The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-07-15
SENSlTION IN TIIER C0gNTY
.piscHEpAS ms lfg. II
slsTERsVi el g. cREATE
!. Z. EXCITEMENT

!. EXCITE I'm ElS I.'s
s1sTERsV1LLE, w. Va. July To-
That the city Of sistersyilIe has lost q
large part Of it's income from the sale
Of city water in the last four years
seems conclusive from the evidence
that is now being secured. The total
amount which has been diverted from
the city treasury win probably never
be known owing to the difficulties in
the way Of getting at It.
tits charged, and the evidence tends
to bear out the charge, that the forme:
water commissioner, Geo. o. Cutler.
who served for four years in that ca
pacity and was supersededst a few
months ago by c. E. Lindsey, collect
ed bills for water and gave a receipt
for the amount paid in each case, but
that in some instances no record Of
payment was made on *He city books
and that in other cases the amount re-
corded was smaller than the amount
receited for. A receipt book with
blank receipts numbered consecntivc!y
and stubs numbered to correspond was
used in the water commissioners Of
fee, Since the matter has been under
Investigation many receipts have been
discovered in the possession Of cltl'
zcns for sums in excess Of the amounts
on the corresponding stubs. The books
Of Mr.. Cutler have been gone over and
found to balance correctly, the stubs
being used to show2the amount re.
ceived. But the, discovery that the
receipts and the stubs do not CORE
spond as to amounts, in many cases,
makes an apparent shortage.
Mr.. Cutler says that If there is any
discrepancy It is due to errors in look
keeping and committee Of the coun'
Gil is now at work trying to find out,
as learly as possible, how much the
discrepancies amount to.
In some cases the stub showed an
amount even ten dollars dess than the
receipt In some it was SO pr cent.
less. The stubs range from = cents
to $40 less than the receipts so far as
compared and in some cases receipts
were written on other paper and no
amount was placed on any stub. In
the case Of corporation WHICH p'ys
by check, comparison shows hat 1t has
receipts for nearly $3.50. which is not
shown on the stubs. A poor widow,
who was working hard for living was
compelled to pay a bill of eight dol
lars. She got the receipt but the stub
shows one dollar, and as one man sad
in the council meeting "the city got all
but seven dollars of II"
The discovery of the discrepancies
was first discovered by the new COM
missioner, who found among other
, cases that the records did not show
the payment Of water tax on house
! owned by the mayor. The latter
showed a receipt and some eyes were
, opened. Tic matter was reported to
the city council, and committee con-
slsting Of ]. C. Jones, W. N. Lszear
and John Finnison, is investigating
the case and will make report to the
council next Monday night, wher &C.
ton Of some kind is expected. The
committee has w. f. Dorm going f:Nm
house to house comparing such re-
ceipts as can be found, but very
large per cent. Of them have been lost
or destroyed, so that It will be i'm
possible to find out the total amount
Various estimates of the discrepancy
are made ranging from few hundred
dollars 10 six or seven thousand. The
estimates of those probably in the Lest
position to tell are about $1,000 TO
$4,000.