St. Paul daily globe., 1892-04-24

c. eI.7-B%bshu
Of Indian affairs having charge OF the
tribes. The manner OF making these
payments before the change was
this. | would receive from the
superintendent at st. Paul the
money In silver and gold (this being
long before the DAYS Of grcenbacks),
amounting 10 full wagon load, and
take it up to the agencies, while the
goods would be delivered at the agen-
cies by the contractors in steamboats,.
A census Of the Indians would be taken,
and the money and goods equally di-
ylded among them.
After this duty was withdrawn from
the agents and imposed upon the super
intendents, of course all responsibility
for the money and goods was shifted
from the former and laid upon the lat
ter, which TO me was great relief, as |
had transported many wagon loads OF
specie from ST. Paul TO the agencies
without guards, and Mt great personal
and financial risk; payment was due
early In July, 1857, and the superntend-
ent had brought the money as tar as
Fort Rldglev. Arriving at that point,
news came Of much excitement among
the Indians at the agencies, which was
not at all unusual, as thousands of say
age fellows used TO come In from the
Missouri river country and make truu-
bic with our tribes about payment
time, ana the superintendent de
cided it was safe TO leave the
money at Fort Ridgley until matters
quietrd down. There was no vault or
q, Il.
this money at the fort, 50 IL was placed
I'm room occupied by the quartermas-
teT'S clerk, q FTcnchman. an enlisted
man, and he with another soldier, a
German, who was the post baker, were
put in charge of 1t. This Frenchman
had been selected from the ranks as
quaItermaster's clerk on account of his
education, his excellent penmanship
and his good character. | always have
thought that he was some unfortunate
young gentleman serving under an as
sumcd name. The money WAS all in
stout modern boxes, holding 81 900 each
in silver, and in gold as much as 5000
or more, there being usually only one
or two boxes of gold. The boxes were
spread on the loor Of the room, and the
men slept on them.
Fortunate Trip.
The constitutional convention to frame
the organic law for the proposed state
of Minnesota had been called TO con-
Venc in st. Paul on the 18th day of July,
1857, and the people of the Minnesota
valley had done me the honor TO elect
me a member of it, | had delayed start
ing for ST. Paul until day or two be-
fore the meeting of the convention, and
having heard rumOrs that there would
be trouble in its organization, | felt very
anXiOus to be there at the opening day.
The Ouly mode of transportation, except
the river in those days, was the little
CanVaS-COvered stages OF Nj. .. Walker
d Co., which would hold four inside
comfortably, and six on pinch. When
the down stage reached Traverse des
Sioux on the morning of the llth of
July it was full, that is, there were
five inside, three on the back seat and
two on the front, and one man OH the
seat with the driver. | insisted strcnu-
Ously on going, and said | would ride in
the boot rather than not 20 at all; my
inSistance, of course, having reference
to my desire to be at the opening of the
convention. | was admitted, and took
my place on the front seat with my
back to the driver and my knees inter
locked with those of the passengers on
the back seat. At this time | had heard
nothing OF what had happened at the
fort. The fact was that the two men
who had been placed in charge
of the money had opened one
of the boxes of gold, and taken out a
bag containing $1,000 in quarter eagles
and sealed it up again. When the
supermtendentse sent down for his money
and it was loaded INTO a wagon, the two
soldiers Immediately deserted, which of
course excited the suspicious of the
officers. A courier was at once dis
patched to the agency to see if the
money was all right, and the theft was
soon discovered. The superintendent,
who was then Maj. Cullen, had hand
bills struck off giving the descriptive
list OF the deSerteIS and Offering 5000
reward for their capture and the return
of the money. C0urierS were dispatched
in all directions TO effect their arrest: ::
and one of the handbills reached Hen
dersOn, which at this time was county
seat of Sibley county, some twenty
miles down the river from the point
at which | took the stage. A deputy
sheriff of that county started out to
hunt the thieves and secure the reward,
carrying one of the handbills with him,
and had proceeded up the river as far as
lie Sueur, about halfway between
Traverse deS Sioux and Henderson,
On the Stage,
1t is as well to state here that these
stages carried the mails, and always
stopped at the post towns long enough
TO deliver the incoming and receive the
outgoing mails, which afforded time for
n bit Of gossip, drink and stretch of
the legs. There were two postoflices in
lie Sueur, upper town and lower town,
about a mile and half apart. AS soon
as the stage stopped at Upper lie Sueur
the deputy sheriff handed me through
the window his hand bill announcing
the theft and describing the thieves. l
read it right in the face of my Wis Wis,
and after congratulating myself that |
had 10 responsibility for the lost money
j remarked to the sheriff, "Of course,
you don't expect to find these fellows
on the main thorOughfare they are
probably going down the Missouri in a
canoe" AMI nothing moro transpired
until we arrived at the lower town post
office, where we again stopped to change
the mail.
Let me here state that the man in
front OF me was the Frenchman, and
The man on the seat with the driUar Wa c