Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-03-24
OFFICE OF THIS ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF TIE STATE OF CALIFORNIA,

Hon John P Dunn, state Controller Dear Sir:
Your communication of March 10th was received
and carefully considered. l have personally ex-
amued the books and accounts Of the Office of the
Clerk Of the Sup 'ene Court and, you know, have
held full consultation with yourself. find that the
books contain all the entries and charges,
by which, mere inspection, the errors in the
monthly Of the Clerk distinctly appear. The
books have not been tempered with, altered, the
accounts in any way to any eXtsnt fasified. In
deed, yuu- settlement is made from the books. This
fat precludes the idea OF fraud on the part Of the
Clerk. fad that upon receiving the information
that the monthly reports of the Clerk TO your office
did not account for all the fees received by him. you
requested his attendance at your office without IN
forming him OF the nature OF the business on which
he was called. He offered his books for inspection,
aud you accompanied him to San Francisco, and st
once examined the books, with the result stated
above. Your letter TO nee says: 81 Immediately
made demand on him (McC5rthy) for that sum.
He has paid the money into the treasury this day..
Upon your own suggestion to this sentence
hardly gives correct idea of what really happened.
There was 10 formal, official, statutory demand
ide, or Necessary to be made, on Mr.. McMcCarthy.
Immediately and spontaneously IN comparing the
books with the monthly reports, the difference was
included in a supplemental report allowed by law,
and pals at the earliest possible moment into the
treasury That the cash has been, TO say the least,
carelessly handled, and the ca.hieIs department
very III organized, is obvious but any c:nIinality
on the part Of the clerk is inconsistent from the
facts, and actual guilt on the part Of any sub
ordinate, unuer Tue dctcJlFC system, followed Tor
years in the office, cannot be demonstrated. My
opinion is that Obligation rests upon your Office
TO institute criminal proceedings. l shall call the
attention Of the Grand Jury to the at its mex:
session. Very respectfully,
Z. c. MARSHALL Attorney General.
Upon the receipt of the above letter from
the Attorney. General, thoss in the Coltroll-
er'5 efice who had made the investigation
were of The opinion that Mr. Marshall had
rot given the subject much Investigation.
They said one would i0fsr from his lste, that
the books Of MIR. Mccarthy were before the
Controller, and that the lstter officer would
be cognizant at al times OF any discrepancy
in the accounts of the Clerk of tho SapEene
Court The facts Of the case, briefly stated,
said they, are thcse: The Clerk of the Court
keeps cash bcok, Wherein all fees during The
month are entered. The number OF entries
does not exceed from seventy. FIVE TO one hun
dred Per month. The amount they foot upis
the total collections for the moath, and that
amount be must pay TO the Stale, under cath,
rs the total receipts fer the month, and all
due from him to the State not included in
former statements.
When Mr.. Mccarthy was Interviewed in
San Francisco, the day following the publ
cation Of the f-cts in the RECORD UNION, be
is reported as having informed a Chronicle
reporter that the matter IVES entirely due to
lions made by representative Of this paper
show that the cashier referred to is bis
brother-in.iaw, John S. Kilshy. During the
fourteen months that Mr.. MCCARTHY hes been
Clerk be he's made out-and the records show
that they are in his own handwriting
twelve Of the monthly statements. JOIN S.
hillsby, his cashier, made out two Of the
statements for tie months Of July and
August. The statements made by Mr..
KilisbY have been found to be absolutely
correct, but these made out by Mr.
Mccarthy are, as the Deputies who examined
cl .irned, Exceedingly rocky" showing large
number Of discrepancies amounting to the
aggregate Of 81 104 80. As has b,en stated,
the bookkeeping is very simple, TIE cash &C.
ccuat only occupying from four to five pages
of a small cash-bcok His statement to thu
Controller was simply copy Of the cash
book, and all this trouble seems TO have been
omissions of quite large amounts. That he
received the cash, and the clerks who handled
the money were in Bowise responsible for the
the shortage, would appear TO be un-
Guestionably evidenced from the fact that
across the foot of the cash recount for
each month ia written in Mr.. McCar5hy's
own handwriting, the following: "Settlei
to this date. J. w. Mccarthy" The At
torney- General says: THE bool:s have not
been tampeIed with, altered, or the accounts
IN suy way or to any extent falsifed." This
is true. He then says: Your settlements
are made from the books." Tnis is not true,
as the fact is that the settlements are made
with the Controller upon the sworn statement
Of the Clerk of the Supreme Court, under
Section 4S7 of the Penal Code. The books
are in the San Francisco office, and were
never looked into by any one from the Con-
tralier's Gfice until this investigation began
A striking popularity in the letter Of the
Attorney General is that he says: "There
is no evidence of fraud on the part Of the
Clerk, and that scsual guilt on the partsf any
subordinate, under the defective system fol.
lowed for years in the Office, cannot be DEM
onstrated." and then closes his letter as fol
lows: Il shall call the attention Of the
Grand Jury to the cass st the next session"