The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-18
. SCANDAL IN MILITIA
SHORTAGE OFF A CAPTAIN SUP
PRESSED BY ADJUTANT-GENERAL.
The Offender a Notorious Negro Who
Has Been Used by Democrats
in a Political Way.

A beautiful scandal has developed in the
office of Acknowledgement Robbins in con-
nection with the lyme of the militia
for the 1896 camp of instruction. A. l..
Stevenson is the captain of one of the In
dianapolis coiored companies in the Third
Regiment. Stevenson has been known in
police circles for some years as a man who
kept a company and occasionally got
into trouble. On Sept. II Acknowledgement
Robbins gave him a check for $247 to pay
off his men. He paid all but three, but
the amount due the company for fines and
forfeitures, amounting to $70.S5, he put in
his pocket and disappeared. The matter
was suppressed in the Adjutant-generars
office, presumably because Stevenson has
always been a useful man in taking care
of a few coiored votes for the men at the
head of the Popocratic machine
A few days ago a negress named Nan
Elliott. keeper of a resort that the police
had closed at one time a year or two
ago, sent word to the Acknowledgement
that if Stevenson would be permitted to
return without fear of prosecution she
would make good the loss, paying a part
now and the rest before Christmas. Adj
jutant-general Robbins declared that he
had made no definite promises. but Ste
yenson has been home several days and
no effort has been made to have him ar
rested. Yesterday the Elliott woman paid
the $40 she had promised over to the treas
urer of the company.
Acknowledgements Robbins, when asked
about the case yesterday, said that the
men had all now been paid, and the money
taken by Stevenson was what was due the
companyS treasury for fines and forfeit
ures. THE first irregularity / noticed, -
said he, was when L gave Stevenson $50
to pay Armory rent, and it was used to
pay for tn Elf mess at camp. 1 hauled him
up short and told him that when money
was paid him for armory rent, it was for
rent and for no other purpose. He ex-
planned that they had agreed to refund it
out of their pay, and l told him that in
asmuch as there was no criminal intent
/ would let it pass, but / showed him the
statute. and told him that upon any fur
ther irregularity he would go behind the
of the company, and l understand he paid
them all but three, but kept for himself
the amount due to the company's treasury
for fines and forfeitures, the sum of SIC. S.
Did you not order him under arrest %
No; we did not know where to reach
him. Then this woman came and offered
to pay the money back. | made no prom
ises about what l would do after the 1st
Of January, but 7 thought 1t was better to
get the money back for those men than to
have him arrested and not get any of it"
+ Stevenson has been for years a notorious
negro and has been supported by this ELI
oft woman. 1t is claimed that it was he
who stored a lot of colored men up in the
vinegar factory at the last city election
and kept them from voting the Republican
ticket. He has always been used by the
Democrats in their efforts to handle the
colored vote. and it is supposed that this
had much to do with the leniency with
which he has been treated, though
Acknowledgment Robbins yesterday de-
clared that he knew nothing about his pol
tiles. He was appointed a member of the
police force Immediately after Mayor Tag
CARTS administration began. but his rec
ord. ventilated by the newspapers, was SO
rank that they had to dismiss him.