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C. Adams - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Washers and Scrubbers: The Men Who Robbed Them - -Author: F. C. Adams - -Release Date: September 19, 2020 [EBook #63245] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WASHERS AND SCRUBBERS *** - - - - -Produced by hekula03 and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by the Library of Congress) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> - -<div class="coverbox"> - -<p class="titlepage">THE WASHERS AND SCRUBBERS.</p> - -<p class="titlepage larger">THE MEN WHO ROBBED THEM.</p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br /> -F. C. ADAMS,</p> - -<p class="center smaller"><i>Author of the Siege of Washington, Story of a Trooper, and -other books</i>.</p> - -<p class="titlepage smaller">WASHINGTON, D. C.:<br /> -PRINTED BY JUDD & DETWEILER.<br /> -1878.</p> - -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span></p> - -<p class="titlepage">“WHITE MAN BERY UNSARTIN.”</p> - -<p class="titlepage">“NIGGER HAINT GOT NO FRIENDS. NO HOW.”</p> - -<p class="titlepage">THE BLACKEST CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY<br /> -OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.</p> - -<p class="titlepage">THE MEN WHO ROBBED AND COMBINED TO ROB<br /> -<span class="larger">THE FREEDMEN</span><br /> -OF THEIR HARD EARNINGS.</p> - -<p class="titlepage smaller">WASHINGTON:<br /> -<span class="smcap">Jos. Shillington</span>, Publisher,<br /> -363 Pa. Avenue.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span></p> - -<h1>THE WASHERS AND THE SCRUBBERS—THE -MEN WHO ROBBED THEM.</h1> - -<p>The last report of the three Commissioners for winding -up (this is a misnomer) the affairs of the bankrupt -Freedmen’s Bank, brought out in response to a resolution -of Congress, introduced by the Honorable Nicholas -Muller, of New York, is one of the most remarkable documents -ever given to the American people. It is remarkable -as illustrating the heartlessness of man; remarkable -as illustrating the amount of scoundrelism there is in our -social and political organizations; and remarkable for its -exemplification of those trite sayings so common among -the slaves of the South before the war, and which I have -placed at the head of this article. “White man very unsartin.” -“Nigger haint got no friends, no how.”</p> - -<p>I again approach this black chapter in the history of -the great—perhaps I should say once great—Republican -party with feelings of sadness. Here, in this remarkable -report, we have man’s inhumanity to man portrayed in all -its darkest colors.</p> - -<p>Just here let me pause for a moment to thank kind, -generous-hearted Mr. Muller for introducing the resolution -which brought out the strange chapter of scoundrelism -contained in this remarkable report. And I do this the -more cheerfully because he is a Democrat and I am an old -time Republican, perhaps I should say Abolitionist, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span> -had failed in three attempts to get a Republican to introduce -it.</p> - -<p>Before proceeding to dissect this remarkable report, -however, I propose to say, as a matter of history, something -in regard to the formation of the plot concocted by, -to use a vulgar phrase, Boss Shepherd and his Ring to rob -this bank for the earnings of the poor.</p> - -<p>Even high-toned robbery has its vein of romance, and -there was something romantic in the early stages of the -history of this gigantic robbery. One cold, stormy November -night, in the year 1871, my rooms were invaded, -and my reveries broken by a man I regarded as an intruder. -He threw off his wet coat, put his umbrella in -the coal box, and I invited him to take a seat. “I am -here,” he said, “on a very important mission.” He was -considerably excited, and for some minutes spoke with a -tremulous voice and somewhat incoherently. At first I -thought he was under the influence of liquor, but I remembered -that he was not given to the cup. I begged -him to concentrate his thoughts, and tell me in the fewest -words possible what he had to say.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Adams,” he said, after pausing a moment, “I -know you are a true friend of the colored man.”</p> - -<p>“Well, never mind that,” said I, “proceed with what you -have to say.”</p> - -<p>He did proceed, and disclosed to me the most monstrous -plot for getting possession of the money deposited in the -Freedmen’s Bank, and that by men who had been prominent -Republicans and professing Christians. There was -something so monstrous, so heartless, and so at variance -with the laws which ordinarily govern human actions, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span> -to create a doubt in my mind of the truth of what he said. -The name of this gentleman was John R. Elvans, a member -of the Examining Committee of the bank, who informed -me that he had protested, in the name of honesty -and humanity, against the contemplated robbery, and -had resigned rather than have it appear that he had -countenanced so monstrous a wrong. (Just here I desire -to put on record this acknowledgment of Mr. Elvans’ -honesty.)</p> - -<p>The substance of the plot was that the six millions of -hard earnings of the slaves, constituting their lifetime -savings, were to be got by the conspirators on worthless securities, -such as bogus paving company stock, second mortgage -bonds, and stock of the Seneca Sandstone Company, -shares of the Young Men’s Christian Association, and -other stuff even more worthless. He also insisted, with -considerable emphasis, that the Seneca Sandstone Ring had -got complete control of the bank’s money.</p> - -<p>In reply to a request that Mr. Elvans would give me -the names of the men prominent in so dastardly a conspiracy, -he gave me those of A. R. Shepherd, Hallett Kilbourn, -William S. Huntington, Doctor John L. Kidwell, -Lewis Clephane, O. O. Howard, and D. L. Eaton. He -also asserted with some vehemence that the officers of the -bank, professing Christians and pretended friends of the -negroes, were “deepest in the fraud.”</p> - -<p>In order to be sure of my ground, and not to be misled, -I requested Mr. Elvans to get me a transcript from the -books of the bank, of the loans he had asserted had been -made on those worthless securities. Two days afterwards -he brought me the desired transcript, which is now before<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span> -me in his own handwriting. The following is an exact -copy of it:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>1. “$20,000 Seneca Sandstone Quarry Company, at 90 -cents, to Dr. John L. Kidwell. Loan, $18,000.”</p> - -<p>2. “Loan to M. G. Emery of $25,000, on corporation -coupon certificates, par value of $50,000.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Mr. Emery was mayor of the city at the time, and it is -only right to say here that the loan was a legitimate one, -and ultimately paid, with interest.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>3. “Loan to H. K.” (which meant Hallett Kilbourn.) -“on 300 shares of Metropolis Paving Company, $14,000. -The par value of stock $30,000, only $3,500 paid up.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The stock of this concern of which Lewis Clephane was -president, and at the same time one of the Finance Committee -of the Bank, was at the time it was hypothecated -utterly worthless. This Lewis Clephane was what we shall -call here, a high society Republican, and twenty years ago -was book-keeper for Doctor Guilmel Bailey, editor of the -<i>National Era</i>, an ultra anti-slavery journal. Mr. Clephane -is now a man of wealth, lives in a thirty thousand dollar -house, pretentiously located on the corner of 13th and K -streets. How he got the money to build such an elegant -house, to ride in his carriage, and fare sumptuously every -day, is not a matter for so humble an individual as myself -to inquire into. Washington has its laws, socially, legally, -and morally, and I have sometimes thought that the bigger -the thief the greater were his immunities. The difference -between the big thief, in Washington, and the little thief, -was beautifully illustrated a few weeks ago in the sentence -of one of our judges who sent a black man of the name -of George Washington to the Maryland penitentiary for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span> -six months, at hard labor, for stealing a goat. Yes, for -stealing a goat, commonly regarded as a public nuisance. -With so righteous a sentence, staring us in the face, who -will dare say justice is jobbed in this District?</p> - -<p>As to the matter of Mr. Clephane’s wealth, so suddenly -acquired, I can safely leave that as a matter to be decided -between his conscience and himself. Enough of this. -Let us return to Mr. Elvans’ transcript.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>4. “Demand Note, of <i>Scharf</i> Paving Company, collateral, -200 shares, of $100 each. (Worthless.) Loan, -$3,000.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>This Scharf Paving Company was an offshoot of the -rascally Metropolis Paving Company, of which John O. -Evans, Kilbourn, and other congenial spirits, were the -managers, and Lewis Clephane the president. And just -here I beg the innocent reader not to forget that during -all this time Lewis Clephane, the high society Republican, -described above, was a member of the Finance Committee -of the Freedman’s Bank, made such, because of his supposed -friendship for the colored man.