The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-11-22
INVESTIGATING
FRAUD CHARGES
CONVlCTS CAUSE OFFICIAL CIR
Giles TO GET BUSY WITH
PENlTENTIARY AFFAIRS

OLYMPIA, Nov. 22.-By direction
of Governor Mead, the State Board of
Control and Superintendent c. S
Reed, of the state penitentiary, are
making a thorough investigation of
charges that by connivance between
the contractors and certain employees
of the penitentiary. false receipts were
given and fraudulent vouchers issued
by which the contractors were paid for
a number of carloads of coal that
were never delivered at the pen1ten-
tiary during the winter of 1866.
The records of the penitentiary and
the duplicates on file in the office of
the state board Of control and of the
state auditor give in detail the num-
bers of cars and weights of coal for
every payment made by the state. The
monthly reports from the penitentiary
also show the number of pounds of
fuel consumed for the month at the
institution. The only possible way In
which the state could have been rob-
bed as charged would be by collusion
between the contractor and the state
clerk and other employees of the peni-
tentiary, whose duty it is to weigh out
the coal and check the shipments
when they are received.
Convicts Make Charges.
The charges We're made by convfcts
who had been employed in office work
about the institution. They alleged
that this crime occurred in the year
beginning November, 1905. During that
time those who had the contract to
furnish coal for the institution were
Samuel Loney. of Walla Walla, and
the Northwestern Improvement COM
pany That these charges may be
simply the result of a plot among the
conVictS who were employed at that
time lin the offices seems possible in
view of some peculiar circumstances.
For example
The memorandum stubs upon which
the penitentiary employees set down the
date of arrival, car number and weight
of the coal have been stolen from the
penitentiary records so that the only
record in the office is the triplicate OF
kept in his tool chest a memorandum
book in which he entered the weight
Df all coal received and consumed
each month This book also has been
stolen leaving only the reports at the
penitentiary and at the office of the
board to show the fuel consumption.
State Clerk b. L. Williams has been
working on tn matter -or some time
and called upon the railroads for a
check on the car numbers shown con
the vouchers The railroads reported
hack that in a number of instances
car numbers shown on the vouchers
which the state paid for coal We're
numbers of cars that had never been
on any railroad in the city OF Wai'a
walla. But the investigation has
shown that the railroad report is in
accurate as there is absolute proof
that several of the cars which the
railroads reported had never been IN
walla Walla were actually delivered
at the penitentiary. A checking up
of the figures reported by the engineer
of coal consumed during the year In
which this crime is alleged to have
occurred shows the amount as pracu-
callv identical with that consumed the
following 12 months.
Sacretarv c. c. Aspinwall- OF the
state board of control. has gone to
walla walla to assist Superintendent
Reed in investigating the matter so
for as the investigation has proceeded
there has not been the slightest founda-
+ion discovered to sustain the charges
h,t the investigation will be continued
until every shipment has been thor
ouohlv checked out and all the facts
ascertained.