No. 12.

[In the margin: No. 976.-Completing the public buildings in Wiskonsan.-$1,758 83.]

To James D. Doty, late treasurer of the board of commissioners, for erecting public buildings in Wiskonsan Territory:

At sight, pay to William Selden, Treasurer of the United States, or order, for the use of the said States, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight dollars and thirty-eight cents, out of moneys heretofore advanced to you, under the act of Congress approved June the 18th, 1838, entitled "An act making an appropriation for completing the public buildings in Wiskonsan ;" and, for so doing, this shall be your warrant. Given under my hand and the seal of the Treasury, this thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fortyone, and of independence the sixty-fifth.

Countersigned:

Recorded:

T. EWING, Secretary of the Treasury.

W. FORWARD,
Comptroller.

T. L. SMITH, Register.

26, 1841

Deposite in the office of the Treasurer of the United States April

No. 82,589.

No. 13.

TREASURY Departmeft,

First Auditor's Office, September 15, 1841.

I hereby certify that I have examined and adjusted an account between the United States and James D. Doty, late treasurer of the board of commissioners for erecting public buildings in Wiskonsan Territory, and find that he is chargeable on said account to this sum, being part of $40,000 heretofore advanced to him, and for which he has been credited, per report No. 81,642 $1,758 38

I also find that he is entitled to credit on said account by amount of warrant No. 976, dated 30th June, 1841, in favor of the Treasurer of the United States, per statement $1,758 38 As appears from the statement and vouchers herewith transmitted for the decision of the Comptroller of the Treasury thereon.

J. MILLER, First Auditor.

JAMES N. BARKER, Esq.,

Comptroller of the Treasury.

COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE.

I admit and certify the above balance this 16th day of September, 1841. J. N. BARKER, Acting Comptroller.

THOMAS L. SMITH, Esq., Register.

No. 14.

MADISON, August 10, 1841.

SIR: There is a report, which is current in this Territory, that the Hon. James D. Doty has deposited with the Secretary of the United States Treasury a certain sum of money, being a balance of an appropriation made by Congress for the erection of a capitol, and unexpended.

By the fifth section of an act, entitled "An act to provide for the completion of the capitol at Madison," passed by the Legislative Assembly of this Territory, and approved February 19, 1841, that money is to be paid into the treasury of this Territory.

The object of this is to ascertain whether the money above alluded to has been received by you, and, if so, on what authority it will be paid to the Territory.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. S. REAM.

Hon. THOMAS EWING,

Treasurer of the Territory of Wiskonsan.

Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.

No. 15.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, August 28, 1841.

SIR: Your letter of the 10th instant was duly received. In answer to that portion of it respecting the amount of money paid into the Treasury by Hon. J. D. Doty, of the appropriation placed in his hands, I am informed by the Register that he has paid therein the sum of $1,758 38. The First Auditor, to whom your letter has been referred, will inform you how the money can be drawn from the Treasury.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
T. EWING,

R. S. REAM, Esq.,

Treasurer Wiskonsan Territory.

Secretary of the Treasury.

No. 16.

TREASURY DEFARTMENT, August 31, 1841.

SIR Herewith I transmit you the reply of the First Auditor to that portion of your letter asking how certain moneys therein mentioned can be drawn from the Treasury.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. S. REAM, Esq.,

T. EWING, Secretary of the Treasury.

Treasurer Wiskonsan Territory.

to which he alone was entitled under the contract, and urges that credit be now given to him.

The case having been referred to C. K. Gardner, Auditor, for information why the same should not be granted, the following reasons against the claim are assigned by him: "That the principal pay clerk has, on his pay book, the quarterly amount of pay under this contract entered to the credit of James Reeside, and that the known fidelity of that officer precludes the idea that he made the entry without sufficient authority." He then infers that Mr. Fuller acquiesced, from the fact that he was frequently at the Department subsequently to his contract, and made no claim until the year 1836, and from his.known connexion with Mr. Reeside in the management of extensive mail contracts in Georgia.

Mr. Fuller, under oath, denies that he ever gave authority to any one to place, or to have placed, the amount due him under this contract to the credit of Reeside, and that he was in Washington but once during the year 1834, and not at all in the year 1835.

The Auditor's statement is accompanied by one from Mr. Suter, in which it is alleged that the pay on the route in question was ordered to be made to Reeside from the commencement of the contract, but whether by verbal or written direction, he says, does not appear. Mr. Suter does not state by whom the order was given.

The Auditor considers the matter adjudicated, and remarks that to open the accounts of contractors, settled under the authority preceding the establishment of his office, would unsettle some of the largest accounts for transportation.

No. 4.

AUDITOR'S OFFICE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,

December 22, 1841.

SIR: To comply with your request to communicate information relative to the payment of money to James Reeside, on a contract in the name of William Fuller, in Georgia, for route 2,358, in the year 1834, I addressed several inquiries to Mr. Suter, principal pay clerk in this office, which I herewith transmit to you with his answer. Most sincerely yours,

Hon. C. A. WICKLIFFE, Postmaster General.

E. WHITTLESEY.

No. 5.

AUDITOR'S OFFICE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
December 18, 1841.

