Los Angeles herald., 1905-10-07
LOTS OF TROUBLE FOR
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT
THIRTEEN CHARGES AGAINST N
c. DoUGHERTY
Ten Indictments for ENLIGHTENMENT
and Three for Forgery Against
Peoria Man--TotaI Accusations
Will Be More Than Two Hundred
By Associated Press

| BY Associated Press
| PEORIA, Ill, Oct. ga total OF
thirteen indictments have thus far beer
returned against Newton C. Dougherty
city superintendent of schools and. pres
ident of the Peoria National bank. Ten
of them are for embezzlement and three
| for forgery. Forty more are being
drawn by the state attorneys office. 1t
was announced from that office today
that the total would reach more
| than 200
| The bail required for those thus far
returned is $12,70O.
| Mr.. Dougherty is in receipt of mes
sages from all over the country, ex-
pressing sympathy and belief in his
innocence. According to a statement
made by a member of the grand jury
today, hundreds of pieces of school
script, which, it is alleged, has been
changed after being signed by the pres
ident of the school board, are missing
A committee appointed by the school
board to continue the investigation after
the grand jury gets through announced
| through Its chairman, ]. S. Stevens,
today that they would go back over the
books of the board for twenty years.
In some cases both stubs and vouchers
!
the cash books. large amounts.
Edward ]. Schnebly, discount and ex-
change clerk at the Peoria National
bank, the man who first discovered ir-
Irregularities in Mr.. Doughterty's method
of handling school funds, made state
ment today. He said:
II took charge of the individual books
at the bank seven years ago and shortly
thereafter ! began to notice the queer
methods Mr.. Doughterty had of hand
| ling the funds of the Peoria school
board. He would make checks payable
| to various local firms and give his per-
sonal check for a smaller amount.
called the attention of the bank Of
ficials to this state of affairs and was in
formed that 1t was none of my bust
ness. I was then transferred to the
discount and change department. Mr.
Doughtertys dealings were carried on
as follows:
He would bring checks for large
amounts, payable in most instances tc
a school furniture firm in Chicago or a
plumbing firm i'm st. Louis. With these
checks he would purchase New York
| Chicago or st. Louis exchange, made
payable to his own order. Upon exam
| ination of the Endorsements on the
drafts I found that in many instances
they had been used in his private bust
ness affairs. In some cases he Woulc
| indorse the names of local firms on tn;
draft, putting his own initials under
the signature. / laid the matter before
Mr.. Cook, the national bank examiner
for this district. Upon his advice
laid the matter before the attorney
general at Springfield. He advised me
to take it to the states attorney Of
Peoria county, which 1 did. l also laic
the matter before S. f. c. Spring
cashier of the bank. Transactions OF
that kind then ceased, In explaining
that to me Mr.. Dougherty said that he
kept three sets of funds in New York
| Chicago and st. Louis.
when 1 was called before the grand
jury there were exhibited many
changed checks. In one instance ;
check which was charged to the schoo
fund had been raised from $24 to $2450
The stub showed $24.
| Another was drawn for $2750. Tht
stub which had originally read SGT hac
been raised to $3.50. The last two
figures on the stub were in green ink
the first two in black.
II was discharged from the bank only
| last Saturday.