The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-08-02
SCHOOL BOARD
GUILTY OF NEGLECT |: i. |:
Manchester Grand Jury Severely
Censures Officials.
FULL REPORT 70 THE COURT
Small Negro Under Water Five Minis
utes-Couple Elope and Marry in
Maryland-Young Man Killed
by Train-Other News.
FULL REPORT 70 THE COURT
Manchester Bureau. Richmond Times,
No. 1lO2 Hull Street.

Manchester Bureau. Richmond Times,
No 1lO2 Hull Street.
The grand jury of the Corporation
Court. of Manchester. wound up its work
in the School Bard Investigation yester-
day afternoon by presenting eight sep
arate indictments against Frank Fltz-
gerald, the abscondng clerk, and making
comprehensive report to the court, IN
which members of the School Board and
Mr.. D. L. Pulliam. superintendent OF
schools. are censured.
The report of the grand jury is sweep
ing in its condemnation and has created
great interest and comment
To the Honorable Judge Ingram Of the
Corporation Court:
The grand jury now in attendance upon
the court have this day, in discharge of
their duty, presented to the court eight
separate indictments against F. H. Fitz-
gerald, late clerk to the School Board.
of the city for forgeries, committed by
him while in office by means OF which
he has stolen and embezzled the public
school funds Of the city. The evidence
before them while not sufficient In their
judgment to legally justify the return
of idictments lnasmuch as the parties
whose names were forged live beyond
the limits of the Commonwealth. and
we were without their testimony, there
fore. to show clearly the forgerles. satis-
fes us that the said Fitzgerald for a period
of more than four years was engaged In
q systematic and wholesale pilferinE or
enbezzlement Of the public school funds,
aided and accomplished by thorough
and continued scheme of forgery.
LOSS NEARLY 5000.
IT seems to US clear that during the
40, 8ha
los. in this manner of nearly 5000
in accomplishing which the said Fitz-
gerald committed independent of the
embezzlement probably as many as $50
separate forgeries. This was accom-
nlished and could have been accomplished
only bv and through the gross and long
continued neglect of the School Board.
its various officers and committees, 10
perform and discharge the duties I'M
rosed upon them by law, and the grand
Jury. while making no prcsent1nent of
the matter ;criminally. feels that 1t is
but just that the fact should be called
publicly to the attention of the court
In order that heipublic ensure may fall.
as they think it deservedly should, upon
those by whose neglect of trust imposed
in them and of the duties which they
voluntarily undertook to perform. such
a serious loss of the public fund has re-
suited.
JURY PARTICULARIzEs
The jury particularizes those charges
as follows:
81. John O'Brien. who for years was
chairman of the board. This officer
down to the time he finally retiredA
signed a great bulk of the forged war
rants. These were for sums and to par
ties never authorized by the board, and
for which no authority can be found.
The grand jury acquits Mr.. O'Brien OF
any criminal knowledge or intent In the
matter"
His character within their personal
knowledge is such as to repel any such
idea. But the fact remains that for
nearly four years he signed for F'itzger-
aid warrant after warrant as brought
to him, or else signed the warrants IN
blank, leaving them with Fitzgerald fer
him to fill up at his pleasure. which he
does not seem to remember very clearly
himself. The warrants were to fictitious
persons or others in sums and for Eur-
poses wholly unauthorized. These war
rants. it was Fitzgeralds practice. after
filling them up at his own whim, to take
tc, the treasurer of the city, after first
forging upon the back the necessary en-
dorsement and after obtaining from the
treasurer his check for the amount. forge
upon the back of this the necessary en-
dorsement and then presenting the check
at the bank, would obtain the amount
in money.
Mr.. O'Brien's only excuse thus far as
signed is the implicit confidence which
he held in Fitzgerald; and while this may
acouit him of any criminal Intent In the
transa ct:on, the grand jury thinks that
he is deseryedly open to censure In the
premises. -
so That the Finance Committee OF the
board. appointed from time to time. COM
nosed of w. W. Pool (chairman>, G. a.
carr 3. A. Nunnally, Or. E. T. Rucker.
1ses-1aoO. The Finance Comittee of 1901:
z. n. Fitzeerald (chairman), John O'Brien.
T, J Nunnally J. B. Rudd. have ut
ter,y failed to audit the accounts of the
said FITZGERALD, as was their duty to do.
st stated intervals Of month"
Had this been done the frauds and
wrong-dodng of the clerk would have
been discovered and the loss limited pro-
badly to the first check CIR two.
80 The grand jury finds that FOR
months back. beginning in the term of
tho nresent chairman. Mr.. John ]. Bay
Ter. the minutes of the board have not
been written up or signed by the
chairman The chairman should. OF
course. have regularly signed the min
rtes of the body over which he presided.
and it was equally his duty to see that
the minutes We're duly and regularly
written up for this purpose. Owing to
his failure to/keep the minutes properly.
it is next to impossible to tell at this
time with exactness the amount of the
shortage and loss, and would be diff
cult or impracticable at any time to
audit or settle the accounts Of the board.
az The grand jury thinks that the
whole board as constituted from time
to time. has been in measure dere-
!ict" although in a lesser degree, IN not
seeing that the duties OF Its officers and
committees were more faithfully perform
ed.
..5. They also think that the present
Superintendent. D. L. Pulliam. is to some
extent open to censure. 1t appears that
more than once his attention was called
by Mr. J. w. Bronaugh, Treasurer OF
the city. to the heavy outlay by the
School Board. and the jury thinks that
the warning he received fro mthis source
would and should have put prudent
official properly alive. to his duty upon