The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-26
GIGANTIC THEFT FOUND Sub Treasury Tapped for
 Big Amount. CLUE SECURED TO THIEVES Loss is Estimated at Over One
 Hundred Thousand. Money Was stolen Nearly a Week Aga nnd Chief of Detectives wiIkic
 is Working on
CLUE SECURED TO THIEVES

day. says:
 One of the largest if not the largest, thefts from the United States Treas-
 ury has been unearthed in Chicago. Somewhere between $175,000 and | s200,o00 was stolen from the local sub-
 treasury last week. The money has
 disappeared as completely as If it had
 vanished from the face of the earth. The authorities here and In Wash- ington have been working night and day on the robbery since 1t was dis- covered. Chief wnkie. of the United States Secret Service have been keeping in-
 formed by telephone and telegraph of every development, and, according to telegraphic advices. he will leave Wash- ington today to take personal charge of
 the investigation.
 Secretary Shaw of the Treasury De-
 partment was told of the gigantic theft
 when in Chicago last week and wax In conference with SubTreasurer Wil-a liam Boidonweck and secret service of flcfals.
 Tho money was stolen either a week ago Saturday, the next day or last
 Monday. The chances arc 1t was ab- stracted on Monday. The loss was dis- covered on Tuesday.
 All the money taken was In largs
 bills bills of the denomination of s1.- 900, S5,000 and S10.000.
 Just who discovered the loss the snb- treasury would not admit last night.
 Neither would they tell from which de-
 partment the money was taken nor how the loss was discovered.
 At first 1t was believed that therd
 must be some error In the book-keep- ing It was thought to be impossible
 that such n large sum of money could have been abstracted in face of all tho
 safeguards thrown around Uncle Sam's strong box.
 Rigid Examination. Every man who could have had any thing to do with the case was called | into Treasurer Boidenweck's office and l put through an exhaustive examination. ! and a still more rigid cross examina- | tion. Captain Porter, of tho secret l service, assisted In the inquisition. l They stood the ordeal, every one of
 them. All denied any knowledge of 1 the theft and protested their innocence. | But it was perfectly obvious that some | one was lying. The chances were ona thousand to one that one or more of the employees actually had purloined the cash or had connived at the theft by some outsider.
 Day by day since the sweating has been kept up. MT. Boldeweck, Cap-
 tain Porter and his assistants have
 worked from day light till dark and from night until morning All of yes-
 
 Mir. Boldenweck's private office. Saturday there came glimmer of light A faint clue pointed in the dl- 1 rectfon of certain clerk and that | followed up. directed the finger of sus- picion to another employe, close as- sociato of the first men.
 These men were summoned into the inquisition chamber separately and sub-i jected to a grueling examination. The suspicious circumstances against them were paraded. the certainty of detec-
 tion and punishment was impressed upon them and they were advised to make n clean breast of whatever part
 they had played in the conspiracy. One. thought to be the moving spirit. came through the ordeal without turning a
 hair He remained calm and self-pos- sessed His sang froid amazed the of ficers and they put him down as inno- cent or a master hand of criminality.
 The other, younger and much weak
 CT. showed signs of breaking down. Just what he admitted, the secret ser- vice men refuse to disclose. but 1t Is
 believed 10 be tantamount to confess
 sion.
 Every cmploye of the office is under surveillance day and night. and should
 one or more of them prove to be tho thief or thieves, escape will be im-
 possible. All have reported for work daily since the discovery was made. Every man, too, is under bond, but not
 to any amount near tho loot secured.
 The huge vault of the sub-treasury is constructed of many layers of chilled steel and has a number of doors which must be passed before entrance Is se- cured to the apartment containing the money, The theft of money which had once got in to the vault has been rec
 garfled as an impossbiity. when interviewed today In regard
 to the robbery, Sub-Trcasurer Bolden- week admitted that theft of $lTS,o0o 1 had been pcrpctrated. but refused to go into details.
 "It Is true that what ] and other Government officials believe to be a
 gigantic steal has been perpetrated in the sub-trCasury. he said. The amount I believe will he $l73.00O. At prcscut cannot go into details as to what work we have done In the case or what method of procedure Chief | Wukio Captain Porter and their lieu tenanats will pursue, We discovered the shortage last Wednesday when tho l hooks of the sub-treasury were bal- anced for the day, There is a possi- hilitv that the shortage Is due to an error of a bookkeeper. but I am in- clined to believe that a robbery has been committed.
 Treasurer Boldeuweck declared latrr in tho day that it had been dcfi- niteIy determined just where the short ago occurred but he declined to say to where it had been traced. He declared
 himself positive. however. that the
 money had never reached the vaults