| OCR Text |
Show 1 . . -j mf '. ZZZ '. TA f-4 By OOL. H. 0. WHITLEY. t WW lAWgiSlEF,sl True Stories of the Secret Service zzastest Timos wero pretty lively nboiit (Washington (lurhtix President Grunt's administration. The great, tho nour great and the shabby genteel polti-eians polti-eians were to bo daily met. with. Kuch had an axe l.o grind. U was a busy day for adventurers and sharpers ( Every device that hinnau iiigcuuity H. could invent was in vogue lor money 1 ' making purpose's, iron of rospcetabil- j j ify wlien at home often turned crooks 1 after sojourning at the nation's cupi- tal for h time. The war had loft its demoralizing influence upon many and , tho opportunities for acquiring fvcalth j wero numerous and varied. Tor a long time before General Grant look his seat in the president's chair, there had been a looseness in the administration H of government affairs resulting in or- j ganized frauds that would not be toler- atcd in this dnv. Tho Credit Mobiler conspiracy, the whisky ring and many other monu-men monu-men till st'eals wero being carried on in high-up official and private circles Tho big fellows sot the pace and tho smaller crooks loitering about the city felt nuito safo in taking a hand in what was going on. Some of the devices resorted to .bv the lesser fellows were rpiite ridiculous. 1 will disinter one 1 ' of these schemes for tho purpose of ex- hibiting the folly of some of the plot-lei's plot-lei's of that day. Shortlv after President Grant's in-augnratfon in-augnratfon in the spring of lS7;t he ;ent a messenger with a note rorjuost-ing rorjuost-ing mo to call at once at the White House. On entering his office I found him at his desk, lie pointed to a near-by near-by chair and bade me bo seated. Reach-iag Reach-iag into a drawer of his desk he took out two long black cigars, and handing mo one of them ho bit off the end of the other and put ii between his teeth. Straightening back in his chair, the big black cigar was pointed no ward at an angle of about 45 degrees. As the smoke curled lazily above his bond 1 saw that there was something in his manner in-dicating in-dicating that his usually placid temper was roiled. Picking u - a paivkago of letters from his desk he turned toward mo and said: "Here, colonel, is a niat-fl, niat-fl, (er that needs your careful attention. .During the last' few days 1 have been l Tcceivin."- these letters, I want .you to make an investigation at once. The pcr-Hi pcr-Hi kos engafod in this work must bo pun- ished. It was an outrage. It is probable that- there is moro than one person in the scheme." Hjj President Grant spoke with great earnestness, and I saw that he was not Hf a little disturbed and that his idea Hh was to let no guiltv mau escape. The circulars he handed me were minted 3 ii letter form and had been sent HT through the mails io many postmasters throughout the south and west. The Hr circulars read as follows. I give them vcr.batiui: Executive Mansion, Washington, Oct. 12, 1S72. Memorandum of conversation between the president and his secretary. Secretary "I. wish to refer this tele-gram tele-gram of Senator Morton 's to the )rosidpnt. To the President: A conspiracy has been formed to overrun southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio and to keep the colored vote from the polls in the southern states. Sev-oral Sev-oral thousand non-residents will vote in Indiana. Men and money arc needed. I send a man to you who has been in their 1 council. O. P. MORTON. President Yes, I have thought that matter all over, and had a long talk with the man the senator sent. What does Mr. Cook say about money? You know that we have none, and that the HI committee's means are all nccossury for the regular business. Secretary Mr. Cooic will furnish you any amount you require. President Very well, 1 will take tho responsibility. Kayo Capaiiu C -elect a dozen men to go west and south Hj with funds and organize. The mere i fact of a good organisation ill (Icier lawless bodies from atlomnting to defraud de-fraud the people at the pollf-'. Additional conversation, March 1S7;J. Secretary Mr- President, have you determined how you will vcim burse Mr. Cook Tor tho money furnished last October'.' Oc-tober'.' President. Yes, T