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>5. “Loan to John L. Kidwell, apothecary, and President -of the Seneca Sandstone Company, 20 bonds of $500 each. -Loan. $4,000, at 10 per cent.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>These bonds were not worth the paper they were printed -on.</p> - -<h2>GENERAL O. O. HOWARD, THE GREAT CHRISTIAN SOLDIER, -COMES UPON THE STAGE AS A SPECULATOR.</h2> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>6. “Gen’l O. O. Howard, (late Vice-President of the -Bank,) on Lot 11, in Block 4, subdivision of Smith’s farm; -also sundry good and bad bonds as collateral. Loan, -$24,000.”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span></p> - -<p>To avoid argument, let us accept General O. O. Howard -as a first-class Christian and an accepted friend -of the colored man and brother. But the reader must not -forget that, from the days of Adam, our great forefather, -down to the illustrious Babcock, temptation could be made -too strong for even the purest of Christians. And, too, -there were crimes by which even the angels fell. The six -millions of dollars deposited in the Freedmen’s Bank by -the slaves just set free, after nearly two centuries of the -most abject bondage, proved Brother Howard’s Satan, -tempting him on to commit crime. The temptation was -too strong for him, and he fell a victim to his ambition for -speculation, just as Satan, before him, had fallen under the -too great weight of another kind of temptation. Yes, the -great, the good, the Christian soldier fell a victim to his -love of gain. Our Saviour scourged the money-changers -for a crime much less heinous, and he drove them out of -the Temple, too. It is in proof that this walking example -of Christian purity, this soldier of the Lord, resigned his -position as Vice-President of the Bank for the safe keeping -of the freedmen’s earnings, because the law debarred him -from being a borrower, and three days afterwards appeared -at the counter of the bank and borrowed $24,000 of its -money—that, too, for the vulgar purpose of speculating in -corner lots. General O. O. Howard still holds his position -as a high society Republican, and is an idol of the church.</p> - -<p>I now come to that great modern statesman, Christian, -friend of the church, and defender of the illustrious U. S. -Grant, and the still more illustrious Babcock, the personification -of the late Board of Public Works, and all the -crimes it was heir to. It was not to be expected that a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> -gentleman of so much goodness of heart, so wise, modest, -and retiring; a gentleman whose heart yearned every hour -of the day to do generous acts for the benefit of his fellow-men—who -went to bed of a night contemplating the -amount of good he could do for mankind in general and -Washington in particular; whose disinterestedness caused -him to forget himself entirely—a man, I assert here without -fear of contradiction, who, by his own unaided exertions, -had raised himself from the position of an humble -plumber and gas-fitter—thankful for a job, no matter how -small—to the high position of a governor, a modern statesman, -a friend of humanity, and an adviser of the President. -Here let me say, as a lover of truth and justice, -that a great deal has been said about the fall of this great -modern statesman, and very little about his rise. To us -the rise is the most important part of it, and for the very -reason that it repeats the story of Whittington and his cat, -thrice Lord Mayor of London, to say nothing of honest -Sancho Panza and his government of the island of Barritario. -But comparisons between governors are odious, as -Mrs. Malliprop said.</p> - -<p>Just here I confess, as a lover of the truth of history, to -have erred and strayed from my subject. My object was -to show you that Alexander R. Shepherd (according to -Mr. Elvans,) was one of the original conspirators for robbing -the Freedmen’s Bank! This is sad, but it is true. -He appears in Mr. John R. Elvans’ transcript, as follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>7. “Loan to A. R. S.” (Alexander R. Shepherd) “of -$15,000, on lots 5 and 6, square 452.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>I was informed on good authority that these lots,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> -on which Mr. A. R. Shepherd borrowed fifteen thousand -dollars, were not worth half the amount. This gentleman’s -future operations with the bank were conducted -on a more magnificent scale, but in the names of other -persons. As Mr. Beverly Douglas said during his investigation -into the affairs of the bank, it was marvelous to -see how many of other peoples’ fingers Mr. Shepherd had -used to pull the Freedmen’s Bank chestnuts for him. -I had hoped that the solemn and impressive death of that -other great modern statesman and benefactor of mankind, -William Marcy Tweed, would have had a good effect on -the moral and religious status of our late governor. But -recent events convince me that the solemn and impressive -warning remains unheeded.</p> - -<p>Here again we have another Christian statesman, of high -standing in the Republican church, who wants the Freedmen’s -money—doubtless for a pious purpose.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>8. “Henry D. Cooke, (chairman of the Finance Committee,) -loan of $10,000 on 400 shares of stock of the -Young Men’s Christian Association.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>It is due to Mr. Cooke to say that this sum was afterwards -paid. Doubtless his intentions were good when he borrowed -the money. Naturally a well-meaning man, he -fell a victim to bad association.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>9. “P. T. Langley’s note, endorsed by D. L. Eaton, actuary -of the bank. Loan, $500, no security.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>This completes the transcript brought me from the books -of the bank, in November, 1871. I need hardly tell the -reader that the gentlemen whose names appear as original -conspirators to rob the bank were Republicans of high<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> -standing in the party, and professed friends of the colored -man. It will also be observed that they initiated the robbery, -by getting the money on worthless securities, and -with two or three additions of men of the same stamp, in -politics as well as religion, continued it to the very end.</p> - -<p>Fully satisfied that what Mr. Elvans had told me was -true—satisfied also of the existence of a conspiracy to -steal the funds of the bank—the next question was, as to -how the disaster, sure to result from it, could be averted. -I laid Mr. Elvans’ statement before several leading Republicans, -in and outside of Congress, and appealed to -them to assist me in rescuing the bank and its money from -this combination of robbers. I use very plain language -in treating of this very black crime—one which should -sink the Republican party so far out of sight that it would -never again have an existence. Must I confess here that -I appealed to Republicans in vain? Some of them had -for years been shedding tears over the sorrows of the -slave; but, like Pomeroy, of Kansas, they had borrowed -the newly emancipated slave’s money, and it had sealed -their lips and withered their consciences.</p> - -<p>I appealed to a member of Grant’s cabinet. He had -previously professed friendship for the negro. He glanced -over Mr. Elvans’ black list of loans, smiled, and handed -it back, saying, the names were those of highly honorable -gentlemen, who would not do a dishonest act. He intimated, -also, that Mr. Elvans was bent on creating a sensation. -This cabinet minister, as was afterwards proven, -was connected with the most prominent of these conspirators -in real estate and other speculations. In plain language, -this gang of Republican knaves were all powerful<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> -at court, at that time. Grant, himself, was their friend, -associate, and partner in Seneca sandstone and other speculations. -Indeed it is only the truth to say of Grant that -such was the force of his democratic instincts that he never -had any real, honest sympathy with the negro, to say -nothing of his contempt for poor men of whatever color. -It was Grant’s native dislike of the negro and the abolitionist -alike, that led him into his unfortunate quarrel -with Mr. Sumner. That quarrel initiated the independent -Republicans, and it also initiated the disintegration of the -Republican party.</p> - -<p>I associate the robbery of this bank with the Republican -party, because, as I said before, the robbers were all -Republicans of high standing in the church; and the -chosen leaders of the party looked on with indifference -while the robbery was going on, and continued to look on -with indifference until the bank closed its doors in bankruptcy.</p> - -<p>Then for the first time the cry of shame went up, but -not from the leaders of the Republican party. Their -energies were given to protect the robbers, to stifle investigation, -and to slander the men fearless enough to expose -the hideous conspiracy.