Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1885-03-26
THE DOHERTY INVESTIGATION

The Finding of the Expert-AbOu1
$4,000 to be Accounted FOr-Dr
Doherty Demands a Hearing.
The examination of the books of DR.. Do
herty, registrar of vital statistics, by the ex
pert Mr. H. G. White, who was appointed tt
investigate them by the Selectmen, apparent
ly shows that DR.. Doherty has drawn abou
So, 900 more from the town than he was
fed at SO, 072.7
From the report it appears that Mr.. White
examined the bills, records and certificates
of the registrar of births, marriages and
deaths of the town from January I, 1880, to
January 1, 1885, and tabular statements
have been prepared which seem to establish
that during five years the registrar has
charged the town for recording 7,13s more
births, deaths and marriages than he has re-
ported to the State librarian as having &C.
CURED during that period; also that the re-
gistrar has charged the town for ascertain
ing'' 1,74O, returning" 3,45S, and "amend-
ing'' 6,9S1 births during period in which
the whole number of births which occurred,
according to his own figures, was 10,436.
One table shows that during the five years
the registrar has charged for issuing 1858
more burial permits than there were deaths,
and that out of 6,S33 deaths which have oc-
Cured he claims to have returned 1916, or
more than one-fifth of all deaths returned by
all the physicians and other parties making
returns in the town.
Mr. White, who made the examination, is
a recent graduate of the Yale Law school.
DIR. Doherty was quite indignant that the re-
port had been given publicity before he
could defend himself, and said the time had
not yet come for him to speak in the matter.
Lawyer John w. Alling is his counsel.
There had been agreement, Mr.. Alling
said, that the report should be kept private
until he could have time as DR.. Doherty Is
counsel to examine it, and at the earnest So
licitation of DR.. Doherty the Board of Select
men had agreed to keep the matter private
until DIR. Doherty could make formal an
swer through counsel. Mr.. Alling said he
was surprised that the agreement was not
kept
Some of the particular specifications of If
Irregularities in the report are that the regis
trar had commonly, if not uniformly, charged
81 instead of so cents for marriage licenses,
and in some instances had charged more; that
one lady was charged 81 for copy of the
certificate of her husbands death, while the
law allowed but 25 cents and that an under
taker had always paid 81 for removal per-
mits, the legal fee being % cents. The
report charges the registrar with having spe-
cial printing done for his official use
when he might have had it free from the
State, and that this was done so that he
could have his marriage licenses in dupli-
cate and get double fee, while the law
says that one license is enough for both par
ties also that by getting his own printing
done he need not use the State form of
blanks on which is printed that 30 cents
is the legal fee for a certificate.
Other claims for charges are spoken of in the
report as likely to crop out. DIR. Doherty
says he courts an investigation and that he
asks suspension of public opinion until he
can be heard. If it could be found in inves-
tigation that he had overcharged, he should,
of course, refuned any over-payment that
might have been made. He only wanted
what was right and what was due him under
a correct admi Illustration of the law regulating
his duties