National Republican., 1874-07-02
EoHaERrRs DISCO KEREp.
FALsE CERTIFICATES ENTERED m
( IN THE CoMPTRoLLER's OFFICE

false CERTIFICATES ENTERED m
IN THE CoMPTRoLLER's OFFICE
FIREMEN's AND POLICE PAY GONE.
For more than q week past rumors have
been in circulation that discovery had been
made Of forged orders for certificates Of pay
due policemen and members Of the fire depart
ment, on which forged orders csrtihcates had
been issued, and In connection with which
| and business firms were mentioned as taking
an important part m the affair. On trseing
down the rumors and making partial inVestt-
CATION into the repoKt it was found that tho
Iumors were based upon facts, although the
amount involved m the forgeries viii be much
less than was at first supposed. Both the
PcaiSs and fire departments were formerly paid
OF by authorized officials connected with those
departments, respectively, until December !,
1878, when the pay rolls were transferred 70
the Office of the conptrOllet for settlement,
aimee which time that officer has performed
| the duty of paymaster. Since the scarcity Of
money many Of the members of both depart
ments have accepted certificates Of indebted
ness issued by the comptroller, which have
bean negotiated by them outside. Recently
the discovery has been made that series Of
forgeries have been committed upon this Office,
which were brought to light by accident, and
In this manner: Fireman Henry Steele made
application for his pay on q certificate for De-
cember, 1873, and was informed that he had
already been allowed 1t, which Steele denied,
and thereupon he was shown the following,
which he pronounced forgery so far as his
signature was concerned 10 come stion with it.
Gee 3. Baker:
Pay to the order of Thos. B. Warrick sixty
dollars, month December, 1873, value received,
and charge to account of Fire Department.
TSiOned1 n STEELE
This was iudorsed by Thos. B. WGrrick and
H. Steele, the name of the latter being crossed
out with an ink mark. Another one, dated
March "a, was soon after received, written Dy
the same hand, for the same amount, payable
to the order of T. B. Warrick, for pay for the
month Of November, 1873, and signed by j.
D. Angel, another fireman, of No. company,
Georgetown; another for four months pay on
Samuel Dawes, and one for one months pay
on F. H. Myers, also fireman, followed, and
were received by the comptroller. Altogether,
among the f1remen, 1t is pretty definitely ascer-
tanned that the sums for which certificates on
forged orders have been issued will not exceed
81 200 or 81 800.
The extent of the forged certificates on the
police psy-rolls has not been definitely ascer-
tanned, but it is thought not to be very great.
Some have, however, been discovered.
The reason for making the transfer Of these
pay-Tolls TO the eomptroller's Office was on the
score Of economy, as by it the offices Of secre-
tary and treasurer to the boards named could
be and were abolished.
There are thirteen months pay due the fire.
men, and it is unknown how much of this
amount has been paid in certificates, as above
cited, but it is thought that on the settlement
of the accounts more forgeries Of a similar
nature will be discovered.
Information of what had transpired was fur
nished to Chief Claryoe, who assigned the
working-Up of the case to Detectives McEl-
fresh and Sargent, who have traced the deed
to its authors, which is said to implicate clerk
in the building and some ell-known persons
outside. It has been thought strange that the
comptroller does not bring criminal action
against the suspected parties, who are as well
known to him as to the detectives, but offers as
o reason for not doing so that he desired to
confer with counsel before taking such step,
and that gentleman was at the present time
absent from the city. 1t is highly probable that
he will not be waited for, and that the sus-
pected parties will be arrested and placed on
trial as soon as possible.