</p> - -<p>Here we were brought face to face with the fact that the -Republican party had abandoned its principles, had abandoned -truth and justice—even humanity itself—and in the -future would depend on dollars and cents for its strength. -Its political morality strongly resembled the Democratic -party as it was twenty years ago, when slavery was its Political -Fetish—when it had a Jew banker at one end of it -and a prize fighter at the other.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span></p> - -<p>Again we were brought face to face with the fact that -the Republican party and its professed leaders had reached -that very high standard of modern civilization, when a -bank for the savings of the wages of the poor could be -made part of a system of robbery, the robbers being -encouraged and recognized by the administration and -society. To be even more explicit, it was the first time in -the history of felony that the workmen and workwomen, -the scrubbers and washers, the orphans and widows of the -poorest and most ignorant classes in the city of Washington, -were unwittingly made to cash obligations issued by -an organized gang of thieves and plunderers.</p> - -<p>May I ask the reader to go back with me to the time -Mr. John R. Elvans made his statement. Finding there -was no other way of stopping the robbery or exposing the -crime but through the press, I had recourse to that. -My first articles, as is very well known, appeared in the -<i>Savannah Morning News</i>. The <i>New York Sun</i>, on being -assured of the correctness of my statements, afterwards -came to the rescue and did good service in making the -hideous crime public. The appearance of these articles -created great excitement in Washington, as well they -might. Denials came thick and fast, the robbers and their -friends—and they were numerous and strong—asserted that -the bank was in a perfectly sound condition, that its management -was above suspicion. Of course the author of -the articles was denounced as a libeler, and threatened -with vengeance. The officers of the bank, without distinction -of color or previous condition of servitude, were declared -to be Republicans in good standing, and very high-toned -gentlemen. I had heard something very similar to -this before.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span></p> - -<p>There was a weak and somewhat dyspeptic Democratic -journal, called the <i>Patriot</i>, published in Washington at -that time, and to the columns of which Montgomery Blair -and other patriots contributed. The managing editor of -this paper was a Mr. Harris, an experienced journalist, who -appreciated the value of truth to a properly-conducted newspaper. -This gentleman intensified the excitement then -prevailing, by republishing, in a somewhat modified form, -two of the articles from the <i>Savannah Morning News</i>. For -this great offense he not only lost his place, but the paper -made two of the most abject and cowardly apologies journalism -has any account of. The chiefs of the gang forced -these abject apologies from the managers of the <i>Patriot</i> by -threatening castigation and libel suits.</p> - -<p>It is hardly necessary to say here that subsequent developments -have shown the black chapter of that robbery to -have been ten times blacker than I had painted it. The -villainy unearthed by Mr. Beverly Douglas’ committee, -three years ago, stands to-day the blackest crime in our -criminal history. That committee, in its clear and able -report, gave us the names of the prominent actors in that -great crime; and yet the finger of justice has not touched -one of them. Strange as it may seem to the ordinary -thinker, these men, so well known at this day, and who -committed the meanest theft history has any account of, -stand as high in the Republican church to-day as they did -when General Grant was the great high priest of the -party.</p> - -<p>Here let me say that the fact must not be overlooked, -that</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span></p> - -<h2>A REPUBLICAN CONGRESS</h2> - -<p class="noindent">was, in a great measure, responsible for the robbery of the -Freedmen’s Bank. And this I say more in sorrow than -anger. The reader will bear in mind that the acts of -Congress, under which the bank’s original charter was -granted, prescribed the character of the securities (Government -bonds) on which its money could be loaned. The -men who had combined to get possession of the bank’s -money, on worthless securities, such as Paving Company -stock, Seneca Sandstone stock, Morris’ Mining Company -stock, stock of the Young Men’s Christian Association, and -other stock equally worthless and fraudulent, found this -simple and very requisite safeguard a serious impediment -to the successful carrying out of their infamous project. -They went before a Republican Congress, and with the assurance -of experienced cracksmen, asked it to repeal the -restrictive clause, and pass an act which made the robbery -that followed, possible. And, as the vote will show, a Republican -Congress was only too glad to accommodate -them. In truth, Congress enacted laws for their benefit, and -which virtually placed the funds of the bank at the mercy -of the thieves and plunderers, who at once entered its -vaults and began the work of emptying them. A Republican -Congress placed in the hands of these bad, designing -men, the power to make the scrubbers and the washers, the -widows and orphans of the poor and the ignorant—even -the maimed soldier—unwittingly cash their worthless obligations.</p> - -<p>Here, and now let me say a few words in</p> - -<h2>DEFENSE OF THE NEGRO.</h2> - -<p>Much has been said and written on the vices, great and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> -small, of the negro. He has been accused of being ignorant, -brutish, and vicious, of want of thrift, of having -largely developed animal propensities, of a chronic inability -to tell the truth, of a disposition to accumulate property -not his own, and of a weakness to explore the -chicken roosts of his neighbors. In truth he has for more -than a century been charged with no end of small vices, -and a propensity to do the meanest kind of stealing. -Heaven knows he has small vices enough. I admit it and -deplore it, as well for its bad effect on society generally, -as for the damage it inflicts on his own people. But the -thoughtful and candid reader will join me in saying that -the negro, in his very worst and most vicious condition to-day, -is precisely what slavery made him. Slavery was -based on cruelty and tyranny, and was alike destructive—morally, -mentally, and commercially—of the best interests -of black and white.</p> - -<p>Slavery, in the very magnitude of its cruelty, denied the -black man education, manhood, the right to think or act -for himself. Slavery denied him all right to his own offspring, -all right to regard himself as a man. It caused -him to be born a chattel, to be raised a chattel; it degraded -him, made him brutish, and sold him in the market -like a beast of burden. When the day of his deliverance -came he was found to be exactly what slavery made him—nothing -more, nothing less. And I appeal to the thoughtful -reader, to the just and the generous, if it is not too -great an exaction to expect examples of morality and high -Christian virtues, of a race so long held in degrading -bondage?</p> - -<p>Criminal and vicious classes are not confined to race,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> -color, or country. They are found everywhere. A long -residence in the South enabled me to observe and study the -habits of both black and white. A more illiterate, vicious, -and depraved—a class more reckless of human life than -the poor whites of the South it would be difficult to find -in any country. I refer more particularly to what are -known as crackers, wire-grass, and sand-hill men. Depraved -and vicious to an extent almost beyond belief, they -yet, in many things, hold the better classes subject to their -dictation, and too frequently make them responsible for -their crimes. My experience has been that for Christian -virtues, for all that was kindly and tractable in human -nature, the negro, even as a slave, was by far the poor -white’s superior; in truth, I never saw the time, in the -South, when I would not prefer trusting myself in his -hands. Now that the negro is a man, a citizen, a voter, -and a factor in the body politic of the South, it seems to -me that it should not only be the desire but the ambition -of the “ruling classes” (I use an old and much abused expression) -to treat him fairly, as if he had always been -a man entitled to the value of his own labor, to educate -and elevate him—in a word, to make him part and parcel -of their own welfare. They must make him something -more than he was when he came out of the fiery furnace -of slavery, as a means to their own protection. I would -suggest, also, as I did twenty-seven years ago, that the -“ruling classes” of the South would find it to their benefit -to try the experiment of education on that large and very -dangerous class I referred to above, called poor whites. I -make this suggestion, fully aware that these poor whites—lawless, -vicious, and degraded as they are—have heretofore<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> -fiercely resisted all attempts in that direction, firmly believing, -as they do, that education is an evil, and civilization -an infringement of their sovereign rights to roam -over the sand hills, raid on the plantations of the rich, -shoot negroes at sight, and burn down school houses.