The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1889-12-19
A PARTIAL REPORT MADE'
To the Council Finance Com
mittee Last Night, by
MR., BROCK, THE ACCOUNTANT,
Engaged to Look Into the comprO.
mise Loan-Ths City a Loser
Thus Far to the Amount Of
S1O,427 T5-1sss Taxes,

The Council Committee on Finance
met last evening and heard y partial,
but very interesting and rather sensa'
tlonal report from Mr., A, Allen Brock,
who was engaged by this committee as
an expert accountant to go over the ac'
counts Of the Compromise Loan and
locate the discrepancies which seemed
to exist, and Of which nothing was
known or suspected till some time after
the recent death Of Col, N, Wilkinson,
who was the surviving Commissioner,
as to the results Of his work,
The first publication made concerning
the matter was three or four weeks ago
when the new Commissioners, Mr., W.
G. Wilkinson and Mr., George Mathison,
reported to the Finance Committee that
there were discrepancies they could not
account for. -.
Mr., Brock has been assisted In his
work OF going over the Loan by Mr.,
Noise, OF the Benwood Nail Company's
office, and though they worked night
after night In y most assIdnous' and
and intelligent manner, 1t was not un-
I'll last Friday that they were able to
find aClue that led 10 anything definite;
previous to that tlme they were almost
entirely In the dark. The clue on
which they have been able to reach a
partial realization OF the situation was
In the shape Of some papers handed to
Mr.. Brock,
The substance OF the partial report
made by Mr., Brock last evening Is that
while the books show that there should
be but seventy.two $1,000 8 per cent
bonds outstanding, interest is being paid
on eighty.three bonds, eleven more than
are properly unredeemed.
In explanation Of, this MI, Brock laid
before the committee eleven redeemed
and cancelled bonds, thGa alleged numbers
OF which correspond with eleven Of
the outstanding bonds. The Compro.
mise bonds were issued before the mum"
bering machine came into use and they
we're numbered with q pen and red ink.
The number appears on the back, on
the face OF the bond and On each Cou-
pom. Tho coupon numbers had 10 be
made small necessarily. The eleven re.
deemed bondswhose
with bonds now outstanding bear
evidence, some OF them so plainly as TO
leave no room iordoubt, that their num-
bers have been tempered with. A knife
or something else has been used appar-
emily, to erase or change some original
number. The members Of the committee
examined these bonds witha very lively
interest.
The first Of these duplicate bonds was
redeemed IN November, 1888. In 1887
six Of them were redeemed. There is a
possibility that there will be found still
another duplicate bond such as the
eleven already discovered, u few traces
having been found that makes such q
finding possible.
The result OF Mr.. Brooks work thus
far shows the city to be a loser
to the extent Of Sl6,427 Is. 1t Is be.
lieved, by those who profess TO have
pointers, that the final total loss will be
a little overthis, probably about $l9,O DOC.
In 1878 the Finance Committee OF
the Council in Office then, strongly
urged IN q report 10 the body, that'au-
thorlty DO given 10 destroy the bonds
OF the Compromise loan that were not
used for the purposes for which they
we're intended and which had
been lying around ever since
the loan was authorized In
1850. Council was warned
then that the very thing might happen
that it would seem has happened now.
Quite o number OF these left oyer bonds
were signed by both the Mayor and
Clerk and numbered; the Others were
all blank. Those filed out could be
made duplicates OF those Issued by
changing the, figures.
Mr.. Brock asked for and was allowed
more time In which to make a complete
report. The committee lost no time in
canCelling the remaining old aud TN.
used bonds, both those filed out and
the blanks.
The committee after this made It's final
settlement with !. Collector Brice,
which was one in every way crelitable
TO that gentleman. Under the general
fund his delinquent list for 1888 amount
ed to but Sl,975 OF, and under tho 10
cent levy fund to but 1886 Of.