SIR The Postmaster General has called upon me for information in relation to the subject of a claim formerly made and now renewed by William Fuller, for the pay which accrued upon the route standing under contract (No. 2,358) in his name, from Augusta to Savannah, in the year 1834, but which pay was received at the time by James Reeside. I have therefore to request a statement from you upon the following points.

1. Were you principal pay clerk during the period of said contract, and for how long prior thereto ?

2. Were you in the practice of keeping a pay list or register, taken from the contracts of the quarterly pay accruing to contractors, and of crediting from that book from time to time into the legers the pay accruing to said contractors?

3. Did you in any instances enter in the said pay list the pay accruing on the contracts as payable to other persons than the persons whose names appeared in the contracts? State the practice or usage of the department in this respect during your employment in the department previous to the reorganization, and so far as you may be acquainted with it prior to your said employment.

4. Were there other instances in which Mr. Reeside was credited in whole or in part for the pay on contracts executed with other persons, or in which other persons have been credited with pay of contracts executed by him?

. 5. State the circumstances under which the pay was entered for the contract in Mr. Fuller's name as payable to Reeside, including any facts which may induce a belief that the parties were aware of such arrangement and acquiesced in it.?

6. Have any other cases than Mr. Fuller's occurred, that you are aware of, of claims made after the expiration of the contract in opposition to such entries?

7. What was the amount of pay on the contract in question, and how long was it, after the expiration thereof, before Mr. Fuller made any claim? 8. State whether there was any connexion, and what, and how long prior, or during the contract between Messrs. Fuller and Reeside, whether as agent or partners, and any transactions or correspondence with the Department, the one for the other, in relation to the contract in question, or others indicative of such connexion.

9. Was any money paid by the Department, or drafts issued for account of Mr. Reeside, sent to Mr. Fuller during or subsequent to the contract in question, or were there any drafts of Mr. Reeside accepted by the Department, whether paid or otherwise, which appear to have passed into his hands?

SIR In reply to yours of the 18th inst., I submit the following answers to the interrogatories therein :

1. I was principal pay clerk during the year 1834, and had been in charge of the pay office from December, 1823.

2. When I took charge of the pay office, I found a pay list of contractors' quarterly pay, which was made up from their contracts and the orders of the Postmaster General, which list I continued to keep until July, 1836. From this book the credits accruing quarterly were first journalized, and then posted in the legers.

3. It was the practice of the Department, from the time I took charge of the pay office, and before, to make transfers of pay, accruing on contracts, in accordance with the directions of contractors, expressed in writing and verbally.

4. Under the contract of Reeside and Moore to carry the mail from Hagerstown to Wheeling from 1st January, 1824, to 31st December, 1827, the pay was divided, from commencement of contract, among the following persons: Joseph Boyd, James Reeside, Jacob Sides, and Daniel Moore.

Under the contract of Stockton and Reeside to carry the mail from Baltimore to Wheeling from 1st January, 1828, to 31st December, 1831, the pay was divided among the following persons: R. C. Stockton, Jos. Boyd, James Reeside, L. W. Stockton, and Moore and Sims.

Uunder contracts for various routes in Pennsylvania and Maryland from 1st January, 1832, to 31st December, 1835, made by Reeside, Peters, and others, the pay was divided under verbal directions, to suit parties to the contracts, embracing some not named therein.

5. The circumstances under which the pay for the route from Augaust to Savannah was entered for the contract in Mr. Fuller's name as paya. ble to Reeside are not recollected; but the impression on my mind is, that it was made in conformity to written directions, which were burnt in the conflagration of the Post Office building.

6. No other case than Mr. Fuller's presents itself to my recollection of a claim made after the expiration of a contract in opposition to an entry of transfer on the pay

list.

7. The pay on the original contract was $4,000 per annum. From 21st February, 1834, an allowance of $4,000 per annum, additional, was made for carrying the mail daily, instead of three times a week. The first application for pay on this route, recollected to have been made by Mr. Fuller, was some time in theyear 1836.

8. Mr. Fuller was spoken of and referred to by Mr. Reeside for two or three years previous to the contract of Fuller as his agent in Georgia for the management of his contracts; but I do not recollect of his having been mentioned as a partner of his, until the reference to the name of the firm of Reeside & Fuller on the bond. At the recent trial at Philadelphia, a letter addressed to the Department, signed James Reeside, was produced in evidence, and objected to by his counsel as not being his signa ture which Mr. Reeside admitted to be correct, it being the writing of Mr. Fuller, who was authorized to sign his name.

9. No money was paid to Mr. Fuller by the Department, other than three small drafts on postmasters on route No. 2,358, amounting to fortyfive dollars, which were forwarded to him for collection at the instance of Mr. Reeside; no draft of Mr. Reeside, accepted by the Department, is known to have passed into the hands of Mr. Fuller, excepting one dated April 18, 1835, to order, payable January 1, 1836, for $5,000, which was presented for payment endorsed as follows: "Jas. Reeside-[Reeside, Fuller, Saltmarsh & co.-John McLean-William Fuller]-pay to H. Baldwin, Esq., cashier, or order, [Daniel S. Rowe, cashier.] Augusta, Ga.-Pay G. Thomas, Esq., cashier. [H. Baldwin, cashier."]

The names in brackets are erasures, as noted in a copy of the draft on record in this office.

E. WHITTLESEY, Auditor.

Very respectfully,

JOHN SUTER, Principal Pay Clerk.