Washington D.C.

Feb. 7^th, 1876.

Hon. Frederick Douglass,

Sir:

I hope that you will pardon me for addressing you upon a subject with which you, personally, have nothing to do; but as I am "doing as I would be done by" I shall venture to state some facts that cannot fail to arrest your attention, at least, and if you choose to take no action in this matter there will be no harm done, and I shall have the satisfaction of feeling that I have performed one of my duties in the case before taking any other action.

In 1873 your son (C. R. Douglass)Douglass, Charles Remond

Charles Remond Douglass (1844–1920), named after the abolitionist Charles Remond, was the youngest of Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass’s sons. He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, and, like his brothers, was both educated in Rochester and trained by his father in the newspaper office. Like Lewis H. Douglass, Charles enlisted in the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War, but mainly served with the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment, where he was promoted to the rank of first sergeant. After the war, Charles settled in Washington, D.C., and found employment first as a clerk in the Freedmen’s Bureau (1867–69) and later in the Treasury Department (1869–75). After his father purchased the in 1870, Charles acted as a correspondent for the newspaper. In 1871 he served as a clerk to the Santo Domingo Commission, and President Ulysses S. Grant later appointed him consul to Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo. From 1875 to 1879 he was a clerk in the U.S. consulate in Santo Domingo. Returning to the United States in 1879, he entered the West Indies import-export business while living in Corona, New York. In 1882, Charles moved back to Washington, D.C., and took a job as an examiner in the Pension Bureau. He remained there until 1892, when he entered the real estate business. Douglass Papers, ser. 2, 3:860; Douglass Papers, ser. 3, 1:126; McFeely, Frederick Douglass, 239, 257–58, 272; EAAH , 1: 407–08. was a clerk, with me, in the 3rd. Auditor's Office, Treasury Dept. and he asked me if I would purchase a School Order, saying that one of the teachers wanted to bill for less than the face of the order &c. &c. I handed him the money and the next morning he brought me an order of W. H. Bishop for three months pay amounting to $225.00.

Mr. Douglass endorsed the order as accepted by him, as Treasurer of the County School Board, and assured me that it was all safe and right.

The 1^st of Sept. he paid me $75 on said order, and endorsed the amount on the back. In July 1874, he asked for the order to file with the comptroller of the district to enable him to draw the money.

I took his receipt for the order, which I still hold.

In the mean time he (C. K. Douglass) had paid, short $25. For one month, Miss E. A. Miller, (my Sister in law, who lives in my family) claiming that he had not received enough to pay all the teachers, and that the remaining $25.00 would be forthcoming very soon.

I often questioned him about the money due to us and he always stated that it had not been paid to him, and assured me that we would get it soon as there was $300.00 due to him, as salary, and that he was pushing the matter, and that we would all be paid at once.

He left the Treasury Dept. in July 1875 and went to N. Y. without letting me know of it, and when I found out that he had left the city I went, at once to the Auditor of the District, and learned that the money due to myself and Miss Miller had been drawn long before and that he (Mr. Douglass) had no claim pending

for salary, or anything else.

About that time I received a letter from him stating that he was coming to Washington and would call and see me: He called and went with me to the Office of the Auditor and Comptroller of the District, but he could find no papers which he claimed he had filed there, or that there was anything due to him or us, and after I had stated to him the facts and my convictions he agreed to pay to me $150.00 the amount due on the Bishop order and $25.00 for Miss Miller, making $175.00 in all, the amount actually due to us.

He stated that he could not obtain the money then, but would pay in monthly installments after reaching Santo Domingo.

We visited the State Dept. and was referred to the 5^th Auditors Office Treasury Dept. where he (Mr. Douglass) drew up an agreement, which he signed as Counsul to Puerto Platta, agreeing to transmit, in monthly installments to the Disbursing Clerk of that office, $175.00 to be paid to me, and the said document was taken charge of by said Clerk, and is now in the safe of that office.

In Oct., last, there was received at that office a letter from Douglass,

(which letter was read to me,) stating that it would be impossible for him to forward any money, that month, for my benefit, and he gave his reasons, and stated that the following month he would remit according to agreement, but up to this time he has failed to forward the first cent toward liquidating the debt, and as I lost my right arm (in the Union army) the amount of money involved is of considerable importance to me, and of course I shall leave no stone unturned that I might think would assist me in getting it.

If it is the money that I want, and nothing else, and I have stated the case to you (his father) as plainly and briefly as I could and if you wish any further information,I will most willingly see you, anytime, (outside of office hours) that would suit your convenience.

I shall wait a reasonable time for an answer from you, hoping that you had rather pay the $175.00 which is honestly and justly due to us, than to know that we have been defrauded of our money, and that your son is liable to suffer from our endeavors to get it, and the publicity of the facts that will naturally follow.

Very respectfully,

W. B. Shaw

3^rd Auditor's Office

Washington D.C.