Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-10-01
THR CONSCIENCE FUND.
QUEER METHODS PURSUED By
ANONYMOUS WRoNcooERs.

ever received by the treasury ar
rived In Washington last March. 1t
took the form Of a bill OF exchange for
e.. $50 Tor $14,05O), drawn on n New
York bank In favor of the secretary OF
the treasury by the Rev. Prebendary
Bari, vicar Of the Church Of st. Giles,
Cripple Gate, London. In an accom-
panying letter Mr.. Barr simply stated
that he had been requested to remit
the money to the secretary Of the treas
ury by gentleman who did not dis
close his identity.
1t il the largeness of the sum which
attracted special attention. Inc
method Of it's transmission Is not I'M
usual. People who have purposely or
otherwise defrauded the government
and have been stung by conscience to
make restitution are anxious to do
so in as privy manner as possible
They would undo the harm, but not
confess the guilt.
Sometimes brief explanatory notes
are sent, stating why the money Is due
to the government, but signature OF
any kind is extremely rare. Some
merely say, This money belongs to
the United States" or words OF similar
purport. In many cases there Is not
scratch of pen or pencil, the money De-
ing simply enclosed in an envelope,
perhaps folded in sheet OF blank
paper.
Yet one would think that every man
who returns money obtained by fraud
to its proper owner ought to furnish
some clew to his personality, not neces-
sarily for publication, but as an evil
dence of good faith. Should his fraud
be discovered by the officers of justice
after he has made restitution he may
be unable to prove that he returned the
dishonorable money If 1t were sent
anonymously, whereas. If he had sent
his name with 1t he could call upon the
secretary of the treasury for direct evil
dence in his behalf.
Therefore, the method pursued by
the Rev. Barffs penitent Is one to be
commended. 1t reveals nothing to the
public, yet 1t serves as clew for iden-
LITIGATION if identification becomes
requisite. The method Is frequently
followed by Catholic penitents, whose
confessors have Informed them that
restitution is as necessary as contrl-
ton. Only the other day n priest IN
Boston wrote that one OF his parishion-
ers on his death bed, had confessed to
wronging the government out OF 500.
He could not die in peace without max
ing restitution, but desired that his
name be withheld. The priest en-
closed the amount, with interest for
nine years at eight per cent, $50 in all.
The man evidently did not want that
debt to bother him In the next world.
The priest. of course, signed his own
name and the receipt Of the money was
acknowledged by mail. The treasury
department can give number or IN
stances of that kind in which con-
science seemed to be Quickened by Sc
rious illness or the confessional.
Treasurer Francis +. Spinner, under
whose regime the conscience fund was
opened in 1861. once said to friend of
the writer: 1T Is greatly to be re-
GREETED that the workings of the spirit
which animated the contributions
to this fund have not been more
extensively experienced and obeyed
by more important offenders, for
I venture the statement that If
all the big rascals had fol-
lowed the examples Of the smaller ones
who have contributed to the conscience
fund we could have extinguished the
national debt long ago"
There is on record the remittance OF
one cent This was contributed by a
party who signed himself "Beggar
Jimmy" without comment or expla-
nation. Recently dime was sent
in. 1t was enclosed In quite a
long letter, unsigned, in which the
writer said that when n boy he re-
ceived a letter from friend, the
three cent postage stamp on which
had escaped cancellation. More in a
spirit of mischief than anything else
he had detached the stamp and used II
on his answer to the letter, thus max
ing it do double duty and cheating the
government out of three cents. He
wrote that although it seemed like q
trifiing matter it had always troubled
him. Twenty years had elapsed and
the writer presumed the interest would
increase the debt to seven or eight
cents. He enclosed ten, so as to be
sure there would be enough.
As already stated, it was Francis e
Spinner who started the conscience
fund. This was in 1861. The account
was opened on receipt in that year OF
the sum of $4,000, forwarded in bonds
and accompanied by a statement thai
the restitution Of what had long beer
due the government was prompted by
conscience. This gave the account III
name. 1t has since remained open
and all amounts returned to the treas
ury in consequence of the inward mOni
tor have been credited to 1t, as well al
all moneys which come in anonymous
ly and without any accompanying ex
plantations, and are thus presumed t.
be from the conscience-str In
some years the total sums thus realized
have reached only into the hundreds, in
others they have amounted to thou.
sands. The unprecedented sum sent
from London in March, together with
a number of more than average
amounts which have come In from diff
fcrent sources since January 1, al
ready makes 1896 the banner year In
the history of the treasury department
The Prolonged Bath.