The record-union., 1898-04-21

SAN FRANCISCO, Aprll -O.-AuSu u9-
tus c. Widber, Treasurer of the city
and county. is under arrest for steal
ing S1l6.OOO of the city's money. The
police captured him at his ranch near
Walnut Creek tonight.
Widber made confession of his quit
TO NJ. De La Montanya, Jr., Chief Dep
uty of the Treasurers office, on Tues
dav afternoon. He asked De La Mon
tanya to allow him twenty-four hours
in which to make an effort to cover
the shortage before exposing him. To
this arrangement the Chief Deputy
consented. At 2:30 o'clock this after
noon Widber had not deposited the
SIG, 600 in the treasury, neither had ne
sent any explanation nor given an ac-
count of his whereabouts. Then De
La Montanya informed Mayor Phelah
and Auditor Broderick of the situation.
Chief of Police Lees, Assistant Dis
trict Attorney Hosmer, City and Coun-
tv Attorney Creswell and the Mayors
Secretary, w p. Sullivan, were called
in consultation. a cursory eXamlna-
ton of the contents of the vaults by
these officials was sufficient to assure
them that the Treasurer's stealings
amounted to at least $4,000. An or
der for his arrest was at once issued.
The detectives learned that Widber had
gone on Tuesday night on visit to
Vol
point a message was sent that result
ed in his arrest.
The fact that Treasurer Widber was
a defaulter was discovered entirely by
accident. On Monday Chief Deputy De
La Montanya. Jr., went into the vault
where the sacks containing the general
fund money are kept, and lifted one of
them to put it aside. 1t felt light in
weight-so light. in fact, that De La
Montanya was moved to examine care
fully the seal. 1t was one of sixteen
sacks bearing the mint seal, which is a
small round disk of lead through which
the string passes that closes the mouth
of the sack. and on which is inscribed
~. S. Mint, S. F.
This seal is supposed to be a guarap-
tee that the amount said to be con-
tanned in the sack is correct. The sums
of $1,000. $4,000 $4,000 and 500 900
should have been inclosed in the re-
spective sacks.
Assistant Treasurer de la Montanya,
,,,,oD olOSaI1v avap,ipi1c the sack which
he had picked up found that the string
had been cut close to the seal, and the
cut cleverly concealed. He opened the
sack Instead of the $1,000 in gold
which the sack should have contained,
he found 500 in silver Mr.. de la
Montanya made an examination of two
more sacks. From one of them 50, 900
was missing, and the cash of the other
was $1,000 short.
De La Montanya. called in Detective
Deary, and it was found that sixteen
coin sacks had been tampered with.
They taxed Treasurer Widber with the
defaIcation. He admitted not only that
he had stolen money from the sacks,
but also that the collateral inheritance
tax fund and the Public Administra-
tors fund, which are kept in vault
to which Widber alone had the COM
bination, We're also heavily short. The
Treasurer himself placed his defalca-
ton, and asked for a days time in
which to make good the shortage. This
was granted, but Widber left for MS
place at Walnut Creek without at
tempting to raise the money
The Mayor, Chief Lees and few
other officials to-day examined the
treasury vaults. The coin in the vault
to which Widber has the combination,
and which is kept loose in trays, was
counted. They found that the collat-
eral inheritance tax fund was short
S23. 900, and the Public Administrator :
fund $4,000. These sums, together
with the shortage estimated by the
weight of the sacks, will bring the to-
tai defalcation very close to the sum
Widber admitted having stolen-S1l' Ii,
600. After checking up the days busi-