The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-07-07
IGRREGULARITY IN FUNDING
BANK OF THE STATE BILLS.
Arrest of Alexander Laughlin, the
Funder Expert, on the Charge Of
Larceny of Bills Committed to His
Carc-The Validity Of 100000 Of
Bills Involved.
CNcWS and Courier.

q we'll authenticated rumUr reached me tina
certain irregularities had been discovered II
4 department Of the state government mere
which could only DC determined Dy q Juulca
investigation.
This morningi 1t was generally known tina
Commissioner Colt, who is charged with tIt
settlement Of the bonded debt OF the State Ii
accordance with the decision Of the Supreme
! Court OF the State, and also with the funding
of the bills OF the Bank Of The state. under
recent act II tie Legislature, had made an If
tidavIt before Trial dstire fickliiiS, clalEiii:
Alexander c. L.anglin with grand larceny, il
that he had unlawfally and with iruudu.cn
intent appropriated Ia his own usG certain
bills OF the Bank ofthc Safe presented to TIL
special commissioner for funding under INT
act Of lS1!-YD.
Tn atlida lit cited the dates and amounts o
| bills which it. had been discovered were mis-
SIM upon IL 81 Loser examination made ny Col
Colt, with enc assistance OF other experts IL
financial matters.
The high character Whlch the accused ha.
hitherto home operated III his behalf las
night, and after the disclosure lad been made
q number of prominent gentlemen were fOunC
ready TO guarantee the prompt appearance o
the accused to-day, ut ii o'clock this morning
the hour liked by counsel. on.botn. sides for q
preliminary hearing. The accused, accollra
ter and eX.Judge Melton, appeared before
| Trial Justice l'iclkiinS. the Stale being repre-
scented by Attorney. General Iotimans.
In opening the case Mr.. IOumanS said |
was Il grave charge to be preferred ag,inS
any man, and without Formally the cuui>c
FOR the Stale WAS willing 10 disclose III" cn.ir'
case. SO lar as he knew it,. and in that view,
wouiisIand upon no tCciEica,ltieS.
The direct examination was conducted by
Acknowledgement Iouin:tIis.
Hon. James {. Colt, sworn, testified as fol
lows: Is Special Commissioner under tho
acts to settle the debts of the State In accor-
dance with the decision OF the supreme Court
and of the act To provide for funding bills o
h, an, L IF t1,n sstn'n IN 1nSnl.lntnI mi lnnI,
OF stock. Tho latter act provided for III eX
pert TO examine the bills presented and de-
termine between their validity or inval!dity
II was impossible for him to examine then
al in person, because the elimination OF tl'
tainted from the spurious or counterfeit bill
was involved. Witness wa5 unable to dis
tinguish between the two. Under the pro
visions OF the net lie employed AleXander c
I.aughlin SO MS TO examine those bills. Die
not know Low long II wonld take TO max
the examination. His object was to obtain
an expert residing near the Capitol. Laugh
lin was EMPLOYED upon INSTRUMENTATION o
Col. r. W. McMasler, who spoke OF him as
an expert who had long been Cashier of the
Exchange Bank of Columbia, and who was
falniliat with ban bills. Laughlin had Ell
joyed the contidente OF the Board Of Direct
ors. Employed him some time In Fcbruar!
or March last, after the extra SESSION OF tn,
Legislature. His duties were TO examine
packages OF bills presented for funding ant
count them, separating genuine from til
spurious bills, and TO conceal them alter eX
animation, put them mp in packages. seal AM
certify upon the face Of each packagc tn
O OF bills found valid. also the amou
found invalid. The packages were tied up II
brown paper, n all corners sealed with wa:
and stamped with a seal specially made 10
the purpose.
wrong was on the 9th Of June, when Cover
nor Simpson sent for wines and said that h
had been informed that there was suSpicicion
that Irregularities existed In connection Will
fI~ lt rr f1,n i'll nFn GlhSn III
stated that there was n certain package tina
did not contain Il number Of bills correspond
ing with tn" endorsement on the face Of IN
package. The Governor said he a hcar'
1t the night before. Witness went to the Stat
Treasurer and told him that he desired Il
make an examination of certain packages
just at that time 1t was not convenient I
make an examination, but witness aiterWard
Treasurer and Mr.. Martindalc. Upon tn
count the witness did not find the bills TO col
respond with the amount ccrtiflcd on IN
face Of the package. The package said a
coutain S2,0l5.3j was found to contain Sl,Ol
10. He found nothing further. Mr.. Colt stal
cd that six hrndl cd thousand dollars OF bill
had been counted, sealed and certified, 70
which only about Sl6O, OU In bonds had 6eel
issued. To ]rcconntthe bills which had beel
counted by Laughlin, wonld require full
three weeks and would take five experts.
recount would not involve an examination
into the genuincncss OF the bills.
In the QrOsS-eXamination by defendant
attorney Mr.. Colt said that Laughlin had II
regular assistant In his work. The cancel
Ing Of the bills was done by machinery, Adam
Green, the colored messenger, generally beln
employed In this service. Up to the 9th
June witness had two assistants In his otllc'
! Lee Hagocd II II. NJ. Davidson. The latte
kept the key of the safe. I.aughlin countc
the bills, and the custom was to putthc pack
ages In the safe. Witness was sometime
absent during the counting and cancellatio
of the bills.
This ended the testimony. Governor SimE
son, Treasurer Lcaphart and Chief Clerk Ma
tindale, of the Treasury Department., WEI
present in Court. and were offered TO l1cicne
, ants attorneys for eXaIninatin. defendant
counsel declined 10 examine them.
The Attorney General argued that the cas-
was one OF great Importance, INVOLVING tn
validity of over S6O0,GW of bills. That Il bon
Of 5000 would he a mockery of justice. h
| asked THAI the Court would fix the bond
not less than 100000.
After further ARGUMENTS the Court decide
to fix the bail at S2,5N for the appearance
the defendant at the July term OF the ScsSio
Court, W. II. Nick.