The Washington critic., 1888-09-29
MRS. RECKER,S CRIME.
How She Accumulated Money witt
WhIch TO Guild a House

How She Accumulated Money with
whloh to Guild a House
The announcement in The Critic a
week ago to-day that y shortage of
$50 had been suspected in the Re
dcmption Division Of the Treasury may
not have been so unfounded as some de-
clarcd. IL was asserted that such
thing was impossible The Critic stated
that the countcr had cut and pasted the
Worn-out notes i'm such way as 70 mq ita
considerable profit. The Treasury oli-
cials arc astounded by the developments
in the case of Mrs. Becker IL seems
incredible that she could have succeeded
i'm using scissors and paste-pot without
being discovered by those in her room
IL was careful work, requiring skill and
perseverance. 1t could not have been
done hastily. Some say that she cut
sixteenth portion from every note to
make up the one she is charged with
taking for her own use. The amount said
to have been taken by Mrs. Becker
something over 5000, represents the
work of % few days only. IL is not
known how long this had been going on
Mrs. Becker was in the Office n number
of years. She was only u 5000 clerk
On inquiry it, has been learned that
Mrs. Becker has been for the past two
or three years snug investor in real
estate, owning the house I'm which she
lives, No. 1204 N street, another in the
rear and several lots on Charlton
Heights, near the city, on one of which
she took permit last spring TO build
So 900 house This house had pro-
grcsscd far enough to need mantcls, and
ii was because she had abscntcd herself
without leave last Friday from her desk
TO look for mantclS' when her chief of
division had occasion to have her work
overhnulcd that the patched notes
which told the story were discovered.
The fellow-clcrlts say that this shortage
had accumulated in five days work and
that more than $1,000, 900 must have
passed through her hands in the last two
or three months.
She was young woman of German
parentagc, from Illinois, widow of
twenty-five or thercabouts, when Gen.
Spinner received her into his bureau in
| SG5. IL was understood that she had q
mother and brother dependent upon her.
She has always worn troubled and any
ious face, and of late years has grown
stout and somewhat gray. She con-
tracted an unhappy marriage with one
Studlcy, a messenger in the Department
after eight years service, and after one
child was born-a boy now twelve or
thirteen years old-a separation was cf-
fccted, and he left the Department and
the city.
Singularly enough, although her mar
riage was known in the Treasury, she
continued on the rolls as Mrs. Becker,
while outside she was known as Mrs.
Studlcy. Her treatment at the hands
OF her husband made her at the time an
object of sympathy in the Office, and
otherwise she passed for patient
/ long At the wheel that her honesty was
! taken for granted, hut for the past two
or three years She has appeared in fine
| clothing and Jewels and has talked
volubly of a legacy left her by an old
! aunt in Montreal and of her profits III
real estate investments.
Lately, it is said, she has grown so
reckless as so ride TO the Department
daily in her carriage. A great deal OF
talk sprung up among the other lady
counters, but it was rather taken for
granted that there was Il man in the
case somewhere There is now tall;
of probable male confederate outside
of the Department, vet there is q dis
position 10 suspend Judgment till the
whole is known Mrs. Becker has
been reported i'll of nervous prostratior
since the exposure, but this week she
sent for a lawyer and had long con
ference with him.
The commission appointed to invcs
tigate the business methods Of the rcdemr
4 zion division of the Treasury Depart
ment is not inclined to follow the usua
course adopted by department. invcsti
gators. The testimony of witnesses will
not be considered. The commission will
itself make an inspection of the work a
now done, and will thereafter decid
what changes in the system are advis
able A package of money will be fol
lowed through the regular channel, an
thus it. will he learned what each EN-
ployc has to do with it, This plan O
investigation will also inform the com
mission as to existing opportunities 70