Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-06-15
THE CONSCIENCE FUND"
INSTANCES OF RESTITUTION BY PEN
ITENT GOVERNMENT ROBBERS.

Iersuns unknown and which sums consu
tutcs what is known as the CONSCIENCE
Fund, as 1t Is supposed to come from peo
plr who have at some time defrauded the
government and who wish TO make restItu
ton 10y rufunding the amounts Of their
pc culatlonS.
This conscience fund" said Il treasury
official has been steadily increasing for
sixty years until now il reaches the enor
nous sum uf nearly sGSi,uh The first
money of The kind receiN ed at the treasury
was SiE>I. Te1cIVed in l~2s, from an un
known person who explained in his letter
that lie WAS refunding tor me customs
that H.. had once defrauied the government
" Since that time remittances of all
amounts rauging from cents To
$50 have been coming III. ]hey come
from all over the country, ami e'en from
foreign Lands A letter was rereired not
lon ago from fellow out i'll the Sandwich
islands enc o>ing $40. which, be exl lalned,
was the proceeds OF the sale Of some Old
brass lie had slo en- from an American man
of-war several years previous at the Mare
lsianI navy yard The recollection Of his
c lme worried him until he had to refund
to ease his conscience.
\ great deal of this money Is received
from priest, and ministers, who write that
some sinner In their parish 10 Iuest.d them
To send it i'll During the smallpox epi
demic IN Canada "A Catholic priest in GU
bee sent us draft for SO which dying
{ anadian had given him ConfeSsing to have
stolen that amount from the United STATES
government but not giving the details
frequently nothing ar, nmpanies the remit
tauce 10 indicate, what 1t i for, but genel
...f.. ion IL llV
CASE or TRrE CnNsCIENTIuT SSEss-
Not long since We received letter en-
closing All old and creased $40 bill with
note rs follows:
"GRIDLEY, Geurgy, Febuery I.
Mister treasury pleas take this ten doleTs
il is all have got and l have had it u long
time Tut don't want it no more for my Old
man said as how he had stole mule from
the yankees Just after the surrender and As
how he reckin 1t mite lie stealing for the
war WAS done over with and he did not
have any rite TO take nothin from the
yankees no more and so | don't want NO
stealth III my family and reckin the mule
warnt wuth more than ten doers for it war
IA spawned old criter anyway and | aint
got no more money your umble servlnt
ANN GRAY HIGGs-
I. o-MI Olu uieA AasN "Och.
There was a case of true conscientious
ness Another time We received letter
containing four 2cent stamps but not
line OF explanation This, believe, Is the
smallest contribution ever sent in. Another
ttt'r poslmarked at Kansas city, was re
ceived enclosing ten s. bills, with a note
saying, This money belongs to the govern
nent' A fellow out in Missouri sent in 81,
f..t ha had hr-rl lr.as.
into postoffice in New York state some
years previous and stolen that amount, but
having since joined the Methodist church
he ielt that he could not lie forgiven for his
sin until he refunded the money.
Two letters were received from men who
said they hal Leen qusrtermasters in the
United States army during the war and had
defrauded the government One of them
renitted the amount OF his peculation, with
interest at per cent for twenty years
4 DO, X keeper in some whole house in
New York wrote that in making out bill
for some supplies furnished the government
he had by mistake oyerCharged SO, and
not wishing TO acknowledge his error for
fear of being discharged, he wanted to pay
hack the money.
SOME OTHER CONSCIENCE ITEMS
en-, eloIe postmarkei at New Vol K and con
tanning -, o. in bills, one Of 8 ,Uu1, two oi
SJUD, and five Of slu They were all cur
in two, with small piece cut from TIA,
cen or, and the word cancelled written
acr, - the face. 4 note encos ii ran thus
Here are $50 in United States bills,
mutilated So n to insure the government
getting the moIey. Whatsoever a man
suws that shall he reap | have sown the
wind and am reaping the whirIwind This
is next to the final pay yment due. God grant
me speedy release
We had received $50 from New York
shortly before. and circumstances connected
with the two remittances indicated that
they were 10th from the same party.
There is tale connected with a con-
science item of 500 We once received
A gentleman down in New Orleans wrot-.
ell losing a check for 500, with the
following explanation: He said that
up 10 few weeks previous there
had lived an old man at the mou h
OF Calcasieu pass in Mississippi who wss re
ported TO lie a smuggler. He lived in a
miserable hut near the b ach, and was os
tensibly a fisherman This gentl, man who
sent the money, and whom we will cal
Smith, was out ducking one day, and,
we're storm coming up, be sought refuge in
th, old fisheruans hut He founi the old
man v.ry sick-In fact, dying. Smith stayed
with him all that night, and about daylight
the nd man diet, having made Smith swear
that h. would send S5OO in bills, which he
would find secreted behind a board in tht
wall t. the United States treasury. Thr
man said that a year before, while going out
to his net, one morning, he found Il drowned
mans body washed up on Calcasiru bar,
and IN a leather wallet on the mans person
were these Lills Some pape S shovel The
man TO have been al officer in the United
States navy. The old man buried the body
and appropriated the money, but would
never Use it Smith kept his word and sent
rhe money in.
One man sent In 800 bill with most
cuntrite Letter brimful Of remorse and re
pentsnce The bill Was found to be a
counterfeit New York Sun.
SubterrNnean Hotel at Niagara
~Why can not we," said long headed