The Portland daily press., 1899-12-02
Assignees Gave Report
to County Attorney.
Who Turned 1t Over to City
Mar,bal Sylvester.

The report Of the Eastern Audit COM
pany Of Boston, has been received BY the
ass!gnees Of Woodbury. q Moulton. This
was the company which sent experts to
examine the books Of the defunot bank
Ing firm.
The report shows that the cash book,
depositors' book and ledger were ex-
Hmined for the period extending from
January I. 1859 to November !, 1899.
The experts state that the books were
badly kept and full OF errors. They state
that the cash book shows shortage OF
% 665.7s. The report then gees on to
state what was found In the cash drawer
of the firm. Among other things was
several hundred dollars in cash. come
coupons, o few checks for large amounts
and memoranda showing that some
money had BEEN paid out on account.
The sxaminsrs DO not make any
charges as to who Ia responsible for this
shortage In cash. They state that enough
time was not allowed them TO 20 into
the matter very deeply or to find out
whether the shortage 10 due to an error
in the books or to defalcation.
Woodbury. 81 Moult,n had system OF
book keeping which Is said to be used In
many Of the smaller banks. Everything
In the cash drawer at the end Of days
business was counted 40 cash and 90 en-
tered on the books Of the concern. II
there was. for example $500 In cash, sew
eral che,ks which had been cashed as
matter OF accommodation, . memoranda
showing that some one connected with
the firm hsd drawn Gus temporarily
$50 aud several coupons which had been
handel In for collection, all Of these
things were counted as cash. Tie cou-
pons for collection were not entered as
coupons for collection on the cooks, but
were carried as cash. When the coupons
were received duplicate receipts vera
made out. Ons was given to the owner Of
the coupon and the other placed on file
at the bank This slip Of paper was all
there was to show that q coupon had been
sent In for collection. No separate tenn
was made of It on the firms books, and
there was nothing to show what was done
with IL.
The assigness are said to have suspect
ed that there wac shortage In the cash
account from the first, but they waited
until the report of the experts was re-.
csiyed before tnsy took any action. The
expert, were some weeks ON the books,
for 10 has been q month since the failure
OF the bank. Yesterday the matt,r was
brought 10 the attention Of the county
attorney for the first time. He WIS given
the exre;tI' rsrort and later tarnei
1t over to the city marshal.
It is impossible to learn what will 9
done by the authorities regarding this
report. No complaints have been made
to them, 50 1t is undsrtt bod.
A great many mistakes were found In
the hooks which at first led the exami.
nsrs to believe there had. been some
crooked work done with them. But lat.
or these mistakes worked themselves out
all right and were accounted for as mis-.
takes and nothing more.
The assigness and the a; signors do not
talk about this case. They will not sub
init t, intsrvisweIs and viii make no
comments regarding the matter. 1t Is
understood, however, that one Of the
members of the firm STATED on Tuesday
that he was positive there had been no
dishonesty on the part Of any employe Of
the firm. He felt that the shortage
could lie accounted for iL some other
way than that the money had been ap-
propr,at,d by some rerson to whom II
did not belong.