National Republican., 1874-05-29

: Aso t3perfntcndeut OF o33c89uleut5. Keeps Q
Z ngulAr account 1of moneys that be pays over
: TO Mr.. Nsgruder, of all descriptions; the bal
, anco of the money that he hss In his hands, as
, the result OF these bonds, things of that kind
that n, they are put there by law. Hegets
) possession Of them. I do not know Of any SC
count that Is kept that would enable you at
, once to determine whether his accounts are ac-
curate or not, but have no doubt OF it from
, my knowledge In regard to the matter and ths
man.
D Q. You do not approve of the manner in
which this thing has been done, If understand
youi A. No, SIR; IL LEFT to me, should have
endeavored TO have had Q different arrange
ment, certainly; i should have endeayored to
have had different arrangement, so that
there could be no doubt about anything, and
where you could lay your hand upon ANYTHING
in moment; where could take you to the
books and you could see exactly how the last
] settlement was and everything In regard to it.
Q. Were you aware of the fact that Mr.. Ma
| gruder's checks upon the bank do not at all
correspond with the charges that he has made
against himself In the reports that he has made
with the board from time to timef A. No, sir.
Q. You were not aware Of thati 4. No, SIR
Q. Were you aware that in order to get at
! the items for which any check was issued, it
was necessary to 60 into an examination of o
lot of vouchersl A. Well, do not know how
case of that kind could arise unless some
question originated in regard to the payment
OF check and then It came before the board
The board would have to investigate the mat
ter in order to determine.
4 Q. Were you aware that Mr.. Magruder was
i presenting his reports to the board in that
j way-keeping his accounts in that way and
presenting his reports in that way to the board!
A. never suspected anything wrong, nor do I.
Q. am not asking you, sir, as to any .sus-
picions; 1 do not suppose you did, but were you
aware of the fact that he was keeping his ac-
4 cOunfe in that yrav1 A No
aware of the fact. I do not know how should
have ascertained unless had instituted an in
vestigation myself Individually into the mat
| ter.
By Mr.. Bass: Q. There was check drawn
July Is, 1873, for S50, 900 to the order of L. 8.
| Fflbert. That is one case. If you take the re-
port of the Board of Public Works for 1873 you
will not find under the date Of July Is, or az
any time thereafter. any entry made of any
such expenditure Of money as $4,000. Or take
another case, as I understand, as stated by
Colonel Magruder, and understand he has
the check here this morning that that $4,000
| purports to have been paid in bonds and there
fore there Il no entry whatever of that, as l un-
| derstand it, In his account.
| Mr.: Magruder. o, yes, there is, Mr.. Bass.
Just let me explain.
Mr.. Bass. ITO the witness.) Would you
know, Doctor, where to find in his published
| report statement of such transaction as
i L
never examined his published report and do
] not know anything about the auditors Office or
/ the manner of conducting his business at all.
The whole subject has been subject of con-
versation between Mr.. Willard and myself in
regard to matters there and what we contem-
plated doing, and hoped to accomplish in the
i course of time. should think that Mr.. Ma
| gruder would be able to show some charge cor
responding with the check.
Mr.. Stewart. His explanation of il is this:
he says that for instance he wants to pay of q
dozen certificates that have been Issued
| Mr.. Bass. That is not this case.
Mr.. Stewart. Well, for instance, he draws a
check for $4,000; that is the gross sum; drawn
| to A. B.; then, when they send it up in tie re-
ports here, we do not see anything of that
check; but he takes that, and then, with the
money, he pays the certificates that are out.
Those certificates are entered in the items of
the report. ITO the witness,J How would
you remedy that SO that both transactions
would appear; under your plan, how would
| both transactions appear; would it not be ar
ranged BY having cash aecount-s book that
showed his cash ascount every dayi A. think
that everybody ought to have cash account
that has any great extent of business.
Q. Have you ever seen any cash account
A. have not examined Mr.. Msgruder's ac-
count at all; do not know anything about it.
