| From the Richmond Daily Dispatch |
| |
| January 29, 1863 |
| |
| Transportation on Government account |
| The Grand Jury of the G. S.
Court at Mobile recently made a presentment on the subject of abuses
by Government officers of the transportation facilities
placed at their command, from the positions they hold. In the
presentment it was charged that Mr. George B. Clitherall, of Mobile,
had obtained a permit from Maj. Ashe, Chief of Transportation,
for the transportation of "public
supplies," and perverted it to the carriage of private goods. It
seems that no permit was given to Mr. C. at all, but that he was
acting as a salaried agent for J. E. Powell, of Montgomery, to whom
Major A. had given a letter requesting the Quartermaster at New Orleans
to permit Powell to ship goods when it did not interfere with the
Government shipments. The following is an extract from a letter of Mr.
Powell to Mr. Clitherall explaining the whole communication of the
latter with the affair: |
| "Your services as my
agent commenced on the 1st of July, 1862, at a fine salary, previously
agreed upon by us; immediately, therefore, on the receipt of the
above, (the permit of Major Ashe,) I telegraphed you to come here, and
on your arrival placed this letter in your hands. It was the first
knowledge you had of its existence, and you certainly had as little to
do with procuring it as the Grand Jury itself. You arrived and left
here on the same day; our interview was very short, and I remember
that I did not explain to you the purposes to which any freight of
mine were to be applied, but simply directed you, as my agent, to
forward such articles as I might purchase in New Orleans to Mobile,
using for that purpose the above letter of Major Ashe, and the power of
attorney constituting you my agent" |
| Mr. Clitherall in a card
defending himself from the aspersions made by the presentment of the
jury, publishes a letter from the President of the Mississippi
railroad, showing that he had never represented himself as a
Government agent, nor the shipments as being for the Government, but
had expressly disclaimed both assumptions. During the period that this
transportation was going on some of the
goods were seized by Government officials, and the entire matter
underwent a rigid investigation by the War Department, which resulted
in the release of the goods, and the consequent exoneration of the
parties from any improper action in the affair whatever. |
| Having published the
presentment of the jury, we publish the above statement as a matter of
justice to the gentlemen named in that document. |
|