The San Francisco call., 1903-12-17
HOW McKOWEN, sTOLE.

ana CnaTleS L.. SnOOk, attorney lot the
Board of Regents, also attended.
HOW McKOWEN, STOLE.
The committee of inquiry spent three
hours over the books kept by Nc
Kowen. and he assisted them in finding
out things. 1t was ascertained that he
had covered his tracks by manipulating
various funds so that it was almost I'M
possible, with the bookkeeping system
prevailing at the university, to detect
his populations 1t was also discovered
that instead Of $4,000. his estimate, the
total amount of the stealings would be
900.
For instance, when the secretary re-
ceived check for 1920 to be. applied
TO a scholarship fund he took the mon
ey himself and when the scholarship
became. due he would repay it by TAX
ing money from the general or other
funds of the university In order hen
to rein burso the fund from which he
had stolen the $1,000 he made repre-
sentatiGns that he had spent the mon
ey on purchases. In this way he avoid
ed falsifying the books and escaped ex-
posure Cor five years
This system of thievery was made
clAl ll-N lItOIC easy tAl dNCOQAlI VI the
fact that the treasurer Mr.. Hellman,
resides in San Francisco and Secretary
McKowen transacted his business in
Berkeley There was no check upon
McKowen. and many of his transac-
tiors were conducted without the
knowledge OF the treasurer
The auditor of the university is j. j.
Herr of San Francisco, who receives an
annual salary for auditing the accounts
of tho university Whether Mr. Herr
was also deceived by the system that
McKowen practiced or overlooked the
peculations through carelessness are
things that the investigating commit
tee has rot yet been able to determine.
WHO is TO BLAME?
1t is not expected that the regents
will blame any one for the system of
Bookkeeping that made possible Nc
Kowen's theft The system has been
in vogue for many years and has not
only been cumbersome but unsafe.
The State will have to stand nearly all
cf the loss sustained through Mckow-
en-. The bondsmen for McKowen are
the Pacific Surety Company, which
furnished a bond for $4,000 that it will
De 1Orceo- TO pay IlilS iSdNCS dbOuI
SS5 600 that the State will lose.
Regent Foster who is chairman of
the finance committee of the Regents.
was chosen by his colleagues to give
out a statement as to the action of the
committee after the meeting. He did
not give out a definite statement as to
the amount of the loss, but said that
the committee would continue to meet
until it had discovered just what
amount was stolen.
I'VE have gone over the accounts of
the secretary" he said, but we are not
yet in a position to state how much
money was taken. We will do every
thing in our power, however to find out
how it is possible for a man to take so
much money without being detected.
There is mystery somewhere and we
intend 70 solve it. Each year the aud
itor goes over the accounts. Most of
the money, l might say practically all
of it, was first taken from private do
nations and then replaced by money
taken from the university funds
Regent John A. Britton. the most ac-
tive member of the committee, indorsed
everything Mr.. Foster said, and de-
clared that McKowen would be prose-
cuted.
Il think before we get through" said
Mr.. Britton, 'it will be found that at
least $4,000 is missing. 1t is almost
impossible to conceive how a single
man could steal that amount of money
and yet escape detection. No doubt it
is the fault of the bookkeeping system,
which has not grown with the growth
of the university. l don't suppose that
anybody is really to blame for the loss
of the money, as Secretary McKowen
certainly carried out his plan of deceit
in most subtle way. but the system
should certainly have been changed"
Charles E. Shook would not make any
statement for publication on The ground
that he had appeared merely as attor-
ney for the Board of Regents and did
not know enough of the proceedings to
talk about them.
Mr.. Heller, Treasurer Hellman's rep
resentative, said afterward that a pros
ecution Of McKowe1 woul6, be neces-
sary. even if the defaulter could make
good the stolen money, which he can
not do. As he had not conferred with
his client he refused to say anything
as to the culpability of any one for per-
mitting the peculations.
McKOWEN IN JAIL.
McKowen, who remained in the Gus
tody of Constable Samuel Edgar all
day, was taken by his custodian 10 the
County Jail in Oakland after the in
vestigation, where he spent the night
He was perfectly willing to go and did
not attempt to secure bends. No
charge was placed against him as the
investigating committee has not yet
decided just what charge will be made
He had a brief consultation with his
attorney, P. f. Dunno of San Francisco.
McKowen made 8 complete confess
sion Of his wrongdoing to President
Wheeler, Withholding nothing. The con-
fession was precipitated by a false
step that this victim Of the gambling
mania and his own weakness took to
pay debt contracted on the race track /
with Bookmaker Tim Davis as his
creditor Instead of betting money
McKOWen negotiated his bets with "T