</p> - -<p>The present Governor of Kentucky understood the situation -I have been discussing perfectly when he said, in his -message vetoing the act for the restoration of that relic of -barbarism and cruelty, the whipping post: “Mankind is -already too much degraded. He who can elevate and -place mankind on an higher plane is a benefactor of his -race.” I have had these words printed in letters of gold, -framed, and hung on the walls of my humble sanctum.</p> - -<h2>NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN.</h2> - -<p>Out of all the charges of vice laid at the door of the -negro race there rises the fact that almost on the heels of -their emancipation the men and women composing it -brought out their savings of a lifetime and deposited nearly -six million of dollars in this Freedmen’s Bank and its -thirty-odd agencies. The candid-minded will admit that -this fact is something greatly to their credit, and must not -be forgotten when their virtue or want of virtue is under -discussion. Indeed, it speaks volumes for their thrift, for -their love of saving, and providing for future wants. -Most of this money was drawn from the middle southern -States, the negroes of Georgia alone contributing nearly -half a million, all of which, or nearly all of which, was -brought here and placed at the mercy of a ring of Republican -sharpers, and with the shocking result already known. -It is also something to the credit of the race that, during<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span> -and just after the war, very many of them, with remarkable -shrewdness, purchased property and built comfortable -little homes in what is now the most desirable part of the -city, and where real estate is the most valuable. The imposing -churches and school houses they have built in this -neighborhood must also be accepted as proof of their thrift -and progress. It is also something to their credit that, -during the reign of Mr. Shepherd and his vile Ring, they -successfully resisted the shameful attempts made to get -possession of their property and drive them from their -homes. Here let me say that the greatest danger to the -future prospects of the race will come from those mischievous, -ambitious, and restless men, more white than black, -who set themselves up as leaders, and are always shedding -tears over what they call the sorrows of “their race.” -They have no claim to race distinction, being a bad cross -between a bad white man and an unchaste negress. I cannot -help thinking that their example is bad and their -teachings worse.</p> - -<p>The damaging effect, morally, physically, and otherwise, -on the negro, of the robbery of the Freedmen’s Bank can -hardly be over estimated. It was a very serious blow to -his progress—to his future hopes. It made him lose faith -in the integrity of the white man. The hope of gain no -longer sweetens labor with him. He no longer saves his -money to deposit in a saving bank, where he was so plausibly -told it would bring him large interest, and ultimately -a home. No; my experience has been that a large majority -of the negroes to-day spend their money as they earn it, -and indeed have lost that ambition to put something aside -for a rainy day which characterized them a few years ago.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span></p> - -<p>I will here relate an instance in proof of what is said -in the above, and which will forceably illustrate a thousand -other cases. During the campaign on the peninsula -(1862) under McClellan, we had our headquarters (Franklin’s) -at Toler’s Farm, Cumberland Landing, on the Pamunkey. -A very intelligent and respectable colored man -came to me and disclosed the secret that he had more than -fourteen hundred dollars, in silver, buried in the cellar. His -wife, a wonderfully active woman, and one child were owned -by the Tolers. He, himself, was the slave of a Mr. Myers, -of Richmond, of whom he bought his time, as was common -among the more intelligent and thrifty slaves. He boasted -that his master would trust him anywhere, and had always -been very kind to him. The Tolers, on the other hand, -were very hard on their slaves, and Henry’s greatest ambition -was to get money enough to purchase the freedom of his -wife and child, and the money he had saved from fishing -and oystering on the York and Pamunkey rivers was -for that purpose. For that he had toiled, and toiled, and -toiled for sixteen years to get money enough to purchase -the freedom of his wife and child. Even then he could -have taken his money, his wife, and his child, and gone to -Washington; but he refused. Indeed, he remained true -to his master until the fall of Richmond. Then he came -here, put what money he had left in the Freedmen’s Bank, -and the painful story is told in these words: he lost it. -The Washington sharpers got it. I met this man a few -years ago; dissipation had overtaken him; he was a -changed man; uttering curses on the heads of the men -who had robbed him.</p> - -<p>Let us retrace our steps again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span></p> - -<h2>A REPUBLICAN CONGRESS</h2> - -<p class="noindent">was again derelict of its duty. When the gang organized -to rob the bank had finished its nefarious work, and its -doors were closed in bankruptcy, one would have supposed -that the most important question to be decided was the -quickest and most economical method of winding up its -affairs, to the end of saving as much as possible to the -poor, deluded depositors. A Republican Congress did exactly -the opposite of this.</p> - -<p>Instead of authorizing the President to appoint a receiver, -a man of well-known integrity and business capacity, -it authorized him to appoint a board of three commissioners, -each at a salary of three thousand dollars a year, to -be paid out of the funds of the bank. This was virtually -giving the commissioners a long lease of the funds.</p> - -<p>Grant, in making these appointments, charmingly illustrated -what is known as Grantism. Creswell, who resigned -his position in Grant’s cabinet to escape impeachment, and -with whose official and political record the country is -already familiar, was his first choice. Money is Mr. -Creswell’s fetish, no one has ever accused him of doing a -charitable act, and as for political convictions, he has about -as much use for them as a savage has for a time-piece. -When a Senator, a true friend of the race, remonstrated -against this appointment and predicted the result, Grant -said Creswell was a lawyer, and as such could make himself -useful in managing the legal affairs. We shall see -what kind of legal service this lawyer has rendered.</p> - -<p>Grant’s next choice was an aged black man, with a very -benevolent face, named Purvis. Of law, banking, finance,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span> -poor Purvis knew just nothing. His knowledge of medicine -even was slender, and he resided in Philadelphia. -These qualifications, however, were satisfactory to Grant, -who said the Board would not be complete without “one -nigger,” whose presence was necessary to inspire confidence -in the plundered depositors. He doubtless meant the poor -devils, the washers and scrubbers, the very poor and the -very ignorant, who had been plundered by his cronies.</p> - -<p>Grant’s third choice was R. H. T. Leipold.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> His qualifications -were that he was a Hessian by birth, had lived in -Wisconsin, was a favorite of Senator Howe of that State, -and had been a clerk in that great American penal colony, -the Treasury Department. I want the reader to make a -note of this Senator Howe part of the business, as I shall -have something to say on it hereafter, when a son-in-law of -that Senator figures somewhat numerically.</p> - -<p>To men of Purvis’ and Leipold’s type, this salary of -three thousand dollars a year was a god-send of no mean -dimensions. But placing them in charge of the bank’s -money was a very dangerous power to intrust such men -with. Grant, I am told, used to allude to these commissioners -as representing Europe, Africa, and America. -That it was a charming blending of colors must be confessed. -The sombre clouding, however, hung around -America, represented by the man Creswell.</p> - -<p>Let us turn now and see how these commissioners have -discharged this</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span></p> - -<h2>MOST SACRED TRUST.</h2> - -<p>Let us survey the field carefully and thoroughly, and -see how these commissioners have got away with the savings -of the scrubbers and the washers, the widows and the -orphans of the very poor and the very ignorant. And I -will begin this by turning to the testimony and report of -Hon. Beverly Douglass’ Investigating Committee, made to -Congress May 9th, 1876. That investigation developed:</p> - -<p class="hanging">First: A chapter of fraud unparalleled in the history of -crime.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Second: Shameful dereliction of duty on the part of the -commissioners.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Third: That J. A. J. Creswell was too much engaged in -other business, to give any of his valuable time to -the bank. That he paid Leipold $500 for attending -to his part of the business, and quietly pocketed -$2,500.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Fourth: That the colored man Purvis, followed the example -of Creswell—paid Leipold $500 to excuse him.