referred by him to one of his subordinates. With this man I made an arrangement for a conference under a certain cedar tree in the eastern part of the Smithsonian Institution grounds, at nine o'clock in the evening.
This man and his father were printers in the bureau, and were confederates in the dishonest practices that were going on, by which the government was defrauded of immense sums, and by which immense quantities of bogus notes and bonds were foisted on the public. One of these men had a mistress, who was employed to do some work about the printing presses. This woman conveyed the electrotype duplicates of the plates to parties outside, and performed other services of a similar character, for which she was paid handsomely.
A Secret Conference under a Cedar Tree.
Some time before the appointed hour I strolled into the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution, and after finding the cedar tree, hid myself in some bushes near by, not being at all certain that some trick would not be played upon me; for it occurred to me that perhaps these people might not fancy my having anything to do with the matters we were negotiating about, and would take a notion to have me put out of the way in some manner.
My apprehensions, however, were groundless, for I had approached them in such a manner that they were compelled to trust me, whether they wanted to or not ; and their only idea was, with the assistance of myself and associates, to make the grandest haul on the treasury that had ever yet been attempted.
Ere a great while I heard footsteps approaching, and presently some one coughed in a significant manner, which I interpreted as a .signal for me. I accordingly looked out from my hiding-place, and saw the man I was expecting. Having assured myself that he was alone, I went up to him, and said,
"Good evening."
"You are here, are you?" said he.
"Yes, I am always punctual on business ; punctuality is the road to wealth."
We then sat down together on the grass to arrange our plans.
The scheme I had to propose was quite a modest one, all things taken into consideration. It was, that I, as receiver
