62 THE FREEDMEN’S SAVINGS BANK 
removed, and a Negro put in his place. The latter 
discovered that Cory had embezzled about 
$10,000 of the deposits, and had him prosecuted 
in the state courts of Georgia, where he was 
sentenced to four years in prison—the only 
accused person connected with the Freedmen’s 
Bank who was ever punished. Cory finally made 
a compromise: The prosecution was to allow him 
to be pardoned in order to accept an appoint- 
ment as Indian agent out West, and from the 
proceeds of this office he promised to repay what 
he had stolen. Hamilton, the Lexington em- 
bezzler, was also allowed to accept an Indian 
agency." The headquarters officials testified in 
later years that when attempts were made to 
punish defaulting cashiers it was difficult to 
secure a conviction in the local courts. 
The cashiers taken over from the Freedmen’s 
Bureau gave more than a fair proportion of the 
trouble. The two in Alabama were typical. At 
Mobile the cashier, C. A. Woodward, was 
charged with appropriating to his own use $3,375 
which, he stated, the Freedmen’s Bureau owed 
to him. At Montgomery, Edwin Beecher, the 
cashier, made investments, contrary to regula- 
tions, of about $20,000 in securities that proved 
to be valueless, and for several years afterwards 
carried a shortage of $18,000 on his books. Fi- 
nally the headquarters authorities secured a bond 
from him and sold him the business, but he 
failed and the amount of the bond was not 
collected. 
The Beaufort branch was on a peculiar basis, 
Douglas Report, pp. 2, 4, 25, 71, 77, 78, 260; Bruce Report, p. 31.