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Fifth: That Leipold was the great Republican high priest, -who ran the bank according to his own methods.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Sixth: That the remaining funds were fast disappearing -into the pockets of the commissioners and their favorites.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Seventh: That the commissioners were appointed on the -4th of July, 1874, and that no report of their management -has been made, as was required by law.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span></p> - -<p class="hanging">Eighth: That more than sixty thousand dollars had disappeared -in a single year, for what was called “expense -account.”</p> - -<p class="hanging">Ninth: That there was at least a suspicious connection -between Leipold, Senator Howe’s man, and lawyer -Totten, a son-in-law of the same Senator.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Tenth: That G. W. Stickney succeeded D. L. Eaton, as -Actuary of the bank; that some of the very worst -frauds on the bank were committed during his administration, -and with his knowledge. Not only -this, but that he was found to be individually -indebted to the bank to the amount of $2,680.</p> - -<p>Brother G. W. Stickney, sometimes called Colonel -Stickney, is well known in Washington, alike for his praying -propensities and sharp practices. He is, if I may be -pardoned for using the phrase, an outwash of the war, a -Christian statesman of the Schuyler Colfax type. He is -one of those persons who could, at any time, get a certificate -of good character from those illustrious friends of -humanity, U. S. Grant and Boss Shepherd.</p> - -<p>Let us turn to page 50 of Mr. Beverly Douglas’ report -and see what Brother J. W. Alvord, at one time president -of the Freedmen’s Bank, says of Brother G. W. Stickney:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="xindent">By the Chairman (Douglas):</p> - -<p>Q. I want you to tell the Committee, without any evasion or -concealment, whether, during your administration as president, -or your connection with the bank as trustee, there was, to your -mind and your comprehension, a fair, faithful, and honest administration -of its funds?</p> - -<p>A. I can answer in the language of Saturday last. There was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> -I would not say dishonest, but improper loaning to men who -were not responsible; loaning upon insufficient security; loaning -on illegal security, such as city scrip and personal chattels; and -permitting employees at the branches to loan without the knowledge -of the trustees. The Actuary [Stickney] gave them such -permission as that. They quoted him as authority for such loans. -I do not think that the trustees ever stole any money. [Credulous -Alvord!] The matter of Vandenburgh is one of the marked -instances that I would range under insufficient security.</p> - -<p>Q. You seem to be very well acquainted with Vandenburgh, -from your boyhood up. Do you know whether there was any -business connection in the street paving business between Vandenburgh -and Alexander R. Shepherd at the time these loans were -being negotiated?</p> - -<p>A. I do not know that there was any business connection.</p> - -<p>Q. Tell us of any other connection that there was between -them.</p> - -<p>A. I know that they were acquaintances, and that Mr. Shepherd -was at the head of affairs here, while Mr. Vandenburgh -was a contractor.</p> - -<p>Q. Contractor under him?</p> - -<p>A. Contractor of him; he contracted to do his work in the -city for pay....</p> - -<p class="xindent">By Mr. Bradford:</p> - -<p>Q. Where is this Mr. Stickney, the actuary? Does he live in -this city?</p> - -<p>A. Yes, sir.</p> - -<p>Q. What was his pecuniary condition when he entered the service -of the Freedmen’s Bank?</p> - -<p>A. He was a man without any appearance of any considerable -amount of means—not very large amount of property. He is a -wide-a-wake, active, business real estate broker.</p> - -<p>Q. How much property has he got now?</p> - -<p>A. I cannot tell.... I think he has an interest in a good -many pieces of property; how large that interest is, or how well -secured, I cannot say.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span></p> - -<p>The above will serve to show what kind of a man this -G. W. Stickney was. The simple truth is that, when he -took charge of the bank’s affairs, about all the property he -had was his pretensions to being a high church Republican, -and his stock in trade in religion of an assorted kind.</p> - -<p>Old man Alvord was an unwilling witness. He could -have told the Committee much more than he did of the -connection between Stickney and Shepherd, Vandenburgh -and Shepherd, John O. Evans, Lewis Clephane, and Hallett -Kilbourn. Vandenburgh is a free and easy, good -natured, open-handed man, and not naturally dishonest. -And yet he was, during the reign of Mr. Shepherd and -his Ring, a sample sheep, of which Clephane, Evans, Kilbourn, -and Shepherd constituted the flock. He was associated -with them in the paving business, and the very -large amounts of money he was permitted to draw from -the bank from time to time, and while Stickney had almost -absolute control of its funds—nearly $200,000—convinces -me that there was not only collusion, but that Vandenburgh -was used as an instrument by his more designing -confederates. These “Vandenburgh loans,” as they are -called, are regarded as bad as any made by the bank. -That Vandenburgh never could have used so large an -amount of money in his own business, the Committee were -satisfied. This, too, must be said, that Mr. Beverly Douglas -was very decidedly of the opinion that Vandenburgh -was “used by the master spirits of the ring to pull their -chestnuts out of the fire.”</p> - -<p>Stickney was responsible for these bad loans. They -were made with his consent, perhaps not criminally. I -have, however, given enough proof to convince the candid<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> -reader that he never should have been employed as -an officer of the bank again.</p> - -<h2>THE SADDEST CHAPTER OF ALL.</h2> - -<p>I come now to the saddest and most melancholy chapter -of this history of fraud. I refer to the report recently -wrung from the commissioners in response to Mr. Muller’s -resolution, introduced in Congress February 25th, 1878. -This report, (Mis. Doc. 43, House of Representatives, -45th Congress, 2d Session,) is a very remarkable document, -and merits to be extensively read and carefully -studied. It is a remarkable document, as well for the -force in which it illustrates the blighting power of money, -the want of heart, soul, and conscience, even the better -class of mankind is afflicted with at the present day, and, -worst of all, that there is very little difference between the -men, who, in 1870, deliberately plotted to rob the bank, -and the men, who, in 1878, and under the disguise of law, -make themselves and their friends the beneficiaries of -what there is left.</p> - -<p>The following passage is quoted from this remarkable -report, to which the names of the three commissioners are -attached. It reads like a bit of exquisite satire:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“In conclusion, permit us to say that we have no knowledge -of any improper use of the funds of the company to -which reference is made in the preamble of the resolution -of the House of Representatives, except sums required for -the payment of petty expenditures and expenses incurred -by agents and deducted from their collections.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>This is a very singular statement to make to Congress, -and is false on its face. Can it be possible that these commissioners -were so deaf to public sentiment that they did<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> -not hear the criticisms made on their conduct in managing -the affairs of the bank for the last three years? Do they not -know that the atmosphere of Washington has been foul with -scandals in regard to the relations between one of the commissioners -and a well-known Washington lawyer, who was -enriching himself at the expense of the washers and scrubbers, -the very poor and the very ignorant? Do they not -know that these suspicious relations have been the talk of -the Washington bar for at least two years? Why, gentlemen -commissioners, this report of yours is, of itself, the -best proof that there was just cause for these scandals, if -such you choose to call them.</p> - -<p>I have shown that Creswell and Purvis were mere figureheads, -who pocketed their salaries with heartless regularity, -while Leipold did all the business, and was really the -Board of Commissioners. I have also shown this man -Leipold’s relations to Senator Howe, and his son-in-law, -lawyer Enoch Totten. We have now only to turn and see -what an extensive field lawyer Enoch Totten found for his -legal services, and how splendidly he improved it. Here -are some of his charges:</p> - -<table summary="The legal bill"> - <tr class="row"> - <td>January</td> - <td class="rt">20,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td>Fees, &c.,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">$22 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>March</td> - <td class="rt">1,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td>Enoch Totten, Attorney</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">34 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>March</td> - <td class="rt">20,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">13 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>April</td> - <td class="rt">7,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">12 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>April</td> - <td class="rt">13,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">11 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>May</td> - <td class="rt">10,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">23 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>May</td> - <td class="rt">28,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">500 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>June</td> - <td class="rt">25,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees, &c.)