The Portland daily press., 1899-11-27

the ledger account go and some odd
cents.
On the following month. September.
1897. another case Of exactly the same
amount was found and % Was discovered
BY the ledger account IN Just the same
way.
In October the cash account was short
rust $3.50. This required three figures to
be chan ged on the cash book and this
was done as could plainly bs seen By the
books In two places It was found where
the figure one had been PLACED before an
amount making good on the cash book
$500. But there was tt,il sac TO DO made
up IN order 10 make tue cash book bal
ance. This was done by changing hg-
ure ons In the itsm S4i6 to the figure
four, making the amount paid out e44b
iustesd of S4i5 as the ledger account
showed IL {, te.
For every month mp to December. 1881,
these Irregularities were shown. On
D.csmber Mr.. Potter was chosen trsas-
ursr Of the W. b. Parker Conpany. No
more irregularities on the books occurred
until the following April. 1893. Then
500 was evidently taken and covered M
In tbs same way as had been done before.
From this time on, throus a period Of
many months sums ranging from 500
to 5000 were evidently taken. The aver
az, was about 800 for each Of the months
where the irregularities wers discovered.
Then there were found accounts which
had evidently been coilet tsd ranging from
81 &, $40 where no entries had been made
on the cash account but the ledger &C.
counts were ell right. There was another
instance where IL Is claimed that note
for S4o0 was discounted but no entry oil
it is to be found on the cash book.
The Irregularities on the books were
first discovered BY accident ani then u
book keeper who was taking Mr. Pott,r's
place during his sickness and after his
discharge made q systematic search Tor
them. Every item on the cash book was
compared with the ledger accounts and
the changes made readily discovered.
There was as has been said an average Of
two changes on each month excepting
for those noted above and In order to hnd
these changes 1t had been necessary to
take each of the hundreds of itsms on
the cash book and refer by them to the
ledger. Had an attempt been made to
falsify the ledger accounts, which are
more frequently examined than Is the
os sh book by the managers of the store 1t
would have been necessary to have
cham ed the entire set Of books and the
result would have been discovery Of
these transactions long before they were
discovered. In one place on the cash
book an item was found where q figure
one had been changed into q figure seven.
This was most readily detected by the
man who made the first examination OF
the books and BY the others who followed
him. This change can be distinguished
as having bean made after the original
figure one was made without the aid Of
q msgnifying glass.
County Attorney Libby when asked
last night II the charge against Mr.. Pot
tar would be for the ernbezzlement Of IS
large sum ~ q, 009 said that the charge
would probably be for s.. 300 or some
where in that neigh borhood. This will
specify the several speculations Mr.. Pot
ter, as far as could be learned had made
no attempt yesterday to obtain ball.
The Judge before whom Mr.. Potter will
be arraigued this morning will fix the
amount OF bail required and If this 10 not
forthcoming Mr.. Potter must spend the
time intervening between now and the
January term of the grand jury In Jail
unless he 10 cleared of the charges made
against him at his preliminary hearing
on Wednss day.
What course the defense is to take can
not tie learned. Mr.. True the attorney
for the accused Is not inclined to talk
much with anyone regarding the case.