The San Francisco call., 1909-01-05
COFFEE

V1Sed statutes. will refer only to a few
concrete instances of this description:
An investigation of the ink contracts
OF the bureau of engraving and print
ing few months ago disclosed what
appeared to be a conspiracy between
the ink expert of the bureau and a
certain manufacturer OF inks by which
the government was paying four times
the legitimate price for its black ink
the Indictment of the ink expert and
the manufacturer and a new contract
upon a more nearly legitimate basis
with resultant saving to the govern
ment of fully 100000 a year.
In the customs service the secret
service division has been utilized to
great advantage in cases where the Gus
toms agents were handicapped by being
too well known. At Seattle q secret
service agent broke up an opium snug
Cling gang that had been operating for
years in defiance Of law and made the
largest seizure Of opium. one ton. re-
corded in the department, and convicted
the smugglers.
I'm the Rosenthal silk frauds in New
York the secret service division was OF
great assistance. securing the evidences
upon which a silk examiner in the ap-
praiser's stores was convicted and Ro-
dicted and is still a fugitive from JUS
The assay Office at Seattle. Wash,
was the subject of complaint on the part
of depositOrs of gold dust that their re-
turns in that office showed a larger per-
centage of loss in refining than at other
points on the Pacific coast. An tnVeStf-
cation, made jointly by the superin-
tendent of the San Francisco mint and
secret service agents, disclosed system
attic thefts by a trusted emplOye, who
was subsequently indicted, tried and
convicted for the OffenSe. The theftS
in this case had aggregated more than
100000. and approximately $4,000 was
recovered by the secret service agents
ION the occasion OF the annual eX-
animation and physical count OF the
contents of the mint at San Francisco
a shortage of $4,000 in double eagles
pigeonholes, each of which should have
contained a $4,000 sack. This was in
vestigated by secret service agents, and
the chief clerk. former cashier OF the
mint was convicted of the crime and
sent to the penitentiary.
"A few years earlier an investigation
conducted by the employees OF the secret
service division disclosed the systematic
looting of the assay Office at Carson
City. New, and the assayer and an as
sistant were convicted ea go naVing 0aS ~ 1o 1b
governments gold
THEFTS FROM MINT
still earlier there were extensive
thefts from the mint at Philadelphia.
where gold bars were being carried
away. Agents of the secret service d.
vision made an Investigation, which re-
suited in the conviction or the super
intendent and the recovery of practi-
caIly all of the stolen property
In the marine hospital service.
branch of the treasury department.
trusted clerk employed duplicate
vouchers by the manipulation OF which
he was able to collect from the govern
menI nearly 100000. Secret service
agents exposed his methods and secured
his Indictment to which he afterWard
pleaded guilty, and was sent to the
penitentiary.
eat the time when there were two
cOmptrollePS of the treasury chief OF
division in the second comptroller's
Office devised an ingenious plan for de-
frauding the government through fraud
ulent horse claims'-claimS for ami
mails which had been seized and used by
military order during the civil war. An
investigation by secret service agents
disclosed the character Of the fraud
through which the government had al
ready lost $4,000. and in which there
were pending nearly $4,000 IN nile
gitimate claims The offending clerk was
tried and convicted, and sentenced to
the penitentiary for IL years.
In the office of the treasurer OF the
United States. where the mutilated cur
rency is received and counted for re-
demption, there have ben many skill
government. and in that branch OF the
service alone there have been many IN
veStigationS and convictions.
In the Office of the auditor for the
postoff1ce department, branch OF the
treasury service. in 1884, secret service
agents conducted an investigation which
led to the discovery that claims aggre-
eating 100000 were fraudulent be-
cause of prior payment. and that
amount was saved to the government.
Later. in the same Office, secret serv-