The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-03-29
CONTINUES A
MISSING Man
cERNlNG WILLIAMS.
WAS NOT AT SALT LAKE
Dispatch Announces Non-ArrivaI There
from San Francisco State Ex-
aminer Checking UP Office.

anniner Checking Up Office.
II Thomas A. Williams really left
San Francisco for Salt Lake he either
never reached the latter place or else
changed his mind and did not call at
the office of the Western Loan and
Savings company's office, as he ap-
peared to have given out he would
when last seen by anyone at San
Francisco. This fact seems to have
been clearly established by tele-
gram received last Saturday by E. W.
Dunno, deputy clerk of the court
Upon receipt of the message from
the San Francisco chief of police an
nouncing the departure of Williams
from that place with Salt Lake as the
ostensible point of his first stop on
the homeward journey, Mr.. Dunno sent
the following dispatch to the Western
Loan and Savings company, with
which he knew Williams to have had
business dealings:
Billings, March 25.-Thomas A.
Williams, clerk courts here, left San
Francisco for Salt Lake about week
ago. Did he call about his wife's busi
ness, and where gomez
The reply follows:
"Salk Lake, March rs, 19O4.-Wil-
liams has not been here.
western Loan and Savings Co."
Communicates With Coroner"
| !. Satisfied that Williams had not
gone to Salt Lake and still unwilling
to believe that he had really abscond-
ed, Mr.. Dunno decided upon another
step,- although doubtful as to any
| better results following than had at
tended his efforts in the other direc-
tions pursued in fruitless endeavors
to secure some tidings from the miss
ling man. He said that he would wire
to the coroner at San Francisco, as it
was barely possible Williams had been
found dead, and in that event some
thing might be learned to relieve the
suspense under which his family and
friends were laboring.
Checking His Accounts.
At the instance OF Chairman Parker
of the board of county commissioners,
State Examiner Hudnall came from
Helena yesterday and began checking
the accounts of Williams office. Mr..
Hudnan said it would require no
more than couple of days to examine
all of the records so far as the fnan-
cial affairs of the Office were concern
ed. He also explained that the oppor-
tunities for dishonesty on anything
like a large scale were very few in
the Office. The most that dishonest
clerk could appropriate in civil ac-
tion was $40, the sum total OF costs,
unless stenographer's fees were ad-
ded, something not usual. OF the SO
SIS is for filing the complaint; $3.50
for a demurrer or reply and <R.50 for
entering judgment.
The process of examining the ac-
counts of the Office is simple. Only
tyo books need to be compared, the
Fecord of court proceedings and the
fee book. In the first, of course, ap-
pears notation of every step in the
progress of a trial from the commence
ment of the action until it's final dis
position. By examining this book and
comparing the entries in the other it
is easily ascertainable whether the
fees collected have been accounted
for.
One Weak Spot.
AS explained by Mr.. Hudnall in
respect to the records in criminal ac-
tions serious defect exists in the
provisions made for keeping the rec
ord of fines collected. The law pro-
vides that upon the payment of fines
the clerk of the court shall immediate
ly turn the money over to the county
treasurer. The clerk is supposed to
enter the amount of each fine paid, by
whom paid and the date of payment
thereof. Should he fail to do so no
way exists by which it can be learned
whether any fines have been collected
and not accounted for, except by the
devious method of making inquiry OF
the different attorneys, who may have