have. The bishop has suggested Rev. .J. Hale Harney to act as secretary iu tho matler. A-point A-point him innncdiately, and as our mails are so large and go to clerks to be arranged and briol'cd beforu -v s.K I hem, you will havo all letters on the sub.joct addressed to him. Cull upon our friends, and allow no one to contribute contrib-ute over $10, and, to prevent publicity and trouble, direct tho lemiitanco lo be made bv a single $10 J. tj, Registered Regis-tered letters, drafts or express would necessarily loud to publicity. Mr. Secretary, Sec-retary, 3ou will make an alphabetical list of every contributor, to which we can hereafter refer. Confidential Circular No. .10. Executive Mansion, Washington, April 0, .1S7.1. "The annexed conversations arc submitted sub-mitted to the friends of the president in confidence. Our friends can address Rev. .1. Hale Barney, who jk temporally .secretary in that behalf. Any one having hav-ing conscientious- convictions against contributing need only silently decline. The president has acted in good faith and confidently relies upon an active and cheerful assistance. Suppose nothing noth-ing had been done and the stato of affairs af-fairs existing in Louisiana had mote extensively ex-tensively prevailed, what would have been Hie result? Uend carefully the president's views and act as your judgment judg-ment dictates, remembering" this subject sub-ject is confidential and known 01113' to three persons besides the president and that whatever is sent should be 111 currency cur-rency in the inclosed euvel.ioe. Very respectfully. 0. BAI3COCK, "Secretary." With the above circular was also inclosed in-closed the following letter for return after being filled out: "Rev. J. Male Barney, cx-Sccrolarj-, etc., Washington. IX C." "Sir Please find inclosed .$10 in cur-roney cur-roney which 3rou can npph' in any w.13" 3'ou think necessary for the good of tho cause. Yours truly." With this letter was an envclopo addressed ad-dressed as follows: "Row .1. Hale IJarncv, Executive Secretary, Sec-retary, etc., 212G Sixth street, N. W., Washington. D. C." It is scarcely neeessaiy to say that the foregoing circulars had boon concocted con-cocted for the purpose of obtaining contributions con-tributions from the appointees of the president. Tho Rev. .1. Ilale Barnc3r was discovered in the person of one Colonel Pardel, who had recklessly assumed tho role of a clerical gentleman for the purpose pur-pose of making 11101103'. The circulars turned over to mo were a source of great !nnnnynncc to the president, General Rabcock and Senator Morton. Although the schonie was a foolish one, it was one of the boldest swindles of a pccimiaiy and political" character that ever came up in Washington. It involved no less than three kinds of crime using the mails for fraudulent purposes, forgery and obtaining 11101103' under false pretenses. pre-tenses. Tho president was qtiife indignant, indig-nant, it was not alone a reflection upon him personal', but upon his administration. administra-tion. Many of the postmasters in the south and west receiving these circulars remitted remit-ted the amount called for at once. Others Oth-ers wore surprised and doubtful as to their genuineness and forwarded them to the president with a letter of in-quir3'. in-quir3'. Taken altogether it wns a most remarkable affair planned and carried out in a reckless manner. The report of the detectives sent to capture the schemer furnishes a chapter of rac3 r ending. It was discovered that a lady who rented furnished rooms, at No. 42(3 Sixth street and sometime prior to the discover of the forgeries received a letter from a man signing himself Rev. .J. Hnlo Bamej. lie said he was a Methodist minister and that ho would be absent from tho city much of the time attending to tho duties of his circuit, but ho wanted to hire a good lower front room in her houso for office of-fice purposes and a place to sleep and the deliver of his correspondence, no explained further that ho had been sccrctarj' of tho Christian Brotherhood. Brother-hood. The lady thought it. was a rnro opportune op-portune to seeuro an occupant of distinction." dis-tinction." Sho had great confidence in Methodist' miuistcrs as oho leaned that ' way herself, and