Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-10-08
ROBBING UNCLE SAM.
Tales Of Theft Recalled by the Coch-
ran Mint Robbery.
SOME REGULATIONS BY EMPLOYEES.
Trusted Clerks and others O"sn'e 10
Withstand Temptation-fcw
are Prosecuted.
Washington Evening start

by trusted omploye recently was IN III
inception one Of the largest robbefie'
from which Uncle sam has suffered IRON
time TO time. But the recovery OF nj
but $500 OF the gold taken by Cochran
reduces his crime 10 a rather ordinar!
level. To be sure, the government is no
robbed OF $4,000 every day. or even even
year. But there have been many ROD
berries aggregating that amount IN th'
Treasury Department, In the Post-orho'
Department, and even IN the army. NJ
branch OF the public service has an abso
lutely clean record. There have Deer
breaches of trust In every one Oh 'n'
eight department. and I'm almost All OF th'
bureaus OF which they are composer
Even in the consular service. when
filled with men supposed to nave peer
selected as typical Americans by the Pres'
dent of the United States. Uncle sam
funds have been mlsused.
The Treasury Department furnishes INT
greatest field for possible crime. Amos
ali OF the employees OF the treasurer
of,co in the department mt washington
handle from tens TO hundreus vi lnou
sands of dollars, and even millions every
dav And none of these men and wolnei
ora ,nder bond. The Treasurer OF th'
limited States gives a bond which is eX
nected 10 secure the government agalhs
loss. whether by theft or by error.
little clerical mistake by one or the EN-
nloyees OF the office might make I'M
Treasurer a very poor man IN FeIA
short time The amount of mutiiate'
money alone received by the Ireasui
Department and handled by many CLERKS
in the course OF It's progress 10 rcueIhP'i0i
IN 500 900 a day.
The most famous Treasury robbery u
known as the "Halleck case" the detaii'
OF which are still remembered In ,nI'
city. This robbery occurred In june 100
THE WINSLOW ROBBERY.
Another famous robbery was the WINS
low robbery. which occurred December Z
fy,6 Winslow took a package cohtaiillns
m 100 chiefly in 500 notes, being sent &c
no national Bank Of Illinois by express
I'm exchange for notes sent IN LOT re-
,cmption. The Secret-Service Bureau wen
TO work on this case and got so wei Oh
ne track Of the thief that on the morn
lr- Of January Z, 1877. IA package contain
IN, 81. 200 Of the stolen money was lef'
., the door Of the home OF the Secret-Ser'
ice Chief. Facts in connection with ths
eturn Of the money pointed 10 WlhsIow'
md no was arrested. All of the money,
cent si5SS. was recovered. Winslow con-
essed. and got IA year and hali. IN
mis- confession he said that he had pre-
PA red an envelope resembling the oIhCe
,oyrlopes. which he had filled with blank
3.r.r. and surreptitiously sealed with the
,r.. eaals which were not I'm his pos
..st,on. At an opportune moment he had
...efi;uted this dummy for the package
blended for the National Bank OF I'LL
..is
number Of robberies, some of them
,-,olving large amounts. occurred prior
ID the Haleck case. one OF the most
..cturefoue Of these occurred in Geheral
SINNERS time In his annual report LOT
1852. General Spinner had boosted that'
Inc,gh his office handled billions OF dol
lars every year. no shortae had occurred
Turing his term Certainly this immunity
rr0,n loss was not due to the periecuon
~ method i'm the Treasurers ONCE lor
Mr.. Sp!nner's system was very cruue'
,nruuared with the check system OF TO-
INV Almost I'm answer to General SPIN
roFs boast, came a robbery that IL unique
I'm the history of the Treasury Depar'i'iei.'
n was customary then, as 1t is now 10
o,uit visitors to go through the issue
livision. II they were vouched for by en-
.lovecs If the Office In the early par'
Z June, 1870 two strange men were no
Iced by some of the employees OF the
treasury Department lettering about lhe
,orridors. but unfortunately no particular
.ommcnt was made. and no "atch wa
ut on them. ON the 18th OF June tn'
..,fa Of Il well-known resident OF WASH
,,.,tou WAS visiting the Treasury Depart
cont with some friends. She stopped al
No door of the issue-room, and Mr.. Root
,ho was in charge of the room, invited
-or IN enter one of the men VINO mao
cen lettering about the hail pushed MS
~ into the midst of this lady's party
t,r root supposed that he was one OF the
.nrtv. The lady supposed that he was
friend of Mr.. Root. The stranger ques
Toned MIR. Root very closely about th'
Methods Of the office, working MS way
over to the table on which lay many
packages of notes.
PACKAGE OF SO NOTES.
lie managed TO get Mr.. Root between
aim and the clerk who had charge ol the
money At the same time the other man
nntere5 the room. and bending over the
messenger of the office so as to obstruc'
his view of the table on which the money
law. made particular inquiries by name
for n fictitious clerk of the office. Al TINS
moment the first man distracted MT
Roots attention by telling him that the
marty of his friends" was ABOUT 10
leave and that he must join mem
Wben Mr.. Roots head was turned the
man picked up package containing z'oV1
slo notes. He might just as well nave
Lad $40 notes. as packages OF THESE notes
vera on the table. But he did not nave
,,,,a IN select. The package which he
~ v,as of the size of $40 bill in lagth
and breadth, and was six Inches thlck
n was too large to be concealed under
his COAT and il was remembered AFTER
,vors that he had in his hand large
Panama hat, in which doubtless he con
coaled the package. The money was no
missed until evening, and then 1t was sup
messed that II had been mislaid, or thai
perhaps IT was not received from tn'
bureau OF Engraving and Printing. nc
suspicion Of tho robbery occurred unti
fhe following day-Sunday. Investigation
then showed the fact that the money hao
been stolen. No clue TO the thieves coulo
be had at Washington; but the numbers
OF the notes were sent out. and oil banks
were warned against receiving them
Some months afterward man deposited
$500 in these notes in New York bank
lie was arrested and part OF the none!
was recovered. His accomplish fled the
country The records of the Treasury
Department do not show that either oil
these men was punished
The difficulty the government has hac
IN recovering btoicH fnolicy di1 VI PuiA7H
ing the thieves Is remarkable. The propo'
sition not to prosecute Cochran, the Phila'
delphia Mnt-robber. is in line with the
policy of the department apparently
There is only one case in addition tc
the Winslow case in which there is known
10 have been punishment for crimes OF
this kind against the government. This
was In the case of Erred. A. Marden
Chief OF the Division of Accounts and
Seth johnson, Assistant Paying Teller
Marden handled the money of the
Treasury payroll He took $4,000 in 1870
and Johnson aided and abetted him by
accepting his checks against the Treasury
fwherp he had no balance) and counting
them In his cash. Johnson himself took
$4,000 The government recovered $3.50;
from Marden and sl2. so from Johnson
Zach of them got a year I'm the penl.
tentiary. Like Cochran, Marden and John.
sen were regarded as exemplary citizens
ana 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 $4,000 from packages of money