St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-06
HAS GONE TO CANADA
Cashier Silcott, of the Ser
geant-at-Arms Office, EN-
beZZleS q Fortune.
Eighty-Two Thousand Dollars
Safely Slowed in His In
side Pocket.
He Bet on the Races and
Lived a Jekyll and
Hyde Life.
Many Members of Congress
Are Minus Their Salary
for November.


WASHINGTON, Dec. sc. E. SilcOtt,
cashier of the sergeant-at-arms' office
of the last congress. is an EN- beZzler in
the amount of So, 900. $4,000 of which
is government money. He has bonds
filed for $4,000 with good security, so
the government will not suffer so Sc
verely as individuals. The chief suf-
feIer will be the sergeant-at-arms of
the last house,. P. LeedOm-who
loses $4,000 cash and is held responsible
for the shortage of SilcOtt above the
amount which may be recovered from
his bOndsmen. SilcOtt is supposed to be
in Canada. The defalcatiOn created a
sensation in the house. SileOtt was
well known to at least 100 of the old
members. His little STOPPING figure and
his gray head was familiar to every one
who had occasion to go to the Office of
the Sergeant-at-aTmS to draw money in
the last congress. Many of the new
members had become acquainted with
him during the past summer. He was,
to all appearances, a man of good
habits, steady and trustworthy. Among
his people in Ohio he had borne a good
reputation. 1t was thought the ser
geant-at-arms had accused one of their
own number of embeZZlement when the
members of the house stened to the
an Ouncement that there was a
SHORTAGE IN SILCOTT'S ACCOUNTS.
MIR. LeedOm seemed to take the mat
ter quietly and with some fOrtitude, al
though he told the newspaper inter-
81, hi hot
was in no condition to talk. 'All Of
this money mas been drawn since
Wednesday," he said to reporter, as he
sat in the back room of his little Office,
gazing at the stream of anxious con-
gresSmen who poured in the door to
look at the big, empty safe, and to ask
questions and offer sympathy. "We did
net suspect anything wrong until 4:30
o. m. Yesterday" he continued, ''and
we had no absolute knowledge of the
extent of the defalcation until this
morning, just before made the report
of it to the house. SilcOtt went to New
York Saturday, telling me that he had
to collect some money. Sunday night
he telegraphed to his wife that he
would be back Monday night. We
did not know what had happened to him
when he did not appear, but we thought
that he had been killed. We never sus-
pected the truth until his absence be-
came prolonged. when we began to in
Vestigate. We did not believe the worst
until we had gone to the treasury as
last resort, hoping that he had not
drawn the money. There we found
that he had drawn $780, 600 since
Wednesday. apparently with the
INTENTION OF CARRYING 1T AWAY.
Then l determined to report the mat
ter Immediately to the house and await
its action. The shortage is S7l, 1882. l
had $4,000 in the safe, and SilcOtt had
like amount up to Saturday. That is
all gone. | suppose SilcOtt has it with
him in Canada" SilcOtt came from
Youngstown, o., where he was mer-
chant for many years. His bonds for
$4,000 and his bondsmen, fifteen in
number, are all residents of Ohio, and
in the vicinity where he lived. The
only names which Mr.. Leedom could
remember among them were those Of
W. A. Blair. William Mccormick, j. T.
Wilson, L. II. Ellison and Samuel Dren-
nan. The bond is in Mr.. LeedOm's
private safe, out West. Mr.. Leedom
says that his bondSmen are all good
men. In answer to a question about
SilcOtt'S habits, Mr.. LeedOm said: HE
seemed 70 have no more than the or
binary mans share of vices. He was
one of the most economical men | have
ever known. | used to quarrel with
him about his wearing such cheap cloth
ing" SilcOtt has been cashier for about
six years. He handled about $1,000, 600
a year and gavt bond of S50,OO0. MIR.
LPedom gives a bond in like amount.
SilcOtt has married son and two little
daughters. Mrs. Silcott is distracted.
SilcOttS son, q young man who had re-
Gently married, is employed in the dOcu-
ment rOum of the house. He was at his
work as usual this morning when in
formed of his fathers disappearance.
The announcement was the first intima-
tiOn that SilcOtt had that anyth NJ was
wrong with his father, and the erect on
him
STARTLED HIS FELLOW CLERKS.
He fell to the floor in faint, and then
was attacked with fit. from which he
did not recover for some time. He was
taken to his home when he Fegained
consciousness. The letter from ex-Ser-
gPant-at-Arms LeedOm to Speaker Reed
informing him of SilcOtt'S defaIcatiOn
was not received with any manifesto
tions of feeling beyond complete sur
prise when laid before the house. The
members seemed thunderStruck. and
not eound was heard while the clerk
read Mr.. Leedam'S communication and
the resolution offered by Mr.. Adams,
which followed. RumOrs of SiicOtt's
crime had been whispered about among
the members, but it had not become
generally known, and the an
nOuEcement of the largeness of
the deficiency had even a more
startling effect than the announce
ment of the crime itself. While Still
| colts reputation for honesty had never
been brought into question in any of his
| official transactions, it was known that
he was spending larger sum of money
than he could afford to spend on the sal
airy he received, but this was explained
| in the minds of those who thought any,
thing about the matter by the belief that
| SilcOtt'S horSe-raclng ventures had been
successful. He was frequenter of race
| tracks and pool rooms, and had gained a
! REPUTATION AS A HEAVY BETTER.
Although SIlcOtt'S family lives in this
| city, he did not seem to make any effort
| 10 disguise his relations with woman
known as Louise Barrett, whom he had
met at a house of ill-fame here. On
| this woman he laYished all sorts of lux
uries, and she is believed to have been
| the principal cause of his disgrace. The
| Barrett woman cannot be found to-day.
and it is believed she is with Sllcott.
She is q French-Canadian, and has
been living in Washington for three
years. SIlcott recently took her from
the house of ill-fame where they had
met, and established her in very re
spectacle locality. In several annual
reports of different secretaries of the
treasury attention has been called TO
the manner in which the sergeant-at-
arms of the house is allowed TO draw
the salary of members from the treas