New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-11-14
TREASURY BAGS ROBBED
GOVERNMENT BOXES FILLED WITH SHOT
AND LEAD INSTEAD OF SILL
YER DOLLARS.
SILVER SHIPMENTS FROM THE MINT At NEW
ORLEANS SYSTEMATICALLY PLUNDERED-
NO CLEw TO THE RoBBER-THH
LOSSES MAY BE VERY HIGH
THE QUESTION OF Re-
6pONsIpIIITY


LOSSES MAY BE VERY HIGH
THE QUESTION OF Re-
sPoNsIBTLIrY.
tnr TELEGRAPH TO rHs rnnuxa1
washington, Nov. 13.--A deficit has 0een diA
covered in the office Of tile United States Treas
urer which forces the conclusion that systematic
course OF robbery has been going on for some
tlme When the new silver vault was completed.
II was determined to relieve the mints at Phila-
deipha and New.Orleans of the burden OF silver
doliaS which crowded them and caused great
inconvenience. These silver dollars were first
shipped here from the Philadelphia mint and
were weighed. counted, and then stored away
IN the large vault In the courtyard OF tho Treas
ury Department. Nothing wrong was discovered
in the money received from that point About
month ago the work Of relieving the New-Orleans
mint was begun, and the silver dollars have been
received at the Treasury Department at tho rate
Of about a million every two days. The money
shipped just the as in the case Of
the mint at Philadelphia 1t was placed in
sealed wooden boxes, each containing two
bags of thousand dollars each. OF
course it, has been impossible for the
clerks here to open tho boxes and
count the money as rapidly as it 10 received,
and quite o number of boxes have accumulated
which have not yet been opened The boxes
are taken up as rapidly as possible. and tho
first thing done is to weigh them and see IL they
are up to the standard Then the boxes are
opened the ba gs taken out, and the money counted
The money is then replaced in the bags and they
stored away in the vault
SHOT AND LEAD WHERE DOLLARS OUGHT TO BE
A week ago, opening Of the boxes,
which had been weighed anG found all right,
one of the bags was found to be 1lled with shot
so as to weigh exactly what thousand silver
dollars would weigh. The other bag in this
box was filled with lead bars Of equal weight
The clerks who discovered the fraud reported the
matter at once, and the facts were laid before
AssistantSecrctary Thompson last Wednesday
morning That officer Immediately sent for Mr..
Bell the chief Of the Secret Service Division. and
detectives were assigned to investigate the affair
thoroughly The utmost secrecy has been OBJ
served by every one in the Department having
knowledg. of the robbery and the fact only leaked
out to-day by accident
Further examination showed that the box in
question had been opened after it had been
sealed at the mint in New-Oreans, and when
it was sealed the second time the wax bore, not
the impression of the Government seal, but that
of a silver quarter. Other boxes were found to
have been tampered with In the same way and
on examining the bags in them II was dis
covered that portions of their contents had been
abstracted and the weight made up by shot and
lead bars.
THE AMOUNT OF THE LOSS UNKNOWN.
How much money has been taken cannot now
be determined 1t is estimated that $4,000 Will
cover what is known to be lacking, but as there
are many boxes yet to be examined. the amount
of which the Government has been robbed may
into very high figures
The Treasury officials, Of course claim that
the blame rests upon the express company which
has transported the money They say that the
boxes are carefully sealed before they leave tho
mint and are guarded the train. They are
taken from the station at Washington TO the
Treasury Building in large express wagon.
Gagged in on all sides with heavy steel wire and
guarded by representatives OF the express COM
pany and Of the Treasury, who are heavily
armed and sit on the boxes within the cage
Every care that can be thought OF is taken TO
guard against loss, and the detectives are puzzled
TO know how it was possible to substitute tho
shot for the silver dollars.
WHERE DOES THE RESPONSIBILITY REST
Mr. Bell. the Chief of the Secret Service. says
that he believes the thieving was certainly done
after the boxes lett the mint and before they
were delivered at this Department. lie says
that if the official clerks doing up the
packages had done the stealing tney
could have used the Government seal to fasten
the boxes again This theory, however, Is critl-
csed bv outside detectives, who say that the care
that WAS taken to make each bag weigh the exact
amount that one thousand silver dollars call Tor
shows that the theft was committed by some per-
son or persons who had access TO scales and who
had time carefully to perform the work OF ap-
nd
Government seal was not used after the boxes haa
been tanpercd with is not regarded as PROOF OF
the innocence Of those IL the MT 1or mao the poNs
been found properly sealed tine crime would az
once have been traced back to those who banded
them at the mint The substitution or the I'M
preston of silver quarter was proo1oy aol .as
purpose of throwing suspicion upon the empiuycS
of the express company. The department. VIII uh-
doubtedly hold until more light is thrown upon the
subject, that the express company respohs'1hs. ,h
but it will take considerable time " SsSeI"in "'o
exact extent of the loss. II,
IL is not likely that the express company VIII
admit Its nd there nav be some startling
developments before the matter Is setteo !,i n1c
Government official who is dlrectiy nsRoSSs.o S.a'ns
for the custody of the money is the Uniten otaTs
Treasurer, James w. Hyatt His bond is sooo'ooV'
STATE CHARTER FOR THE NICARAGUA CANAL.
Montpelier, Nov. 13 (Specal.-The Legislature TO-
day passed act to incorporate the Maritime Canai
Company Of Nicaragua. The act Of incorporation 10
tho same the one introduced into the Ohiteo otSos
Senate last session by Senator Edmunds. 1t passed
the National Senate by an unanimous vote ana went
TO the House OF Representatives whore Its consderar
tion was refused on the objection of single men,
ber who raised the point that there was no quorum
present Acting the advice Of Senator Edmunds'
who drew the bill, the parties interested In the NJ
caragua Canal enterprise decided to ask the Vermont
Legislature for charter Several Of the incorporators
named I'm the Vcrmonters, including such we'll
known men as Frederick Billings and Colonel Frank