Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-30


day or even every year. But there have
been many robberies aggregaring that
amount in the Treasury Department. in
the Post Office Department and even in
the army No branch of the public service
mas an absolutely clean record. There have
peen breaches of trust in every one of the
eight departments and in almost all of the
bureaus or which they are composed. Even
IN tne consular service. which is filled with
men supposed to have been selected as typi-
cal Americans by the President of the
misused.
Inc treasury Department furnishes the
greatest held for possible crime. Almost
all OF the employees of the traasurer's office
IN the department at Washington handle
from tens to hundreds of thousands and
even miiiions of dollars every day. Ard
none OF these men and women is under
pond. The treasurer of the United States
gives bond which is expected to secure
tne government against loss whether by
inert or by error. A little clerical mistake
Ny one Oh the employees of the office might
make the treasurer a very Door man in a
very snort time. The amount CT mutiiated
money alone received by the Treasury De-
partment and handled by MANY clerks in
S70O, 900 day.
me most famous treasury robbery is
Kh n as the ,Halleck case" the details Of
which are still remembered in this city
Ahis roopery occurred in June, 1875.
The WinslOw Robbery.
Another famous robbery was the Wins
low robbery, which occurred December 7.
1916. Winslow took a package containing
SI'SsO. chiefly in 500 notes, being sent to
the National Bank of Illinois by express
IN exchange for notes sent In for redemp-
uon: Inc secret service bureau went to
work on this case and got SO well on the
track OF the thief that on the morning of
u n 0Rknc ga sv,sv, go 900
OF the stolen money was left at the door
OF the home of the secret service chief
Facts IN connection with the return of the
money pointed to Winslow and he was ar
rested. All of the money except S555 IS was
recovered. Winslow confessed and got a
year and a half. In his confession he said
that he had prepared an envelope resem-
bling the office envelopes, which lie had
nlled with blank paper and surreptitiously
sealed with the office seals, which were not
IN his possession AT opportune mo-
ment he had substituted this dummy for
the package intended for the National
Bank of Illinois.
A number of robberies. some of them in
volvfng large amounts. occurred prior to the
Haiieck case. one OF the most picturesque
of these occurred in Gen. Spinner's time.
In his annual report for 1869 Gen. Spinner
had boosted that although mis- office ham
died billions of dollars every year. no short
age mad occurred during his term. Certain
ly this immunity from loss was not due 10
the perfection of method In the treasurer's
office. for Mr.. Spinner's system was very
crude. compared with the check system of
To-Day Almost In answer to Gen. Spinner's
boast came robbery that is unique in
the history of the Treasury Department
1t was customary then, as 1t is now to
permit visitors to go through the issue d.
ployes of the office. In the early part of
June, 1870 two strange men were noticed
by some of the employees Of the Treasury
department lettering about the corridors,
NO N0rff or11o
was made and no watch was put on them
On the 18th Of June the wife of a we'll
known resident Of Washington was visit
ing the Treasury Department with some
friends. She stopped at the door of the is
sue room, and MIR. Root, who was In charge
of the room, invited her to enter One of
the men who had been lettering about the
hall pushed his way into the midst of this
lady's party. Mr.. Root supposed that he
was one of the party. The lady supposed
that he was friend of Mr. Root The
stranger questioned Mr.. Root very closely
about the methods of the office, working his
way over to the table on which lay many
packages of notes.
A Package Of $40 Notes.
He managed to get Mr.. Root between
him and the clerk who had charge of the
money. At the same time the other man
entered the room. and bending over the
messenger Of the office SO as to obstruct
his view Of the table on which the money
lay made particular inquiries by name for
nctitious clerk of the office. At this mo-
ment the first man distracted Mr. Roots
attention by telling him that the party of
ms friends" was about to leave and that
ne must join them. When Mr. Roots head
was turned the man picked up a package
containing Z,UO $40 notes. He might Just as
well have had $40 notes. as packages If
these notes were on the table. But he did
not nave time to select. The package which
he took was of the size of a Sl0 bin in
breadth nd
thick. 1t was too large to be concealed nm
der his coat, and it was remembered after
ward that he had in his hand a large
Panama hat in which doubtless he CON
cealed the package. The money was not
missed until evening" and then ii was SIM
posed that it had been mislaid or that ner
maps 1t was not received from the bureau
Of engraving and printing. No suspicion Of
the robbery occurred until the following
day-Sunday. Investigation then showed
the fact that the money had been stolen
No clue to the thieves could be had at
Washington: but the numbers of the notes
were sent out. and all banks were warned
against receiving them. Some months after
ward man deposited $500 in these notes
IN New York bank. He was arrested
and part Of the money was recovered His
accomplice fled the country The records of
the Treasury Department do not show that
either of these men was punished.
The difficulty the government has had
In recovering stolen money and in punish
ing the thieves is remarkable The propo-
sitlon not to prosecute Cochran the Phila-
delphia mint robber, Is in line with the
policy Of the department apparently There
Is only one case in addition to the W,nslow
case In which there is known to have been
punishment for crimes of this kind against
the government. This was in the case of
Fred A. Mar len. chief of the division of
accounts, and Seth Johl son, assistant pay
Ing teller. Marden handled the money of
the treasury pay roll He took 1920 in
1870 and Johnson aided and abetted him by
accepting his checks against the treasury
(where he had no balaLce) and counting
them in his cash. Johnson himself took
10000. The government recovered 1856 03
from Marden and s12,105S0 from johnson.
Each or them got year in the peniten-
tiary. Like Cochran, Marden and johnson
were regarded as exemplary citizens and
were pillars Of the Presbyterian Church.
In the Redemption Division.
Another robbery which occurred in 1870
was by c. c. Edwins, a fourth-class clerk
in the redemption division. He took nearly
SO. 900 from packages of money sent In for
redemption. Some Of this money was re-
covered and the entire deficiency was IS, 74s.
Edwins was not prosecuted. More robber-
les have occurred in the redemption division
than in the redemption agency. The re-
demption agency, which is under Mr.
Rogers, has charge Of the redemption of
national bank notes. 1t was established
in 1874. In the first year of its existence
1t was run on a somewhat imperfect plan
and opportunities for theft were offered
which could not be had now. In the winter
ola1 Of