The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-29
s1s,OOO,OoO WITHOUT OWNERS.
Proceeds of Cotton Sales During the
Civil War Now in the Treasury.
From the New York Sun.

CIN1l war Now in the treasury
From the New York Sun.
Washington, May 25.-"The records of
the treasury are fun Of romsnces," said
treasury official Take that bureau
called the Division of Abandoned Lands
and Property. for example. It is in it.
self one great romance. Why, there IS
about $13,0O0,O00 in its keeping belonging
to people in the South alone You see,
during and at the close of the civil war,
valuable property Of all sorts fell into the
hands of army officers and was turned
into the treasury. Finally the amount
became so great that when William z.
Chandler became assistant secretary he
created a division to have charge of the
entire matter. More than sl2,OO009O
charged 10 that division is the proceeds
of cotton taken from plantations and
towns all over the South and sold
II know of one case in which &, 900
worth of cotton was taken from far
South plantation, when the staple was
worth $500 a bale and sold. The people
to whom it belonged were not rebels at
all, but were always loyal to the union.
They haven't an idea where their cotton
went TO- Their names were on the bales,
and it wouldn't be at all difficult for them
" MAKE tHttF case IL tiity OiltS hi4SM
what I do It is nearly thirty-seven years
since the money was deposited there. 1
don't know whether any of the owners
are alive or not, and II they are it is
hardly probable that they viii ever get
back what is really their own All the
testimony in the case is in the possession
OF the government, and it never let's go
anything it gets its hands on. The agent
who took this cotton is dead long ago, as
IS the man who sold it, So you see the
owners could not prove their case by
either of them.
There are other instances similar to
this In 1863 we received from a gov
eminent agent more than 10000, which
was the proceeds of cotton taken from
foreigner supposed to be a blockade run
ner in one of the larger cities of the South.
When Secretary McCulloch heard of this
he said:
This money is only held in trust by
the government. Some day we shall be
obliged 10 account for it, for the United
STATES has really no right to keep it. But
from that time until now no demand has
ever been mode on us for il, and there it
lies. 1 doubt If the owner ever knew just
where it did go.
When Gen. Shermans army occupied
the towns Of the South Atlantic seaboard
the Confederates destroyed all the cotton
possible before they surrendered. Cotton
worth millions of do,ars was burned TO
keep it from falling into our hands. The
real owners could not tell what was thus
burned and what was saved. But we
kOnw and this was the way: The books
we often captured, for instance, showed
that James Brown, a merchant, had so
many bales marked in a certain way The
baics not burnett could thus be easily
identified nom the marks and names en-
them. In all cases the books captured
containing the names of the consIgnors
and owners were sent TO the treasury
with the papers relating to the capture.
Where are these books and papers? We'll,
l don't know, hut ! suppose they are
somewhere III the treasury vaults.
las we never knew when the claimant
might come forward and make a demand
on the treasury for the proceeds of their
cotton, the money it brought was never
turned into the general fund, but always
remained in an account by itself. IL is
so long since this money was deposited
and the testimony necessary to make a
case is in so many instances unattainable
by the owners, that ii is scarcely probable
that any great portion of this enormous
amount of money VIII ever leave the
treasury. The only very large sum from
this fund that was ever returned TO its
owners was paid 10 Gazaway b. Lamar of
Savannah, Ga, and New York Ex-Attor-
ney General Williams and Gen. B. F. But
tier of Massachusetts were his counsel.
They got back for him $60O. 900 for cotton
taken in the manner l have described.
Gen. Butler said to me when the case was
pending:
IF 1 were a few years younger, and
wanted 10 make a vast fortune quickly, 1
could do IL more easily and certainly in
the prosecution of these claims than in
any other way
1T was always a wonder to me that af-
ter the action of the government in the
Lamar case more Southern people did not
attempt TO recover their money from the
treasury. The principle of repayment was
then established. The main difficulty, of
course, would be 10 prove that their partic-
uIar cotton was taken, sold and the money
turned into the treasury"
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