St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-06

drafts drawn Dy eacn memOer ana
counteTsigned by the speaker, has fire.
qu, nsly been condemned in these re-
ports and other methods suggested. 1t
is question among the members OF the
house whether Silcott'S OffenSe is an
extraditable one. Most of those who
expressed themselves on the question
inclined to the belief that
SILCOTT Is SAFE FROM ARREST
if he has succeeded in getting to Can
ada. They think the crime can only De
"a led breach of trust or defalcation,
anu this is not covered in the laws re-
garding eXtraditiOnS between the United
States and other countries. If it is
shown, however. that SilcOtt committed
theft he may be eXtradited. Inquiry at
the banks in this city where SilcOtt had
deposits shows that he has Overdrawn
his accounts, and there are reports that
q large amount of his paper is out.
These reports, and like ones, are being
circulated about the capitol, but it cam
not be aScertained definitely whether
they are true or not. Some of the state
mentS made by MIR. Leedom to-day are
peculiar. He stated very positively this
morning to the reporter of the United
Press, in the presence of several Other
newspaper men, that Mr.. SilcOtt had not
been in this city since Saturday last;
this afternoon a well known newspaper
correspondent makes the positive
statement that he saw Mr.. SilcOtt
in the lobby of one of the hotels
Tuesday evening. Until the house COM
mittee las concluded the investigation,
suspicion will not be removed from sew
eral employees of the house who are
being watched to-day. The fact that
Gov. Campbell. of Ohio, is said to be on
the bond of Silcott has excited some
comment here. The correspondent of
Western paDer sent out this afternoon
dispatch stating that it was believed
that Mr.. Campbell could furnish some
interesting cOrrObOratlVe detail in re-
gard to
sILCoTT'S REGULATIONS.
The government will not be loser by
the defalcation of Silcott. His sureties
and those of Mr.. Leedom will be
obliged to make up the amount of gov
ernment money taken by him. Mr..
LeedOm. in order to recover the money
for his bondsmen will be obliged to
apply to congress. There is some talk
among the members of passing bill
for the immediate relief of the members
whose money was taken by SilcOtt.
Several members hold that this cannot
be done. The sergeant-at-arms carried
on regular banking business through
his Office. and many of the members had
deposits there outside of their accounts
with the government, preferring to
trust to the honesty of the Sergeant-at-
arms because of the convenience. Just
how much money was deposited to these
private accounts is not known, but a
statement covering the ground will
probably be prepared for the inspection
Of the investigating committee APP
pointed by Speaker Reed when it meets
tomorrow.
The object of Silcott's visit to NewYork
last Saturday, it is said, was for the
purpose of collecting $4,000 from eX-
Congressman Paige. of Ohio, now living
in New York, which amount SilcOtt had
loaned him out of the funds in his Gus
tOdy, 1t was necessary to have this
money in order to have the cash balance
when turned over to the incoming SER
geant-at-arms. Among the members
who lose personal deposits are: Rife,
of Pennsylvania, $500; j. d. Taylor,
of Ohio, $1,000: Boutelle. of Maine,
s1.50O; Bayne. of Pennsylvania, $1,000;
Butterworth. of Ohio, $500; Hermann, of
Oregon. $500: Pickler, of North Da-
kOta, $500; Parnell, of Nebraska, 81, 100,
anu OMCuSs vi SsOs NCdIly jill
the
MEMBERS LOSE SOME MONEY
on account of salaries due them, but
affairs are in so much confusion that a
list of the members and their losses cam
not be given. Some members permitted
their salaries to remain untouched for
several months, and these are the great
est sufferers by the defalcation. Bel
den, of New York. loses his entire sal
ary since the 4th of March, about g. 400.
Some few members made assurance
dOubly sure, however, and are indebted
to the Office, having Overdrawn their ac-
counts. Among the reports in circula-
ton tonight was one to the effect that
Representative Turner, of Kansas,
would state that he had seen Sill
colt in the sergeant-at-arms' office
Tuesday morning. Mr.. Turner says
that he did make-Such statement. but
that it was case of mistaken identity,
and that he found that he had been con-
founding Cashier SilcOtt and Paying
Teller Ballentine. Speaking of the
probability of the memOers of congress
being out of pocket by the defalcation,
Mr. Turner said that it would deppnd
on whether the act creating the Office
made the sergeant-at-arms the govern
VI WuCblCIs dc
seemed probable from the fact that
the members signed authorizations, he
was the representative of the members.
In the first case the government and in
the second the members themselves
would be losers. The law would have
to be very clear and indisputable in sup
port of the first proposition before he
would vote for resolution to reimburse
himself and other members for the loss
of their salary. Ii Silcott has gone to
Canada, as is generally assumed, this
deialcatiOn will give.
A MOST POWERFUL IMPETUS
to the movement for an eXtraditiOn
treaty with Canada. Mr.. Leedom made
the following statement tonight: 1.-The
committee upon the celebration of the
inauguration, of which Mr.. Hiscock is
chairman. was in my Office on Wednes-
day about $3.50 O'Clock. While there
Mr.. Ballentine, paying teller, called me
aside and said: L am distressed. | be-
lieve something has happened to Mr..
SilcOtt. fear he may have been killed.
Here is the combination that unlOcks the
Safe.' l told him that / knew nothing
about the matter and asked him to un-
lock the safe, and then he said we had
better wait until the committee should
the messenger to close the door. and
then Ballentine took the combination
that Silcott hal given him some four
years ago, and as was by his side he
unlocked the safe after considerable
trouble. Mr.. Ballentine said he wanted
me to count the money. The first
packet picked up was package of 81
bills with 800 bill on the back of it.
The next was similar package. That
was very unusual thing. l said !:
"Ballentine,
THE JIG Is UP.
Something is wrong" We went
through the work of examining the COIL
tents of the safe and found there was
s39. 400. He should have had in the safe
S1O5, / told Ballentine that was the
first intimatiOn l had of anything wrong
and that we had better suspend criti-
cism. said we knew but little about
the matter, and that wanted to go to
the bank and see how much was there;
thinking that perhaps Silcott had gone
to the bank and deposited money to our
credit. We closed up the safe and went
to dinner, going back at z o'clock.
We staid there until II o'clock, but our
minds were in no condition to deal in