</td> - <td class="tdr">58 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>September</td> - <td class="rt">27,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">29 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>October</td> - <td class="rt">6,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">17 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>November</td> - <td class="rt">3,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">22 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="3" class="center">”</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">500 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>December</td> - <td class="rt">23,</td> - <td class="rt">1875,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">1,000 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="5"></td> - <td class="tdr total">$2,241 00</td> - </tr> - <tr class="row"> - <td><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span>March</td> - <td class="rt">11,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td>Enoch Totten, Attorney</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">$13 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>March</td> - <td class="rt">28,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">1,500 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>April</td> - <td class="rt">21,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(costs)</td> - <td class="tdr">85 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>May</td> - <td class="rt">5,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">69 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>May</td> - <td class="rt">16,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">85 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>May</td> - <td class="rt">23,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">85 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>June</td> - <td class="rt">10,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">1,886 90</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>June</td> - <td class="rt">30,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">22 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>July</td> - <td class="rt">20,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> <span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees & costs)</td> - <td class="tdr">49 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Aug’st</td> - <td class="rt">15,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td>Filing Bill in Equity</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">14 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Aug’st</td> - <td class="rt">18,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td>Attorney’s Fees</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">500 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Nov’r</td> - <td class="rt">22,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td>Attorney’s Fees</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">1,000 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Dec’r</td> - <td class="rt">11,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td>Attorney’s Costs, &c.,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">30 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Dec’r</td> - <td class="rt">22,</td> - <td class="rt">1876,</td> - <td>Attorney’s Fees</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">1,000 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="5"></td> - <td class="tdr total">$6,338 90</td> - </tr> - <tr class="row"> - <td>Jan’ry</td> - <td class="rt">10,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td>Enoch Totten,</td> - <td>(costs)</td> - <td class="tdr">$16 35</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Feb’ry</td> - <td class="rt">9,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">11 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Feb’ry</td> - <td class="rt">23,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees and costs)</td> - <td class="tdr">68 43</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>April</td> - <td class="rt">5,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(legal service)</td> - <td class="tdr">500 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>April</td> - <td class="rt">19,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(costs)</td> - <td class="tdr">12 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>May</td> - <td class="rt">5,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">500 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>May</td> - <td class="rt">17,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">25 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>May</td> - <td class="rt">31,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">150 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>June</td> - <td class="rt">30,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">10 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>July</td> - <td class="rt">5,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(attorney’s fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">500 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>July</td> - <td class="rt">13,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">125 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>July</td> - <td class="rt">19,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(attorney’s fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">60 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Sept’r</td> - <td class="rt">1,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> ”</td> - <td class="tdr">1,200 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Sept’r</td> - <td class="rt">15,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span> ”</td> - <td class="tdr">1,409 53</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Oct’br</td> - <td class="rt">18,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>Attorney</td> - <td class="tdr">25 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Nov’br</td> - <td class="rt">22,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>Attorney</td> - <td class="tdr">30 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Dec’br</td> - <td class="rt">13,</td> - <td class="rt">1877,</td> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td>(attorney’s fees)</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="5"></td> - <td class="tdr total">$4,821 21</td> - </tr> - <tr class="row"> - <td class="center" colspan="6"><i>Summary.</i></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="5">1875</td> - <td class="tdr">$2,241 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="5">1876</td> - <td class="tdr">6,338 90</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="5">1877</td> - <td class="tdr">4,821 21</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="5" class="xindent">Total</td> - <td class="tdr total">$13,401 11</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span></p> - -<p>The sad story of greed recorded in the above account of -fees is so well told as to render comment by me unnecessary. -And yet the above is by no means all lawyer Enoch -Totten got of the money of the washers and the scrubbers, -the very poor and the very ignorant. He can afford to -ride in his coach; and I hope he can sleep at night with -the self-satisfaction that he has been just and generous to -the poor freedmen who had been so cruelly robbed, and -had pocketed only what was right of their money.</p> - -<p>Not very long since, Mr. Frederick Douglas said there -were men in Washington, living in palaces, and riding in -their coaches, who were prominent in robbing his people of -their hard earnings. Mr. Douglas never told a greater -truth. I envy no man destined to carry a guilty conscience -through the world with him.</p> - -<p>To turn to this lawyer Totten, he may be eminent as a -lawyer, but I never heard of it. Nor have I ever heard -that his reputation at the Washington Bar was such as to -entitle him to excessive fees.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> I have heard of Attorney-at-Law -Totten, in connection with the “Beaufort and -Texas Prize Claim,” which, in the language of District -Attorney Wells, was one of the very worst frauds invented -to get nearly a million dollars out of the Treasury of the -United States.</p> - -<p>I am assured that the legal services rendered by Mr. -Totten, were of a very simple and commonplace kind; and -that there are at least fifty members of the Washington<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> -Bar, as good and perhaps better lawyers than Mr. Totten, -who would have gladly performed the service for one-sixth -of the amount charged.