she answered favorab- j ly. In a few d.'iys a large trunk was for-wardod for-wardod by express. It; had an aperture in its top through which lottors could ,be dropped. There was also forwarded two largo cards upon which was printed, print-ed, "Rev. J. ilale Barney. Executive Secretary of the Christian Brotherhood," Brother-hood," "one to be hung upon the door, tho other in the window of the room. Mono3' was sent to pa3' a month's rent in advance. Tho madamo was delighted to rent her rooms to such a nice man. Sho had alwaj's maintained a highlj' respect-ablo respect-ablo place and intended to keep it so. The trunk was put into one corner of tho room hired, and all mail addrcs3od to tho roverond myth was droppod through the holo in tho top of tho trunk pending tho arrival of his rovorcuce. The old lady was wholly unsuspicious. A Methodist minister was nbovo reproach re-proach with hor. The back room adjoining ad-joining the one engaged by tho rover-end rover-end was already occupied b3' a quiet and unobtrusive gentleman who paid his rent rogularly and went and came at his plcnsurc. He, too, was above suspicion. sus-picion. There was also a very nice young man occupying a room upstairs. Ho was always bnsy writing and attending at-tending to his own business. Many letters postmarked at different towns of tho west and south addressed lo Rev. .1. Hale Barney wero being delivered daily. Theso wero put in tho trunk. The detective- detailed to unearth the fraud rigged himself out in a suit ol genteel black clothes and presented himself him-self at -12G Sixth street. Here ho was kindly Tecoived by the nice old lady. Sho was polito, but a littlo suspicious at first. .It did not, however, take the smooth-tongued detective long lo calm her fears and secure a room. He was not particular about the price. Ho had hoard that hor houso was a quiet place. Ho was a law student and did not like to be disturbed while engaged in his studies. At the first opportunit3 the detective slipped into tho front room and esnm-inod esnm-inod tho lock on tho trunk with the aperture in ils top. It was an ordinary affair and the officer easily secured a key to fit it. Ho had several circulars printed in fae similo of the original to be used as decoys". Those wero post-I post-I marked and given the appnaranco of having been sent Ivy postmasters in the south. Somo of them contained marked money. Fxcnsos were made in others; mono3r would bo sent in course of time. Somo of these lottors were signed "A Friend of tho Cause," "A S3Tnpathiz-er," S3Tnpathiz-er," "Depend Upon Me," etc. A loiter loi-ter carrier was made ubo of and the de-tcctivo de-tcctivo was kopt postod in regard to tho delivery of the letters. 'When tho "nice man" occupying the room back of the parlor was absent the lottors contained in tho trunk wero examined ex-amined by the dctoetive. A short time aftor the return of tho "nice man" he was seen to slip into the parlor through the rear door. The detective again examined ex-amined tho trunk. Tho lettors wero gone. Shortly afterwards tho ".nice man" occupying tho room back of the parlor -was arrested while in the act of dropping lotlcrs into tho postollico. Ihese letters wero discovered to bo circulars addrosscd to postmastors nud others. Tho "nice man" arrested was searched and tho marked money placed in tho letters by tho detective was found in his pocket. It was now certain cer-tain that Rev. ,T. Hale Barney and tho individual arrosted wore one' and the same. The silent young man upstairs was suspoctod and arrested. His room was searched rind a largo number of printed circulars and envelopes addressed ad-dressed to postmasters were found. The plot, although silh' in its conception, concep-tion, was catch3' becauso'of its boldness. Tho "nice man" caught was a person of considerable prominence- He had served as a colonel of a regiment during the Civil war and was a gallant fighter. The j'oung follow upstairs was a printer and had dono tho work on tho circulars. Both of the schemers were vKn) convicted and sontencod to do time in 'SMW the penitential'. This was only one of 3Kf. ; the mau3- bold schemes practiced in our Kftfi I capital city by persons maintaining the SHU outward appearance of ominonfc T'ispoc- |
