The Grange advance., 1874-09-09

were subsequently transferred to his
account as State Auditor, yet it appears
that his individual account il credited
with the sale of SO. 600 gold at $l.37 1-2
manifestly derived from and = part oI
the gold interest upon these bonds. He
also is credited with 'tone-h1lf commits.
sions on purchase Of $685. 600 bonds -
and other like items, until We find that
he accumulates . fund from these
sources, in large part at least, sufficient
to purchase on Sept. 10th and October
18th, 1869, ten thousand Missouri 6 per
cent bonds, and still have a. balance on
hand at those dates. It will also be seen
that he converts these Missouri bonds
into U. s. currencies, and after.
wards disposes Of these, and again on
the 18th and 18th of March, 1871,
there is purchased for his account
eleven thousand Missouri bonds, which
are unquestionably the bonds referred
to by Mr.. Myers in his testimony. That
the above mentioned $4,000 U. S.
800 bonds were = pert of the perma-
nent school fund Of the State, we think
there can be no doubt, as bonds Of the
same class and amount appear in his
official account with Myers & Co.,. as
State Auditor. Any one familiar with
the manner and method Of keeping &C.
counts of this character will understand
the difficulty, from q bare inspection of
them, to determine the exact or correct
financial relations Of the parties.
Mr.. Myers, in his testimony. having
referred to the correspondence that
took place between his firm and
the State Treasurer and Mr..
Mcllrath in relation to these $4,000
bonds. We consulted the files Of the
Auditors and Treasurer's Offices for
the purpose Of examining that corres-
pondense. We were unable to find
anything in the Auditors Office relat-
ing to the subject, but in the Office of
the Treasurer we found = number of
letters Of Messrs. P. NJ. Myers & Co.,
and Mr.. Seeger, which throw some
light upon the transaction. Copies Of
these letters are hereto annexed and
marked Schedule K" 1t is apparent
from this correspondence that the pur-
chase and ownership Of the bonds
named was. Ito borrow the language OF
Mr.. Mcllrath,) IRREGULAR" for while
there was perhaps an understanding be.
tween Mr.. McIlrath and Mr.. Seeger, i.
is plain that Myers l. Co., was in
doubt as to the ownership of the
bonds. When Mr.. Seeger writes
them ambiguously about securing
an additional $4,000 Missouri 6 per
cent. bonds for the school fund, it ap-
pears Myers & Co. construe the letter
as an order for their purchase, and act
accordingly, whereupon Mr.. Seeger or
ders the purchase Cancelled and secures
q formal transfer of these particular
bonds made to the school fund. From
all the evidence before us in relation to
this matter we have come to the con-
clusion that Mr.. McIlrath acquired
these bonds in the manner above indi-
Gated, and that the accruing interest
upon them " regularly passed to his
credit until Is appears by the letter OF
Myers Il Co. to Mr.. Seeger, dated Jan.
uary 2, 1873, they were on that day
formally transferred to the school fund
Of the State, and that in consideration
thereof, Mr.. Seeger gives Mr.. McIlrath
credit, January 6, 1873, for $1O,l88.75,
as appears by the blotter referred to in
the testimony of Messrs. Hurter,
Seeger and Mcllrath, and to that extent
it would appear to be in payment o1
State funds that Mr.. Mcllrath had pre.
viously borrowed from Mr.. Seeger.
1t would appear from the individual
account of Mr.. McIlrath with Myers L
20. that these bonds were nominally
in the name of Mr.. McIlrath, and in
testdyin3 from memory Mr.. Myers may
have been mistaken in this regard; but
it is clear that he did not consider them
as belonging absolutely to Mr.. Nc
llrath. The creditmg Of SlO,18S.75 OIL
the 9Th Of January, 1873, As above
stated, will explain the apparent con.
tradiction which appears between the
OAsoS0AS0 - Suob CESOlt ana the 0e0l&@
Of Mr.. McIlrath that he at that time
paid any such sum to Mr.. Seeser.
It should be here stated that
the previous discovery of this
and other large credits by Mr.. Seeger
to Mr.. Mcllrath, for payments made
Afssr his {McIlrath's) term Of Office ex.
pired. was what caused your committee
to subpoena Mr.. Seeger, and examine
him in relation thereto. In Mr.. Nell.
rath's account with Myers 4 Co. a.
State Auditor, there appears = charge
ON the 7th Of July, 1889, Of S757.4l,
and upon the same date there is a
credit upon his private account Of the
same amount and evidently the same
money. The com nittee are unable to
determine the nature of the transaction
that occasioned these entries.
Referring to the accounts Of the State
Treasurer With Mve- 4 o.. which oro