The $1,500 Hole in Clallam County's Books
A second look at Clallam County's accounts turned up altered figures, a $1,500 shortage and bondsmen who refused to keep paying. The treasurer was arrested.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Port Angeles, Jan. 25.—Special.—The auditor and his deputy have spent the past two days examining the books of the ex-treasurer, and what points to an additional shortage of $1,500 has been discovered. One shortage was found in the collection register, where incorrect footings had been made; in nearly every instance the error occurs in the hundreds. Upon closer examination it was found that an erasure had been made and figures changed, which indicates that this method was adopted to conceal the shortage.
The bondsmen are greatly troubled over the manner in which the sum for which they may be held liable is rolling up, and say they will not pay any more of the defalcation. The bondsmen are D. W. Morse, Samuel McLangs, Levy and Frank Chambers, among others. If the county succeeds in obtaining judgment against them it will be against their personal property and will not affect the community; their wives did not sign the bonds.
The treasurer is getting the various accounts in shape, as warrants have not been issued in their regular order and the funds are overdrawn. He concealed his shortage each month by holding back his monthly report to the county commissioners until he had collected enough money during the month to cover the defalcation, then filed a statement showing his accounts balanced. The auditor and deputy have simply been checking up the various accounts, and further discoveries are likely.
He was arrested this afternoon on a complaint filed in Judge Brewster's court by Prosecuting Attorney Stewart, and after examination was bound over before the superior court. He has been unable to secure bail and is in custody.
“Upon closer examination it was found that an erasure had been made and figures changed, which indicates that this method was adopted to conceal the shortage.”
In 1895 a county treasurer could apparently cover monthly shortfalls by delaying reports and juggling accounts. The public's money, the bondsmen's liability and the question of who audits whom are still the stuff of local-government headlines.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.