Evening star., 1896-10-31

| me that he did rot steal anything from the
| mint until after the deposit of that $4,000
| 600 in gold bars; but his connection with
| the mint lasted for more than forty years
| and his position was the same as that of
| Negus. During his whole term of employ
| ment he had the confidence of every one.
1 nave letter here, signed by Daniel Stur-
| geon, who was treasurer of the United
| States when he was appointed. 1t Is he
| who advises the appointment, and he de-
| scribes Henry s. Cochran as honest, able
| for gold. He fell in love with the precious
| metal. and when we found that he had
| 1obbed the mint of S113.0oO he hated to give
| up his stealings and he complained bitterly
| when the money found in his house was TAX
! en- away. When he was appointed weigh
| clerk he was about twenty-three years old.
When his robbery was discovered he was
! siXty-three. He was then a deacon in the
! Presbyterian Church, and was organizing
a campaign for the Salvation Army In the
| neighborhood in which he lived. He had
been married and divorced. He had a
| srown-np daughter. He appeared to be
| eminently respectable in every way and
still he had been stealing for years."
Twenty-Five Tons of Gold.
| How did you come to suspect him of
| the robbery l asked.
1T was through his own actions" re-
| piled the director of the mint. He had,
| you know, the charge of the vaults which
contained the gold bullion. Much of this
bullion had been untouched for years. In
| the vault from which the robbery was
made there were $4,000 600 worth of gold
bars. This vault had not been opened for
six years. The gold had been brought
| from the assay Office in New York in 1881
| and stored away in 1887 1 aided in put
| ting it in The gold bars were piled up
| crosswse like railroad ties, and they were
| arranged, as usual, in a series melts
| When We put the gold in the vaults We
| put each melt by itself. Each gold brick
has its number. and dit It is marked as to the
| melt to which it Belongs, SO we can tell
| just exactly how many pieces of gold there
| are in a vault just where each piece is,
| and just what it weighs. This bullion was
| weighed twice before it was put in: There
were about twenty-five tons of it. I super
| intended the weighing. l helped to seal
| the doors of the vault when we were
| through, and saw that everything was
secured. From time to time the vault
was inspe cted, but the seals were intact,
and no one had any idea but that the
gold was all there. About two years ago
Secretary Carlisle gave orders that this
and more than 100 pounds of gold were
missing. We had little trouble in detect
ing the thief. Cochran had been much ex-
cited when l told him of the intention to
coin the bullion.
He objected. and said the gold was so
| nicely piled up, and was such a beautiful
sight to show to visitors. that the govern
ment had better bring some of it's bullion
from New York and coin 1t. l laughed at
this and Cochran then insinuated that the
gold might not be all there. When he
round that we really INTENDED 10 com the
gold, he came over to Washington to
me, thinking there might be yet chance
to stop it. He called at my house here at
II o'clock one night and asked IL it was
really true that the government was going
to take the gold out of that vault. 1 re-
piled, Yes He then said: Well. you
won't find all the gold there. Some of 1t is
=. - et m,s IL t',S WIZ neo, anu
haor,,, - .,,..,-co. -, " - q 10 ; :, ~ -. ,e 80
VII II anr OF tbat a-aI, =; iost - yhtni
80, Ia =. eo s 10 l .itiiih INN
~. M ',s'n - 10, :, uas Vi 81 LIT
5 tnt s,In osS sto anu Stt,I ' tiie
go ;tn siio, u ',i' ~ me i sal.
- nIi, e - -. 81. Mat.o 40. VI eiie vault
70 Hhara tha ,,oIa had go nv ct .sa %
soar'.I - - % 80 au , So. So - ~. M III. ~!
he aras sns1anta5 ha annfaasod 49, rs .niei. nc
The tb;af H. houad ~, ha va, ne vas
~ an1d ~ ,ith o,,a ~. - ~ ASuIu II
,a,s n,.e soiu III ~ a. w.. VII Slopheu WIRE: ne
mouiu pun |. uow II from me PIE ana dras
iiab.1 ~ ,n1 upIr % tiid anu .nen
snshtiy pusAiiis Tue uooi at tiie pottom ne
was apie 10 get II OUT through the crack
between the door ana the moor. He had
caried IL on bar by par, IN ms lunch bas-
ket' OF IN ms trousers pocket and had
taken 1t to his home in the suburbs Of
fhliadelphia
He Sold the Gold to the Mint.
..,,L. ,;z IT., 49,, ,,o,,
ha' uiu lie uo Win 'he soiu ASKED
He sold 1T right back to the mint from
which he had stolen it," replied Mr. Pres
ton He did not dare to do this without
reroeItins II az tho e,,,d ,v.s ca f,a th.. -
-, -, . -: ~ -'-e 30
"ouiu dc sure 10 create suspicioh. He had
at his home crucible and he remelted the
gold, mixing it with silver and lead This
last product he sent to us through tho
.v,ras, oo,,,,,,n,. ,a e
up. ~. CO eoiiipdnS' atlu was apie 10 90 SO
without suspicion. we found one bar of
golc IN Cochrans house the day he con-
1essed, ana we also found 5000 in gold
eagles II was curious house. 1t
hoheycombed with secret closets, and it
was In these that the money was found
Cochran kept up his stealing to the last. The
came down earIT. He was there hafora
any OF the other employees of the mint.
,a1,,t a,as 60 eu S pa - u VI Tue soio ne
it loaded with bars Of bnlion Cochr,n ~
finding one about picked I'D twenty
OF these bars, and, one at a time. threw
go ,hat In, .e zen i smart OF the vault
the vault and the floor above wbsn he pe
confessed he told where this gold was, and
we got 1t back: The remainder was par
tiaiiy covered by that which we found at
the mousse, ana we received something from
cochran 3 property ana his bondSmen. Un-