Mr.. Hamilton. / suppose a cash and ceFtif-
cate account would settle the whole thing.
By the Chairman: Q. want to ask you a
| question. Do you think that q member of the
Board of Public Works should be It's treasurer
| A. Well, sir, should think it would be much
better for him not to be- think 1t would be a
great deal better. I think we have other mat
ters there to occupy our attention without
deyoting It to that.
Q. Do you hot think that the treasurer ought
to be an officer subordinate to the board, and
subject to its dircctionf A. Entirely 80; yes,
sir; 1 think so.
Q. The auditor is not member of the boardi
A. No, sir.
BY Mr.. Wilson: O. Were YOU aware that
anything of this kind, which has just been
handed to me this moment, and never saw it
before, was going on in the Board of Public
Worksi Here is paper, dated
''WAsHISGLoN, d. c., Feb. 7, ls73.
''The Board Of Public Works to IOhH o.. Evans,
ITO s7os feet SluestOne tagging ct IS cents per
On the left-hand corner of ii is this indorse-
ment in pencil:
issue certificate. JAMES A. MAeRupER,
Treasurer Board Of Public Works"
Then on the back of it is this Endorsement:
Audited for 81, 1866, bluestone Tagging for
Board of Public Works. Received February
II, 1879 certificate No. 734, for s.. 1885 IS, the
amount of that account. 4. Well, sir, do
saction. My answer to that is this: The audi
tor was not compelled-it was no part of his
duty, to regard what the treasurer said In that
note, and presume he would not have issued
a certificate unless he was satisfied by the
measurement.
Q. Hold on a minute. Let us see how these |
certificates are issued. There Is here: SIf you |
have the inspection of this issue certificate"
What is your arrangement about having in
spections; who Is the man that does the in
spectionl A. do not understand. He can |
explain better than can, perhaps. It is SIM |
ply referred. "If you have the measurements |
all straight, issue a certificate" / suppose |
that is about the idea that he intended to con- |
vey. do not know anything about it. That
was before l came in.
Q. Would you regard that as q regular or an |
irregular way of doing busnessl A. If I was |
auditor should satisfy myself that the money |
was due man beyond doubt, before should |
issue Q certificate.
Q. Do you know what authority Mr.. Magru- |
der had about giving directions fo7 the issue Of
certihcatesf A. Well, suppose he thought |
it would be respected, merely as an act of
courtesy. have myself individually gone to
the auditor and requested him to settle the ac-
count Of A B or G D, who wanted to 90 away
from here, and If there was anything due to |
let them have It. There was an old gentle |
man have known since my school-boy days |
named Blaxton. He had q claim against the |
board, and asked the auditor, as matter of |
favor to me, If there was anything due him to |
issue a certificate. did not think there was |
anything wrong in It.
Q. Do you know of Mr.. Magruder drawing |
checks in favor of himself, and paying out the |
money on account Of the boardi A. No, sir;
l am not aware of any instance of the kind.
@. Do you know that he did thsti A. No, |
sir.
Q. Is there anything to prevent his doing |
that's A. / suppose not. If he had the money |
deposited to his credit as treasurer he could
draw 1t as treasurer, payable to James A. Ma
gruder.
q. Was he authorized to do thatl A. Not |
that I am aware Of. 1 suppose he was. I can
not presume that he would undertake to exer-
else power without he was duly authorized. |
z. Had the board ever given him any author |
ity, that you know off, A. Not that am
aware of, sir.
Q. What check would you have on him in |
cases like that A. Well, cannot imagine |
what check we could have upon any man If we |
supposed him dishonest.
Q: What check would you have upon him,
for instance, in this case: If he drew out on
the LIST of March IS 600, on the 10000, and |
on the Goth of March $40, 600 moref A. / do
not suppose that there would be any check
at all.
Bv Mr. Hubbell: O. Suppose he had A nav |