Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-11-10
TREASURY THEFTS.
FAMOUS ROBBERIES FROM
UNCLE SANI'S STRONG BOX.
The HaIIock Case-A Twenty
sand-DOllar Robbery i'm the issue
Room of the Treasury De-
partment-
THE Treasury Department fur


urer's Office in the department at Wash
ington handle from tens to hundreds
of thousands and even millions of dol
lars every day. None of these men
and women is under bonds. The Treas
urer of the United States gives bond,
which is expected to secure the Gov
ernment against loss whether by theft
or bv error A little clerical mistake
by one of the employees Of the office
might make the Treasurer a very poor
man in a very short time. The amount
Of mutilated money received by the
Treasury Department and handled by
many clerks in the course Of It's pro-
gress to redemption is 800, 600 day.
The most famous Treasury robbery
is known as the "Hallock case. This
robbery occurred in June, 1919. Ben
jamin Hallock was a clerk in the CASH
room of the Treasury Department.
Money is handled and tossed about
there all day like bread in a bakers
shop. One day package of $500
notes, aggregating $4,000, was miss
ing from the cashroom. The city de-
tectives became suspicious of man
named Theodore Brown, known rs
"Pegleg." Brown. who WAS a constant
frequenter of saloon kept by "Billy"
Ottman on Pennsylvania avenue.
Brown displayed great deal OF money
and presently went to Saratoga, where
Detective George Miller, Of Washing
ton, found him playing the races with
$500 notes. He was not risking much
money on the horses and it was evident
that he was using the race meeting to
have the $500 notes broken into notes
of smaller denominations. Brown was
arrested and brought back 10 Wash
ington. In the meantime Hallock,
who was under suspicion, had gone to
New York. He was arrested and
brought back TO Washington, where
he was used es States evidence in an
effort to convict Ottman and Brown.
The Secret Service detectives found
S14, 500 on special deposit in Ottman's
name in Alexandria, and this was re-
covered temporarily. 1t was finally
paid to Matt Carpenter and George
Bliss. who we're the attorneys for the
accused men. None OF the money
stolen by Hallock was recovered, and,
as Brown was never tried and the jury
in Ottman's case disagreed, no one
was punished for the crime. One pecu-
liar feature Of the Hallock robbery was
the fact that the money stolen by Hal
lock was not of new issue, but was
money that had come back to the treas
ury in good condition and was being
reissued. If the money had been Of
new issue the numbers would have
been consecutive, and it would have
been very easy to trace the stolen
notes. Evidently Hallock had taken
that fact into consideration.
Another famous affair was the Wins
low robbery, which occurred on De
cember Z. 1879. Winslow took apack-
age containg S1l 900, chiefly in 500
notes, being sent to the National Bank
of Illinois by express in exchange for
notes sent in for redemption. The
Secret Service Bureau went to work on
this case, and got so well on the track
of the thief that on the morning of
January 7, 1877, package containing
S11. 200 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 arrested. All
the money except S555.S5 was recoy-
cred. Winslow confessed and was
sentenced to year anda half in prison.
In his confession he said he had pre-
pared an envelope resembling the Of
fee envelopes, which he had filled
with blank paper and surreptitiously
sealed with the Office seals, which were
not in his possession. At an oppor-
tune moment he had substituted this
dummy for the package intended for
theNational Bank of Illinois.
One of the most picturesque rob
berries occurred in General Spinner
time. In his annual report for 1869
Spinner had boasted that although his
Office had handled billions of dollars
every year, no shortage had occurred
during his term. Certainly this i'm
munity from loss was not due to the
perfection of method in the Treasur-
er's Office, for Mr.. Spinner's system
was very crude compared with the
check system of to-day. Almost in an
,wer to General Spinner's boast came
robbery that is unique in the history of
the department. 1t was customary then
rs now to permit visitors TO go through
the issue division if they were vouched
for by employees of the office. In
the early part of June, 1870, two
strange men we're noticed by
some of the employees of the
Treasury Department lettering about
the corridors, but no particular com
ment was made and no watch put on
them. On June 11th the wife of