Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-22

NMWI tlement, although the
vi Y law requires that ''all
accounts whatever in
which the Tilted States are concerned
either as debtors or creditors, shall be set
tied and adjusted in the Department of the
Treasury" The accounts in question show
payments made by prominent officers of
the army for secret services during the last
two years of the war, and the subsequent
reconstruction period.
In the earlier part of the war the services
of spies and other secret agents employed
by the military authorities were paid for
either from the appropriation for incidental
expenses of the Quartermasters depart
ment, or from the appropriation for con-
tingencies of the army, the former being
under the imm date control of the quarter
master general, and the latter under the
sole control of the Secretary of War. But
as the war progressed the demands grow
ing out CT the employment of spies, ETC.,
became so great as to call for a special ap-
preparation, which was designated the Sc
cret service fund. Unlike other appropria-
tons, this fund was expended at the dis
cretiCn of the officers to whom it was adj
vanced, without regard to the rules and
regulations governing the disbursement of
public moneys in general.
Ten years after the close of the war 1t
x,
among whom were Sheridan, Thomas Can
by, Schenck and other well-known generals,
We're constructively defaulters, inasmuch
as they had received large advances from
the secret service fund, but had not rem
dered any accounts to the treasury. The
law, as it then Stood directed that persons
receiving public moneys which they were
not authorized to retain as salary should
render monthly accounts, and that such ac-
counts with vouchers necessary to the cor
rect and prompt settlement thereof, after
being examined in the bureau to which
they pertained, should be passed to the
proper accounting officer of the treasury
for adjustment. TO-
AS a matter ofsfadt, it was known that
most of the officers above referred to had
forwarded their, secret service accounts
to the War Department, where they were
held by order of the Secretary OF War as
confidential records TOO important to be
treated as mere accounts. 1t was also
known that they had not been properly
examined. The second auditor (the late T..
Il. French), to whom these accounts Should
nave been sent, was fully aware of their
peculiar nature, and wasApot anxious to
have in his custody a mass of documents
containing explosive material, which, in
the hands of careless or leaky clerks might
SKATER the regulations of sundry people in
the southern states, or at least very seriously
compromise them, At the same time he
desired that the accounts should be formal
ly balanced and closed on the books of
his Office, not only matter of business
but also as an act OF justice to the officers
concerned, who were placed in the anoma-
lous position of being in default to the
treasury for public moneys which they had
duly accounted for to the War Department
The auditor, therefore, with the concur
renee of the second controller, informed
the Secretary of War that the rendition
to the treasury of secret service accounts
and vouchers would not be insisted upon
but that all such accounts would be set
tied on the certificate of said Secretary
that the funds had been satisfactorily
accounted for. This proposition met with
the approval of the Secretary of War, but
1t was several years before the necessary
certificates were forthcoming, only one or
two trusted employees being permitted to
handle the papers.
Secrets Well Kept.
An examination of the accounts showed
that in some instances the services paid
for were of a nature so secret that 1t was
not deeme prudent to give any clue to the
persons who performed them, and in such
cases the vouchers merely disclose the fact
that on certain dates so many dollars,
usually good, round sums, were diSbursed
for secret services. But in the great ma
Jorlty OF cases there are formal receipts
and that Is just what makes the accounts
interesting as secret records, not only of
the war of the rebellion, but also of the
period when the seeding states were in
process or reconstruction; for large sums
were paid out for secret services long after
the surrender at AppomattoX. OF course
many OF the persons employed were ordi-
nary scouts, spies and informers, the pub
LEGATION of whose names would be of small
consequence to themselves and of no in
terest to the public.
But there were extraordinary spies and
secret agents, who, If their names We're
published, even at this late day, with a
statement of how much they were paid
and what 1T was paid for, would find them
selves unpleasantly situated. There was
one instance in which the role of Benedict
Arnold was successfully played by rebel
brigadier," who sent his wife under cover
of darkness to the headquarters of one of
our armies with a proposal that for 81, 900
he would, at a specified time, so dispose
his force that 1T could be captured without
trouble. The offer was accepted, and at
the proper time our troops marched to the
appointed place and neatly "gobbled' the
brigadier's entire command. These details,
it is perhaps needless to say, do not ap-
pear in the secret service accounts, but
they were given to me by the officer who
paid the money and saw the bargain con-
Summated.
In addition to scouts and spies regularly
employed at fixed rates of compensation
there was a large contingent of volunteer
spies, who found their way to our head
quarters at all times between tattoo and
reveille with intelligence of more or less
Importance, and who were rewarded ac-
cording to the nature and estimated trust
wcrthiness of their disclosures. A staff Of
for his chief, told me some years ago that
all sorts Of queer-loDking customers, in
Guiding the Intelligent contraband" of
that period, used to visit his tent after
dark with orders that ran something like
this: capt. Stars-Pay the bearer $50 for
secret services. j. Stripes, M. G. Comdg."
If the bearer, as SOMETIMES happened, was
too shy 10 give his name no receipt was
taken-the generals order being good
enough for the captain, especially the
former was officially responsible for the
money. The same officer also told me that
the most active and reliable spy he ever
encountered was a woman, who, for long
time, piled her risky. occupation success
fully. But like some men similarly engag
ed, she ventured once too often, and learned
TO her cost that martial law, which DEGREES
that 1.-The spy is punishable with death by
hanging by the neck" is no respecter Of
sex. Early one morning when our troops
We're making an important movement in
consequence of intelligence brought in by
the female spy the previous night, they
found her body dangling from the bough
of tree.
Story of n '.NIilitary Expert"
One Of the most noteworthy cases con-
nected with army secret service is that of
foreigner, who, it is said, was educated
in an, imperial military institution in his
native country, and took part in the Cri-
mean war. Having examined all the docu-
ments in this case, 1 happen to be familiar
ha imnOrt3nf nf