The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-11-22
INVESTIGATING LACLEDE
GAS COMPANY'S BOOKS.
President Mcmillan Came From New York to
Institute the Examination-Five Clerks
Accused of Peculaton-One Case
of EmbeZZement

Emerson Mcmillan president of the La
ciede Gas Company. yesterday confirmed
the report that an investigation of the COM
pahy $ accounts in the st. Louis office Is
being made. He declared that irregulari-
Ties mad been discovered. but insisted that
! they did not involve large sum.
According to his statement, one case OF
enbe2zlement. in which ledger clerk and
collector worked In collusion. has been
ulsco'eren and there are four or five in
stances of clerks holding out" receipts
anu ana milking good on pay day. MIR. Nc
Milan was in st. Louis last week and
looked into the condition of affairs in the
local office. He is now In New York. and
when asked for a statement By The Repub-
lie correspondent. said:
IL Is true that an investigation of the
company accounts in the ST. Louis Office
Is IN progress. / regret that the matter has
necoine pubic. but since this is so. it were
better that the facts should be stated
TO begin WITH | wish You would make
1t plain that Mr.. Ross who 10 in supreme
autAofltN IL our St. Louis office, is in no
way involved. He is not under investigation
ana Is not to be dismissed from the COM
panEs service. as reported. Mr Ross has
the entire confidence Of the management of
the Lac.ede Gas Company His lnte ,rlty has
never been questioned. He il an old en-
Ploye, aud we know him to be a gentleman
OF the highest probjty.
Four or Five Clerks Concerned.
There has been no defalcaton in the s..
Louis Office. as TAR | now know. What
ever losses the company has sustained
"ouid more properly come under the head
OF minor pecul;tiors. Four or FIVE clerks
nave been concerned in these operations,
but at this time | could not truthfuily say
that the company has lost II dollar TIE
young men to whom l refer became ad-
dicted TO the practice, which | suppose is
common In many large concerns Of "hol.-
ing out money from the days receipts and
replacing 1t ON pay day. There seems to
nave been no secrecy about it among tho
clerks themselves. but. of course, they did
not take Mr. Ross into their confidence
The modHs operandi was very simple
Company there is a stub or duplicate bill
When the bill is paid this stub is torn off
and dropped into receptacle provided for
that purpose. At the end of each day these
stubs are gone over and the amounts footed
up. ! he days receipts must correspond
with the total of the figures copied from the
STUBS. 1t appears that several of our clerks
have departed from this system. Instead of
dropping into the box. it has been their
the stubs representing s. or SO. or whatever
amount they might want. until the next
pay day. when they would return the money.
drop the seruestrated stub in the box and
make the proper entry upon the ledger.
This practice has been going on for some
time. but the facts were not known to the
management until quite recently.
Came Here to Investigate.
"My attention being directed to the matter
went to St Louis and instituted an inves-
tigation Every man concerned told me
frankly what he had done and gave some
conventional excuse for his action. One