</p> - -<p>You have in the above a faint glimpse of the ways and -means by which the money of these poor, plundered people -is disappearing. And yet these well paid Commissioners, -who have proven themselves so recreant to this trust, tell -us with a coolness that challenges our credulity, that they -have “no knowledge of any improper use of the funds of -the company to which reference is made in the preamble -of the resolution of the House of Representatives.” How -very innocent these Commissioners are. Their innocence -is only equalled by Mr. Attorney-at-Law Totten’s great -respect for the money of his clients, the washers and the -scrubbers, the very poor and the very ignorant. It was -Sheridan, I believe, who said that if he wanted to find a -first-class scoundrel, heartless and soulless, he would search -for him in the legal profession. Had he lived in this age -of Christian statesmen he certainly would have improved -on that.</p> - -<h2>MORE FEES FOR LEGAL SERVICES.</h2> - -<p>Here, too, is our legal brother, John H. Cook, colored, -following modestly in the footsteps of his paler-faced brother, -Totten. John found the field open and went in and made -a goodly harvest of fees. Ordinarily, John H. Cook’s -clients are of the ten, fifteen, and twenty dollar class. -Here, however, he improved on himself, like Mr. Frederick -Douglass. John H. Cook, a member in good standing at the -Washington Bar, never forgets that he is a friend of “his -race.” I would here say, however, that I am assured by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span> -several members of the Washington Bar that Mr. Cook’s -services in behalf of the bank extended over as long a -period of time and were quite as valuable as those rendered -by Mr. Totten. A glance at the list of his charges, published -below, will at least convince the reader that he was -more modest in making up his accounts. Why the Commissioners -should have discriminated against color in this -remarkable manner is a question the reader can decide for -himself.</p> - -<p>There are other attorneys-at-law, plain and colored, who -were employed by the Commissioners, and who got fees to -a very considerable amount; but I nowhere find the name -of that eminent patriot and statesman, John Andrew -Jackson Creswell. Indeed he does not seem to have rendered -legal or any other service, notwithstanding General -Grant’s assurance that as a lawyer he would be very useful -in winding up the affairs of the bank.</p> - -<p>Here is Brother Cook’s account current for legal services. -I have omitted dates:</p> - -<table summary="The legal bill"> - <tr> - <td>John H. Cook</td> - <td class="tdr">$2 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">59 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">155 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">15 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">325 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">44 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">7 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">15 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">132 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">110 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">115 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">246 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">45 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">170 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">106 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">864 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">340 00<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">160 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">154 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">95 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">21 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">95 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">10 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">200 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">29 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">130 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">73 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">50 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="ditto">”</span></td> - <td class="tdr">25 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr total">$3,792 00</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>One of the worst features of this bad case, one which -will astonish and set the intelligent reader to thinking, will -be found in the fact that these Commissioners, whose feelings -seem blunted by avarice, again employed the man G. -W. Stickney, and in defiance of law, and I was going to -say decency itself, paid him the salary of a Commissioner. -This of itself should condemn them as unfit for their high -trust.</p> - -<p>George W. Stickney, the man who brought so much -scandal and disgrace on the bank, again employed and -paid the salary of a Commissioner! Shame! What service -this man could render, except explaining his own irregularities, -I am unable to discover.</p> - -<p>The Hon. Beverly Douglas, in his report to Congress -more than two years ago, showed us exactly what manner -of man this Stickney was. He also showed us, in language -not to be mistaken, how shamefully Stickney had abused -his trust. He showed us that Stickney had not only -allowed his friends to raid on the bank’s funds, but was -himself a debtor to it in a very considerable amount; also<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> -that he was responsible for the large and very bad loans -made to what was known as the Washington Ring.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> - -<p>I can only account for Stickney’s employment by the Commissioners -on the theory that the old Washington Ring is -still active in controlling the bank’s officials, and that the -Commissioners are more in sympathy with the men who defrauded -the bank, than the men and women who were the -victims of the fraud. In the face of all this the Commissioners -tell us again they have “no knowledge of any improper -use of the funds of the company to which reference -is made in the preamble of the resolution” (Mr. Muller’s) -“of the House of Representatives.”</p> - -<p>Why, gentlemen Commissioners, this Stickney business -has been the scandal of the town for months, and it is your -fault that you have been deaf to it.</p> - -<p>Now mark this strange admission. In a side note on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span> -page 87 of the report made in response to Mr. Muller’s -resolution, the Commissioners say, “Balance due from him -(Stickney) as late Actuary Freedmen’s Savings and Trust -Company, being paid by services.” The reader will admit -that this is a new, if not entirely novel, method of allowing -a delinquent official to discharge his indebtedness to a bank -for the savings of the poor.</p> - -<h2>THE COMMISSIONERS.</h2> - -<p>These gentlemen ask us to give them credit for, after -more than two years, paying a dividend of 10 per cent., -(making 30 per cent. in all,) and affect to regret that they -could not, indeed had not the means to make it ten more. -And yet they admit the fact that their “expense account,” -in three years, reaches the enormous sum of $179,437.20; -$62,536.22 of this was for their own salaries and the salaries -of clerks, and $23,008.92 for fees paid to favorite -lawyers. In other words, eighty-five thousand and five -hundred and forty-five dollars and fourteen cents ($85,545.14) -went into their own, and the pockets of the type -of lawyers I have described in another part of this work. -Well might Mr. Beverly Douglas exclaim: “The Commissioners -regard what there is left of this sad wreck as a -legacy for the benefit of themselves and their retainers.” -That the money is fast disappearing into their own pockets, -and that in two or three years more there will be but very -little of it left for the washers and the scrubbers, the very -poor and the very ignorant, who were so cruelly robbed, -we here have ample proof.</p> - -<p>A glance over the salary list referred to will show with -what heartless regularity these well-paid Commissioners<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> -came up to the bank’s counter on the <i>last</i> day of each -month and drew their salary. I here insert a few specimens:</p> - -<table summary="Salary list for the Commissioners"> - <tr class="row"> - <td>January 29, 1875.</td> - <td>Sundry persons by N. Y. drafts</td> - <td class="tdr">391 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>J. A. J. Creswell</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Robert Purvis</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>R. H. T. Leipold</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>George W. Stickney</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>A. M. Sperry</td> - <td class="tdr">208 33</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>G. W. Clapp</td> - <td class="tdr">116 66</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>H. S. Nyman</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>C. A. Fleetwood</td> - <td class="tdr">166 66</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>G. H. Bruce</td> - <td class="tdr">55 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>C. H. Jones</td> - <td class="tdr">70 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Henry Mason</td> - <td class="tdr">60 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>John T. Green</td> - <td class="tdr">45 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>E. A. Wheeler</td> - <td class="tdr">125 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>W. E. Augusta</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>A. F. Hill</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>D. A. Ritter</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr total">$2,637 65</td> - </tr> - <tr class="row"> - <td>February 27, 1875.