A Massive Accounting Deficit at City Hall
Former City Treasurer Isaac Parker is found liable for over $11,000 in missing public funds following a years-long legal effort by the city.
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.
Following immediately upon the satisfactory settlement of ex-City Treasurer Krug's defalcation, comes the important announcement that the city will likely recover a fair share of money for the deficiency discovered in the accounts of ex-City Treasurer Isaac Parker. When Parker, who was treasurer from July 1890 to July 1892, went out of office, his successor discovered it was impossible to obtain correct balances. Isaac Parker admitted his inability to make his accounts agree, and also admitted that there was due the city between $7,000 and $8,000. The city authorities refused to agree to the proposal and suit was instituted against Parker and his sureties. The enormous task of going through the books was continued during the summer of 1893. The referee finds that Isaac Parker owed the city $11,312.46 when he went out of office. A meeting of bondsmen with their counsel will probably be held on Monday or Tuesday. If they decide to accept the award the city will with little delay be put in possession of about $11,342, and the old books can be balanced.
“The enormous task of going through the books was continued during the summer of 1893.”
Public corruption and municipal accounting errors were systemic problems during Seattle's Gilded Age boom. It highlights the early struggle to establish transparency in a rapidly growing city where local government funds were often treated with alarming casualness by those in power.
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