Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-03-03
A VERY DEEP DIVE.
continusd fror Eourth Paqe

2 viz: Outstanding October 31st, before col
l rected, S92f5 %; since corrected, $50, 354 6:
: We feel confident that the account is nov
/ as correct as it can be made from the data oh
: talnaole at the present time, and if tn
amount We report as outstanding is incorrec
r the error must be in the amount reported t
4 The credit of this account in Mr.. Cronin'
statement June l, 1874, as we have correcte,
all errors occurring since that time and SOM
that occurred prior thereto which Mr.. Cronii
could not have discovered, as the discrepan
cies were between the warrant and the reg
liter, the former being out when he made NJ
his statement, and redeemed since then. Ii
some instances We found it necessary to re
open accounts that had been closed to correc
errors therein. Exhibit F will show tn,
| journal entri es made by US, which wer,
necessary to correct the errors in various &C
counts.
Nhen we commenced to check the post
lngs on the ledger, we were told by the clerE
that we need pay attention to the schoo
fund entries, as We had nothing to do with
the school fund" He gave us as the reason
that the chairman had no control over thi,
fund, and he only kept these accounts as
memoranda, giving them no special atten-
ton. AS the various revenue officers re-
ported their collections on account of this
fund on the same lists and in the same man.
ner all other collections and the abstracts
chairman made no distinction between the
! school fund taxes and the others, and more
| especially as the journal entries were alike
for all taxes collected, the school fund en-
| tries being interlaced with others, we could
not uEderstand the force OF this reasoning
and were not satisfied with this explanation
We also noticed that these accounts were.
| kept in the same ledger with the others, but
in the back part by themselves, to August /,
| 1881 1.-THE date he opened a new set of books)
| at which time, Notwithstanding this office
| had nothing to do with them. he seems to
! have considered them of sufficient impor-
| lance to open a separate set OF books to keep
| them. We therefore treated the school fund
accounts with the same care that we did the
others, which resulted in finding and cor
recting four errors, which threw these &C.
| counts out Of balance 500 u, which was
The amount reported Short and a balance
sheet OF the same taken off July 81, 1881,
by the special clerk (appointed by the chair
man to write up the books. We give a cor
rect balance sheet of the school-fund ledger,
see exhibit q. We think il is due the chair
mans clerk, Mr.. Malone, to state that in the
entire period OF time covered by our exam
ination, we only found four errors in his
Postings and additions on the general books.
We noticed while checking the warrant
registers that the chairman drew his salary
very iIregularly; that whereas, every other
officer and employee of the county received a
warrant for his salary in full every month
those issued to the chairman had no regu-
larity in date or amount. There being no
account opened with him on the ledger, we
were at a loss to know how the condition of
his account could be ascertained. This
caused us to make re-eZamination of the
warrant registers from January l, 1874, and
list those issued to him on account
of salary. On comparing the total
nf List urfh hA al
allowed him by the Quarterly Court during
the same period Ito November l, 1881 we
found balance in his favor of Sill ,136 25
We also found that, in accordance with the
suggestion of the special grand jury, the
clerk had, on August l, 1881, among other
accounts, opened one with the chairman,
charging him with the last few warrants |
drawn since that time amounting to S475. |
This was entirely useless, as it did not show |
the state OF the account, or make any record |
of what went before, for. the seven and one
hall years that the chairman had been in |
Office. We have made the necessary entries,
charging him with the warrants drawn, and
crediting the salary as allowed. For par
t culars see exhibit F., Nos. Is and 10,
journal entries. The committee learning that
the county had several pieces of property
which were rented to various parties, and
that it was the chairman's duty to collect
the rents, naturally thought that some record
Of them should be kept on the books of the
county, and asked the chairman's clerk
Tor information in regard to the subject
sometime before the examination of the
same, and were surprised to be told that
here was no rent account on the ledger; but |
he chairman kept the records of said collec-
ions on an auxiliary book, and we would be
furnished with full and satisfactory state |
nent and explanation as soon as the chair
nan could attend to it, but that we need not
worry abo1t it, as the examination would
'nly lake ten minutes. He also informed
Is that the chairman had used part of
hese rents in payment of his salary, which
vas the reason for his not drawing more war
ants for that purpose, aid would felly ac-
cunt for the same in his explanation.
When we came to the point in our work ;;
where we intended to take up and dispose of
his matter, we called upon Mr.. Holeman
or his statement. He promised to furnish it
hortly, and We think he would have done
o had he not been sick. While the
hairman's explanation may fully show
verything straight, yet we think this
ent account should have been kept ON s
be ledger, as it is of as much impor-
ance as any other revenue account. When
re came 10 the examination OF the work
ouse lessees' account to our surprise we
1und that it would not agree with the les '
ses' reports, covering the period from July :
, 1875, to October l, 1881, which we found
q file. Only few of them had been en-
cred, we only finding entries that corre- 3
pended with the first two wiz, No. l, for
yelve months ending July l, 1876, and No.
for six months ending January L, 1877,
nd one other that did not correspond with y
ny Of the reports. We asked the clerk !;
" an explanation, and he gave as his
JASON for emitting to enter the others,
lat the chairman having conducted some q
ansactions between the lessees and the q:
,unty that he was not perfectly converssnt 81
it'll, he concluded to make no further en- u
les to this account, but the chairman kept u
e account himself and could explain it. p
MS was entirely wrong. The county's :,
'oks should show its standing with every le
le it has business with, and its ac- g
UNITS should not be kept in any other g
ay. Exhibit Fl shows the account as we a
und it, and exhibit F, Nos. 20 and 81 &c
ows the journal entries necessary to correct 81
1t will be seen that the three preceding &C &C
counts, which are omitted on the books, are 81
cessarily subject to and affected by the -
explanation, and cannot be prop az
y shown on the books without it. We u.
ought they were of too much importance "
pass them over without the chairman's p
PLANTATION, if it was possible to get it. and ol
srefore decided to leave them to the last "
oment, hoping that the chairman (who was co
lfined to his bed by sickness) would be
lie to furnish it in season. But owing to al
:. Holeman's protracted illness, and des- on
ring Of obtaining the promised explana- yo
n, we proceeded to compile the most accu- ga
e statement relative to these accounts we p,l
re able to arrive at from all the Informal lis
n obtainable from any and every source. u:
is gave Us great amount of unnecessary ~
or and trouble and has caused much delay. I'D
. had finished this statement and qu
re proceeding to close our report, ~
en-, on Monday, the Goth instant, lIs
learned that Esquire Holeman had come en-
own and would furnish us with the prom ter
statements at once. But on account of Gle
enfeebled condition he was not able TO In
* at it steadily, and it was only at Bpm. W.
the 22d that we we're handed the largest spe
ton of it, viz: The account of the work me-
lse lessees and the rent account of the sai
tied States Court and the, drug and cigar AN
es. The remainder, that of the Elliott COZ
perty and the piece on Second street not co,
lg ready, were promised US next morning sal
of this, and to save time, two ms
he committee worked till after IL O'Clock e1l
night examining the part furnished and AIRY
ing 1t into shape to enter on the books. reg
regret that the rest of this statement has as
been furnished US, and We are compelled ecc
close our report without it. The state he'
1t furnished shows the following ac- pre-
nts, viz: 1l
THE WoRKHoUsE LEssEEs. the
he statement of this account was to JAN clel
2 l, 1881. the closing payment being Gro
le May II, 1881 1.-THE lease requires settle
ts TO be made on January lst of each ges
}. We also charged the account with ing