Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-27


curacy, and whose conscientious. painstak-
ing fidelity in scrutinizing the smallest de-
tail left no loophole of escape for irregu-
larity or wrongdoing. l never examined
her books, as the auditor Is not clothed with
authority to direct the methods to be fol-
lowed in keeping the records of offices other
than his own, but I accepted as conclusive
the assurances given to me from time to
time that the two offices were In agreement
as to balances shown. In the cases of
transfers from one appropriation to an
other she was exceptionally careful and
dilfgent. protesting promptly against the
least delay in auditing, and in addition to
examining the ledger entry. exacting the
production of the certificate of deposit,
which proved that the money in given
case had been received by the treasurer of
the United States. 1 looked upon this ex-
animation as guaranty of accuracy and a
bulwark of defense against fraud.
THE deposit and assessment fund &C
counts which are outside the regular sys-
tenn of the Office, were in Watson's sole
charge and custody. 1t was only one mans
work to keep them. and as my force is
small each one being compelled often to
work after office hours in order to meet
the demands upon him, no second examina-
ton by another clerk in my office was pos
sible. Nor was this deemed necessary in
WatSOns case. for the reason that SINH
lar account was kept in the engineer depart
ment, and under the system of checking.
to which have just referred, no apprehen-
sion as to safety was ever entertained.
THE clerk in charge of this account in
the engineer department, Mr.. w. r. Lap
ham, is one whose skill and ability as
bookkeeper easily place him In the front
rank of accountants. No one knows better
than he every intricacy Of the relationships
which subsist between the debit and credit
sides of ledger, which may develop in
the process Of keeping and comparing &C
counts, be they never SO complex or IN
volved, nor could he be told anything that
he does not already know concerning the
value of a check by one Independent office
upon another in comparison between them
of related and corresponding accounts.
LAS already stated, 1 had no one who
could follow Watson, but if my force had
been ample for the purpose no value, as
a safeguard, would have attached to such
a review that would be comparable to the
scrutiny of an outside office, to say moth
ing Of the fact that in the case or one
office checking against itself there might
be room for suspicion of collusion among
Its employees.
''Messrs. Lapham and Watson frequently
interchanged visits for the avowed pur-
pose of comparing accounts and checking
against each other, and all appearances IN
dicated SO far as l could possibly judge
without participating in the examination.
that the comparisons were as thorough and
complete as those relating to accounts I'M
der Congressional appropriat lions which were
made by Miss West with the chief DOCK
keeper of the auditors office.
Z
1.-THE objective point of these compare
sons between Messrs. Lapham and Watson
was to prove that in transfers from de-
posts to the fund, or from appropriations
to the fund, the money value Of the trans
fers showed as credit in the bank account
of the fund. All transfer vouchers relat-
ing to the deposit and assessment fund
originated in Mr. Lapham's office, were
nd hv i'm h
sent to Watson for payment. He meas
ured up all the work done upon street
cuts by his several regular gangs which
were employed and paid from the fund;
entered the charges therefor in the ledger
Of the fund. which he personally kept and
which was believed to be duplicate in this
particular of the one kept by Watson; re-
corded and initiated in his own hand and
forwarded to Watson all vouchers for pay
ment from the fund, whether for material
or labor, and was necessarily conversant
with every detail Of debit or credit relating
to the fund Knowing as he did that the
account was kept in the bank just as &C
counts under appropriations are kept in
the treasury it was incumbent upon him,
as the most sacred duty that could fall to
official lot, to demand examination of the
bank book precisely as Miss West, under
similar conditions, required the exhibition
of the treasurers certificate Of deposit
when the fund paid for work done for
some depositor or for an appropriation Mr..
Lapham prepared and issued the transfer
repayment voucher, charging the cost back
to the depositor to the appropriation,
as the case might be, and then sent 1T for
ward to Watson, thus making 1t necessary
for him to see not merely that 1t went into
Watson's ledger, but that 1t appeared as
credit in the bank account of the fund.
This was the supreme, the only purpose
of the examination between them, and
failing here the checking was a bald, use
less, unmitigated waste of time, which
could not deceive the merest tyro in book
keeping, still less one like Mr.. Lapham,
whose accomplishments entitle him to rank
as past master in the art.
Unless l had suspected Watson's in
tegrity, which I did not for moment do,
the fact was not likely to develop in Off
being thoroughly checked by Mr.. Lapham.
AT first they would alternate between the
offices in their visits, and / recall now
how, on several occasions when I would
notice Mr.. Lapham at Watson's desk and
inquire as to the purpose of his visit, he
would respond pleasantly, Trying to keep
you straight to which I would reply:
That is what I want you to do Latter
ly however, Watson would generally go
to Mr.. Lapham's Office for the exarnina-
ton. On these occasions he would come
to me for the bank book, which I kept in
my DESK remarking in response to my
inquiry as to his object: I want to check
with Mr.. Lapham.' OF course, knowing
gave the book to him. Since, however 1
have come to know the extent of his vii
lainy, l do not doubt that he often on
these occasions used the book for making
some misdeposit of stolen checks in order
to cover shortage In the bank Of deposit.
I'm view of the fact that Mr.. Lapham,
the keeper of the fund account and GUS
tcdian Of its interests, the director of it's
operations and the originator of the trans
fer vouchers which were the basis of its
revenue, never, by word or deed, advised
me of error or irregularity, was justified
in believing. as I did, that all was well
with the deposit and assessment fund
Watson's Concealment of His Crime.
THE fact that Watson was able to
continue his operations for such long
time before detection has naturally
caused surprise in the minds of the gen.
eral public, but, as I have just stated,
being constantly assured that the ac-
counts were regularly checked with an
able examiner in an Office outside and in
dependent of my own, and knowing. If
this were true, that error or fraud must
and inevitably be discovered,
no apprehension of danger was felt, and
the field of opportunity thus lay open to
a soulless marauder. With his initial
theft Watson began a campaign of SUBJ
stitution, using the money received in