</td> - <td>John A. J. Creswell</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Robert Purvis</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>R. H. T. Leipold</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>George W. Stickney</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>A. M. Sperry</td> - <td class="tdr">208 33</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>G. W. Clapp</td> - <td class="tdr">116 66</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>H. S. Nyman</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>C. A. Fleetwood</td> - <td class="tdr">116 66</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>C. H. Jones</td> - <td class="tdr">70 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>G. H. Bruce</td> - <td class="tdr">55 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Henry Mason</td> - <td class="tdr">60 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>John T. Green</td> - <td class="tdr">45 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>E. A. Wheeler</td> - <td class="tdr">125 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>W. E. Augusta</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>A. F. Hill</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr total">$2,096 65</td> - </tr> - <tr class="row"> - <td><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span>March 29, 1875.</td> - <td>John A. J. Creswell</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>R. H. T. Leipold</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>George W. Stickney</td> - <td class="tdr">250 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>G. W. Clapp</td> - <td class="tdr">116 66</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>H. S. Nyman</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>C. A. Fleetwood</td> - <td class="tdr">116 66</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>C. H. Jones</td> - <td class="tdr">70 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>G. H. Bruce</td> - <td class="tdr">55 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Henry Mason</td> - <td class="tdr">60 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>John T. Green</td> - <td class="tdr">45 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>E. A. Wheeler</td> - <td class="tdr">125 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>W. E. Augusta</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>A. F. Hill</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>Horace Morris</td> - <td class="tdr">100 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td>New York drafts for agents</td> - <td class="tdr">256 00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr total">$1,994 32</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>The wonder is that Creswell and Leipold did not ask us to -credit them with generous intentions for not waiting until -the first day of each month. These worthy gentlemen, so -true to themselves, are Republicans, holding front seats in -the church of Christian statesmen; they are loud to preach -and strong to pray, and they thank God of a Sunday that -they are not as other men. And yet amidst all the suffering -and distress, all the poverty and want, the class of -poor robbed by the officials of this bank here in Washington -have been afflicted with for the past two winters, -and which the good and the generous so worthily came -forward to relieve, it does not seem for once to have occurred -to these Commissioners, who were enriching themselves -on the money of the washers and scrubbers, that -even one month’s salary would have purchased fuel and -bread enough to feed a thousand starving and shivering -families for a month. There is no charity on that side of -Mr. John Andrew Jackson Creswell’s ledger. He is deaf<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> -and dumb when humanity speaks. His name is not down -in charity’s album; at least I have not seen it there. -Nor have I seen Leipold’s mite recorded. And I am -sure Attorney-at-law Totten would regard it as a libel on -his reputation to be accused of giving for charity’s sake.</p> - -<p>Let me end this sad story by saying that I want no better -proof of the prudence, docility, and deference of the negro -race to the white man than the fact that they did not rise -up and take summary vengeance of the scoundrels who -so cruelly robbed them of their hard earnings.</p> - -<p>I have shown:</p> - -<p class="hanging">First: That the Freedmen’s Bank, like the Freedmen’s -Bureau, was an offspring of the Republican party.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Second: That its managers were Republicans of the most -radical type, from O. O. Howard down to ex-Senator -Pomeroy; and from Pomeroy down to G. W. -Stickney.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Third: That the men who invented the diabolical plot to -rob the bank, and did rob it, were not only Republicans -holding front seats in its political tabernacle, -but friends and associates of ex-President Grant.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Fourth: That the Commissioners, who have so shamefully -neglected their trust, were high-church Republicans, -one of them an ex-member of Grant’s cabinet.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Fifth: That with the single exception of Vice-President -Wilson, not a Republican, high or low, in or out of -Congress, has raised a hand or voice against the -robbers, or come to the defense of the poor negroes -who were being so cruelly robbed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span></p> - -<p class="hanging">Sixth: That Republicans have, with the single exception -I have named, invariably apologized for and defended -the robbers.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Seventh: That the thoughtful reader will agree with me -that there is a meaner and more despicable class of -theft than that which applies to chicken-roosts.</p> - -<p class="hanging">Eighth: That the men guilty of this robbery are all well -known; that the most prominent of them, to use -the language of Mr. Frederick Douglass, “live in -palaces and ride in coaches,” and yet Justice has -not laid even its most dainty finger on them.</p> - -<p>It now remains for Congress to assert its prerogative, to -rise up and wipe out this abomination, to put a stop to a -scandal that has become national, and place the winding -up of the affairs of the bank under the Secretary of War, -with authority to appoint a competent officer to perform -the duty, to the end of saving what there is left of the -wreck to the poor victims of this cruel robbery, instead of -having it pass into the pockets of the Commissioners and -their legal retainers. We all know and appreciate the -prompt, honest, and economical way in which Adjutant -General Vincent brought the affairs of the Freedmen’s Bureau -to a close, and exposed the canting hypocrites who -had grown rich by pocketing the colored man’s bounties. -We want just such a faithful and efficient officer to wind -up the affairs of the Freedmen’s Bank.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> My old friend, General Spinner, can further enlighten the -reader on Leipold’s fitness for a commissioner to wind up the -affairs of the Freedmen’s Bank.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Since writing this, one S. A. Peugh, a Claim and Pension -Agent, was convicted by a jury of this District for taking an excessive -fee. Compared with Attorney-at-Law Totten’s charges, -his fee was extremely moderate.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Mr. Johnson, the Auditor, to whom the Court referred for -adjustment certain accounts of the Freedmen’s Bank, has just furnished -me with the following statements:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>In the case of Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Company <i>vs.</i> -Abbott Paving Company, No. 4465, found balance due the bank, -$63,890.80.</p> - -<p>To meet this there is on hand, in depreciated and worthless -securities, $44,165.67.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Co.</span> <i>vs.</i> -<span class="smcap">Vandenburgh</span>. No. 4463.</p> - -<p>Found balance due the bank, $85,372.64.</p> - -<p>Securities on hand to meet this, depreciated and worthless -$75,208.21.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Stickney’s shameful and criminal mismanagement is forcibly -told in the above. If we had a Tweed to tell us the true inwardness -of the Abbott Paving Company, and the men behind its -scenes, the story would be doubly interesting.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Washers and Scrubbers: The Men Who -Robbed Them, by F. C. 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