticed a number OF
these reports on July z, the day be-
fore, spoke of them and went for
them, but, to his establishment, they
had all been taken away during the
night At that time the armory
usually staid unlocked during the
day, and not only this, but nearly
all the bins or divisions were also
unlocked, so that an entrance was
easily to be effected, and anything
could easily be stolen. Over 500 vol,
umes we're taken, and no doubt every
volume in the armOry would have
followed in a few weeks longer When
the discovery was made, however,
brand new locks we're put on the
bins, and they we're locked up, as they
should have been locked before
Some, however, have not been locked
yet. Opening a door which was stand
ing slightly ajar a pile OF old records
were seen. One Of them contained a
record of the collections OF State
taxes in Rutherford county from 1868
to 1921, a period of thirteen years.
While all these bins were unlocked a
person had only to come in through
an outside door and the contents were
at his disposal. Dautel made a list of
everything in the armory shortly be-.
fore Mr.. Austin's death, but this list
is not found and the total extent Of
the loss capnot be fully determined.
1t may be over the estimate given
Sunday, but will not be under it. Nor
is the value Of the articles stolen ex-
segerated. To replace the journals,
ETC., if necessary, would cost a large
SUN OF money, but, Of course, their
value is not so great. Of the manu-
script records, it would be hard to fix
the money valuation, and ne effort to
do so was made by the American. The
losses stated are all known to have
been sustained, and are, perhaps,
greater than stated.
On Saturday, after giving a number
of facts, Mr.. Dautel discovered that
his interviewer was a newspaper man,
and requested that nothing be said
about it. As every statement made
by him only corroborated information
previously received, of course the re-
quest was not complied with. Hear
ing that Mr.. Dautel had made some
objections to the Americans article,
the representative again saw him yes
terday and asked wherein the report
was incorrect. Nj. Dautel, after care
fully reading the article, made objec-
ton that one or two volumes OF the
Quartermaster's Department records
had escaped, and that the destroyed
archives of the General Government
for l776 and subsequent years did not
belong TO the Historical Society. Ne
made no other objection and stated
that he had said nothing against the
report except that the value Of the
books destroyed was estimated, how.
ever, by one who certainly knows as
much about them IS Mr.. Dautel. At
any rate, the value of the books little
affects the question. The American
representative was informed thai
everything left outfrom under lock and
key is liable to be stolen, and that
many things are continually being
stolen from the capitol. Said the in.
formant "Ill show you where l had
to paddock the windows to keep the
thieves out He approached the
window, and found to his astonish
ment that the staple had been pulled
out and his window could be opened
from the outside. The outside steal
ing is Of course due to the fact that
there is no night watchman, owing tC
the refusal of the last Legislature to
provide for the payment Of more shau
. such Office. During the day Mr.
WInbourn is Waterman, and he sleep.
ia the building at night, but Of course
he cannot be on duty day and nigh
too. No blame can be attached Il
him, for he, as we'll as Mr.. Dautel
has performed his duty faithfully
There should have been a Superinten
dent appointed, and then, az during
Mr.. Austin's administration, the Su
p%erintendent would have been in
charge during the day and the watch.