The Portland daily press., 1899-11-27

ton to this fact, and Mr.. Potter said
that there must be n mistake somewhere
and he would GO over the hooks and see
where IL was Several days went BY but
Mr.. Potter made no report 10 me account
ing for the shortage. A little while after
this discovery WAS made BY me re-
oeiyed from q cut, mer SIS in payment
Of hill which was owed to NJ. placed
this $35 In the cash drawer, but made NO
item OF IL on the cash book. thought
that Mr.. Potter would discover that his
cash was over the amount showed on the
books and would say something about IL.
but he said nothing at all about Il.
One day, perhaps Two VI three days after
this asked him how his cash was. He
replied that 1t was q little over or lit
tie under, / can't remember just what,
but he said nothing about the cash being
over anything like ss5.
''At the end Of tho month MI. Potter
made out the bills which were owed TO
the coucerD. He plsosd them on my desk
and in going over them ! found that
there was one bill for SIS. for which
had received the muney, which had been
included with the rest / called him
back and told him that this bill had
been paid. Mr.. Potter said that he had
not noticed amy large amount Of money
over what his books showed and that
there must be o mistake. He said that
it might be creditsd on the other side of
the ledger and said he would look 1t mp.
h.n he haA nj
discovered the mistake and about this
time i was forosd to leave tbs city on
very urgent business. when returned
I found that Mr.. Potter was at the isl
ands sick with rheumatism. He didn't
come back, and got a friend Of his and
an excellent book keeper 10 60 over the
books
"This man, q friend Of Mr.. Potter, you
| under stand: went over the books and
| soon began TO find things which he re-
ported to me as being somewbnt irregu-
| lar TO say the least. He found that MIR.
Pottsr's cash had been as much rs $500
short at a tims. He discovered on his
books that whore "a had been paid out
| for some bill the amount had been made
Sl24 by the addition of a figure I. He
disooy cred Einstanoes where the figure l
had been changed into figure Q, max
ing an amount paid cut sao0 for example
| where 1t should have been 500. He found
other places where figure ! had been
changed into fig ure 4, thus increasing
the amount by large sums.
"During these two years Mr.. Potter 8
trial balances had been NJ pretty as you
| would wish 70 look upon. Everything
was apparently correct and all right.
Mr. Potter figured up the account OF
stock when at intervals We took account
of 1t and 1t Is impossible TO aay just how
much the company has lost through these
entertainments.
| "The shortage in the cash IN the bank
was brought about by the raising OF q
check from 500 20 $3.50. We had drawn q
check on our bank for cash TO meet a
draft OF 500 In another bank. The check
from the bank, though the draft for 500
ION August 10th discharged Mr..
Potter. told him of what had discov-
| 81 ed, and no said that he had nothing to
say regarding the matter. He said that
he was prepared to take his medicine.
I asked him what he had done with the
money he acknowledged to mo he had
| taken, and he replied that he did not
| know. asked him how much money
he had taken, and he said he did not
know. At the time i Discharged him
| bad no idea how much he had taken, q
shortage Of only about $1,000 having
bean discovered at that time. Mr.. Pot.
ter and his wife said that they would
obtain the money and make the shortage
good. But they did not dc this, al
though gave them plenty OF opportuni-
| ~ 20 make the shortage good. Later 1
discovered that the amount was much
larger than at nrst thought 1t was and
pressed him to m AXE the amount good.
| "Before the events occurred wbfoh
| led to the belief that all was not right
with the books, asked Mr.. Potter how
| he came co have So much money 70
spend. His salary with me as book Keep
or was SIS q week, and thought he
81 emit more than this. MIR. Potter replied
tha Ars Reed. his mother-iu-law. had
money and that he only had to pay toe
house rent. ! have since learned from
one of my creditors who was friend OF
Mr.. Potter that he was accustomed 20
visit Boston and spend large sums OF
money there In driving about In oarri-
ages and entertaining quite lavishly and
| buy ing a good deal of wine DO NOT
| know whether he soeculated or not ana
| have no idsA how he spent the amount
OF money i think he has taken from the
| funds of this oompany.s
| Saturday some of the creditors OF this
company came down here and pressed
the company for the payment OF It's
debts. This the company was unable TO
do and explained to them the cause Oh
our financial condition. TheF tnen ue
ma pded of me that the oompany make
an assignment and that Mr.. Potter be ar
rested and prosecuted for his embezzi'
ments Accordingly we made an asiiT
mens to Dennis A. Msaher and b.
| min Thompson. and i went to the county