The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-06-13

Va
his Situation and he VAS on The verge If
DESPAIR. a situation difticnlt 10 discern NV
ANYONE who has moi heen similarly circum.
stanced. His sonl vas sickened At and
loathed the whole succession of acts which
had so rapidly followed one upon another
All s1rts of expedients suggested them.
selves TO him. but at no time aid IL ever
occur to him to really possess himself of a
single sou belonging TO the government.
He would have resorted To any other OK
pedient to hide his ofIense and so gain
| time to correct. and death wonld have
| been infinitely preferable.
lie saws he now approaches the saddest
part of the painful recital, wherein he
recounts the madscheme he adopted to final.
| ly extricate himself. This was 10 start on his
pay trip with his accounts before starting
showing eyeryth ing apparently correct and
showing 500, 0OO on hand as the balance Of
this sum, he actually had S23 500: shortage.
SIS 500.
1t was his custom to keep his own cash
accounts and check books and even his
clerk was ignorant of the shortage, and he
thought he could keep him ignorant by a
ruse. He did dune both the clerk and mes
senger and by which he succeeded in deposi +.
ing SIS, 500 in his office in Galveston. He n, I
the larger and buIkier package, which con.
tanned the small, sum, In the clerks yalise.
He then caused il 10 be believed that his
valise had been stolen and robbed of lbs
contents and apparently made strenuous
Efforts to recover the money and capture
the supposed robbers, taking lust the same
measures and precautions as he would nat
urally have taken had he really been
robbed After establishing the impression
that the robbery was genuine, he had in.
tended going north, osten.ibly to confer
-
he uneasy on account of the affair. He
thought if he was successful in establishinp
the robbery theory, of which he had nc
doubt, that he could easily persuade them
and others to raise the So 500, giving them
to understand that with their act to that
extent, and the exhibitions of confidence,
he could raise through friends elsewhere
The balance necessary to this amount.
lie then would add SIS.
800, which, with the amount
in the possession of his clerk and turned
over by him at the time of the affair, and
thus discharge the entire Indebtedness to
the government, thus making his official
account at least really good, and to appear
that that end had been Accomplished by
his having taken upon himself the rcspon.
sibility O, recovering the money. He was
creating belief in fictitious shortage iu
his official funds, which he could
one which he 'ot could 0 Uot witb real
exposing all of his Irregularities, which he
knew would be imputed as crimes. He
thus sought to put himself in a position
when he would no more be driven to prac.
tice any deceitful devices, horribly repug.
nant to him from the first and now intoler.
able. The loss would fall on himself alone
and it would only take the greater
nf hi aaIn
repay the money borrowed to make good
his shortage. When he discovered how fall
lacious this robbery thing was, he con.
cluded he must have been made over TO
have conceived it, and realized that when
the shortage came to light, as IL must in
evitably, il would place him under the sus.
plcion of intending to appropriate SIS. 900.
which never for Single moment was his
intention, and he called God to
witness that he neither intended to deprive
the government of this or any other
sum larger than at the first moment he
would b0 able to restore, He tried to get
the chief paymaster to come to tbe scene
of the supposed robbery. when he wonId
turn over the funds in the clerks yalise.
He said: ~ would then get him to 90 back
with me to Galveston, where | would
turn over the $l8,50O, but he did
not come and | had to wait until
came to San Antonio, where
10 him | made as free and
frank statement as | have to the court. "
lie also says: II think it impossible for
any one living without undergoing it 10
conceive of the torture all this caused me.
Although | had done grieyous wrong, and
thereby become villain, looked upon
every aot with the eyes of an honest man,
Imagine the horrors oft who can for I
cannot describe it. So terrible
was it that had resolved
to live only long enough to make restitu.
ton so far as | was able and then end NV
miserable life. saw nothing be fore me-
and felt that dared not face the disgrace
to my name and the wreck of NV fair
hopes but God in His mercy sent better
thoughts to me and saved me from this
wrong act of sin and despair, and now
II shall live and make Of
my, future what | CAM He
makes no excuse for his guilt
but passes on to an analysis of the charges
and specifications, which recite the embez.
element OF $2i 0OO, when he only actually
used $500, and this sum was virtually ali
he had actually in.mind. The distinction be.
tween constructive, technical and statuary
embezzlement and embezzlement at com.
mon law, which implies an intent
to defraud the government and an.
piopriate the money TO ones own use
alone would have prevented him from ever
even thinking of such course. He then
called attention TO the fact that previous TO
his assignment he had rendered and the
chief paymaster had accepted mis- check
for S. 800 deficit and the check had been
paid, so that to-day he does not owe the
government single penny and his ac
cunts are as straight as those of
any officer in the army He then modestiy
alluded to his record, which has peen do.
tailed in he trial in the testimony of wit.
nesses. lie spoke of the high character o.
his witnesses, who were the highest officers
in the army, and other gentlemen, ikeN Use
prominent and distinguished. In regard
to the penalty, he said 1t wasa principle OF
law as well as Justice that it shonld be only
of such extent us will indicate the dignity
of the law and punish the offender
for an ollense which VS.
never for single moment his
| intention, He then said each snec;f, on n,