The new era. (Walden, Colo.) 1906-19??, 1907-06-06
GAMBLING DID IT
CITY CLERK OF COLORADO TOWN
cONFESS:S TO EM6EZZLE-
MENT.
is SHORT ABOUT $4,000
Admits That Stealing Has Been Going
on Long Time and That Life
Was Living He'll.

Telluride, Colo.-The total amount
city clerk of Telluride, secretary-di-
| rector of the Telluride School Board
| and treasurer of the local lodge of
Elks, will reach between $4,000 and
$4,000. OF this amount the city of
Telluride loses $5,I95.16, the school
district over $4,000 and the Elks be-
tween $500 and $1,000.
Lilley has made confession of his
wrong-doings. .but says he cannot es-
innate the exact total amount he Sc
secured
Gambling is the cause of my down
fall" he said in cell at the county
jail. Il have been doing this for over
five years and expected to be discov-
cred months ago. Life has been veri
table hell during the last year. for |
knew that sooner or later the truth
would come out"
AS a result of the disclosures made.
all gambling houses in Telluride were
voluntarily closed by their proprietors
to anticipate threatened action on the
part of the city and county authorities.
The downfall of Llley, who says he
lost every cent he stole in local gam
bling houses, has caused public senti-
ment to turn against these places and
it is doubtful if they will ever be al
lowed to reopen.
When Lilley was arrested, the own
ers of the six gambling houses here
intimated that they would make up a
purse and reimburse the city to the
amount of the city clerks stealinss.
l,,. ,Lnn u hat otaI
sum he wrongfully took would reach
between 1000 and $4,000, they de-
cided to do nothing but close up in
stead. There is some talk of bringing
legal action against the proprietors of
the places where Lilley is known to
have lost money.
AS soon as it was discovered that
Lilley had stolen money from the city
a hasty preliminary examination was
made of the books of the School Board.
of which the city clerk is secretary-di-
rector. and also the books of the Elks'
lodge. of which he is treasurer. A few
hours work uncovered fraudulent
school warrants aggregating over So
900. How this bogus paper escaped de-
lection for so many years is a mystery.
Lilley would issue small warrants
against the School Board on account of
ing. material and the like. which S. A.
Bailey and S. R. Fitzgerald would sign
and countersign as treasurer-director
and observation-disclosures, respectively r
These warrants would be SO prepared
that it would he an easy matter to
raise the amount from few dollars to
hundreds. Lilley would then forge the
name of the alleged payee and cash
the paper either at the banks or at the
gambling house or saloon.
Bailey is vice president of the First
National Bank of Telluride and stands
high in this community. He is at pres
ent out of the city. but when he re
turns an expert examination of the
School Board books will be made.
Fitzgerald. the president-director of the
board is well-known attorney and like
Bailey, enjoys an unimpeachable repu-
tation for honesty. These two men,
their friends claim, had the utmost
confidence in Lilley's integrity and
never suspected that he was false to
his trust. They left the details of
management of the board entirely to
Lilley and t,usted him implicitly. They
never questioned the warrants they
signed, because the amounts called for
were always small. Lilley was custo-
dian of the school records, which he
took pains to see did not come undef
the inspection of either Bailey or Fitz-
gerald.
AS treasurer of the Elks' lodge, Lii.
,, ley drew checks in favor of himself
and cashed them. He is under bond
and the lodge will lose nothing.
The expert examination into the
books of the city clerk was completed
this morning. 1t appears that Lilley's
wronPdoinp as city official began
during March. 1906, and continued un-
til the day he was arrested. Lilley
was under a $1,000 bond furnished by
surety company for the faithful pen
Torrance of his duties as city cler3
Lilley did not handle any of the city's
money and the bond was more to pro-
tect the town against the loss of its
books and records and to insure the
faithful performance of duty on the
part of the city clerk.