The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-16
The City of Lawrence After a
Fight of Eleven Months Accepts
the Amount Allowed by State
for Caring for Sick Poor
QUEER ENTRIES IN BILL
PRESENTED BY THE CITY
Visits by Physicians Alleged
to Have Been Made Sept. 81,
April 81 and Feb. 30-MuCh
Evidence of False Accounts and
Exorbitant Charges

Evidence of False Accounts and
Exorbitant Charges
Special to The Spy.
Boston, Dec. 15.-After an experience
entirely without a parallel in the his
tory of the State Board of Charity, and
after making fight lasting IL months
the authorities of Lawrence have con-
scented to accept the auditing of DR.. j.
F. Lewis, superintendent of the depart
ment of adult poor which means that
Lawrence will receive s8S954 of the bill
it rendered the Commonwealth the
third Wednesday in January as reim-
bursement for the support of sick state
paupers, $175937, the sum of $S69.S3 be-
ing disallowed. A week ago the Law
renee board of overseers of the poor
held a meeting in Dr. Lewis once at
the State House, and voted to accept
the auditing of the department and
last week Mayor Leonard and Dr.
Lewis met and spent a day going over
the bills together when the sum named
was fixed as the compensation. The
mayor then stated that he believed the
board had used the city well and given
it all it was entitled to collect under
the law.
This was the close of a series of mys-
FERROUS developments in the way of
claims and charges such as the oldest
attache of the State Board of Charity
was unable to duplicate from his eX-
perience. How reasonable men could
have expected to collect physicians
bills for visits made on the 3lst of
April and September and the 9Oth OF
February would seem to be mystery
but the city of Lawrence paid them,
and then asked the commonwealth 10
reimburse her.
Among the claims was one for physl-
clans visits to Carl Herzog, to Sept,
80 1900 DIR. Lewis procured from the
office of the secretary of the Common
wealth a certified copy of his death
certificate, which showed that Herzog
died Sept. 10. He was given peculiar
beef extract, the cost of which was 81
per bottle, according to the bills rend-
cred. Agents of the board secured Bos-
ton but could not find any like it. 1t
was named BORDEAUX They then
visited the druggist in Lawrence where
II was procured, and were told that
the concern put it up; that it had mad
trouble with the name, and so was
putting up the very same thlng under
fhe title Of LOS Angeles and bot
all the clerk charged.
The cause of the investigation into
these charges was the variation be.
tween the charges and the reports Oh
the visitors of DR.. LeWiS> department.
A child by the name of Hattie Pettln-
gill was returned as having received
Is visits from the ward physician and
to have consumed $11.90 worth of med
icine. Dr. Lewis already had the re-
port of his visitor which showed that
the child had been threatened with
diphtheria, that one visit had been
made by the physician and that II
turned out that there was no diph-
liberia. The mother, Elizabeth Pettin-
gill. was visited, and made affidavit
that she took her daughter Hattie by
authority of Daniel F. Kiley, clerk
of the overseers of the poor, to the
ward physician. DR.. Bannon, that he
pronounced her trouble tonsilitis. and
Immediately himself prepared bot
tie of medicine as gargle rms DOT
tie. bearing the Doctors name, ana
only half empty, is now in Dr Lewis
hands. with many other similar sou
venirs. The mothers affidavit shows
that this was the only visit to the
doctor and that the child did not leave
school once, but the claim was for
visits to her Oct. /, 3, 4, 8, 3, ~, II, TO-
II 49, q, "a, 27. 30 and 81. Two drug
eists put in bills for medicine for Hat
tie Pettingill, one furnishing II OCT /;
one again. 6, six again, 10, 10 again ana
three times on the 18th, and the other
oct ~ % 26 and 2S The recipes were
obtained from these druggists, ana II
was found that the same preparation
oarele-was within ten days SOLO
e.. soc TIC and S5c Some of the pre-
ecriptions were charged at as hlgh
a price as $780, and all these ollls
have been paid by the city oil Law
renee. The nearest Druggist 10 'ie
state House said that his price Ior one
Of fine 75c prescription would be 55c.
Another case was that of Darcy
Dnqean of 81 Valley Street. He used
IN lar of ointment which the drug
lei sold cost 75c but the city palo
ond the state was asked to repay Sil-ll
for medicine he was alleged TO nave
consumed Mary Doucette OF OIL hs,
sex Street had a bottle hlleq once a tI
secured some pills Twice. 1lei Jill -0-
medicines was $3.50. -.
These are only samples Of a grea'
number of cases which nave Deeh ~,
vestigated with the utmost care oy ~,
Ststa BOARD and its agents. The result
NOT only shows the admlraDle sys.e,i
nv which it is possible TO llIliileuld Iels
detect anything out of the usual cou5 .
In the administration Of the Door ue
~ Of the various cities anC
towns. and so save money to the com ON
Y,,onwealth and prevent fraud upon IN
itias and towns but it is signlhcan
and gratifying to know that never be
fore in the history of the department
has anv attempt like this been made
Dr.. Lewis was impressed, he says wiz
the fact that the physicians bills a IN,
those of the druggists conceded
make sure that no injustice was uoil
+be citv or any private individual. h
obfained afidavits and certificates Il
each case, so that when it came {
the final settlement of the claim. n :,
was impregnable and was able to youci
for the truth in the cases named an J,
all the others which were included II
the claim The affair has created srea
excitement in Lawrence. but II Is NJ
known al the State House what cours
the mayor and other authorities Of TN