The San Francisco call., 1908-10-25

the warrant for Tomalty's arrest was
based was found among the items in
the police fund account, and was used
10 obtain the warrant only after Ray
BENJAMIN had verified the original en-
Try OF S605 in the daily cash balances
IN the auditors office. The blue ink
used 10 raise original items was the
means 10y which Expert Kytka dtscov-
cred a large number Of fresh entries
in the various accounts, all in the
handwriting Of Tomalty.
There was one of $4,000 entered in
The account OF the public administrator
and a number Of smaller ones The
special fund account of the county
clerks Office was swelled by many fresh
entries in blue black ink.
When confronted suddenly by these
fresh entries by Kytka, Tomalty showed
considerable uneasiness, and when the
expert proceeded 70 press him for ex-
plantations Tomalty begged for time to
think the matter over. Before the IN
restigation ended Friday night Iomalty
had acknowledged his own handwrit-
ing ana figures in le different instances
where erasures or fresh entries had
been made. any one Of which the prose-
cultion declares would furnish evidence
sufficient 10 insure romsltys convfc-
non OF Irregularities.
RECORDS NOT DESTROYED
The finding Of the auditors daily cash
balances Of the different municipal de-
partments was d most important matter
10 the inves tigatOrs. With these records,
which ID was thought had been de-
stroyed fn the fire, the examination or
the books Of the treasurer's Office can
be accomplished IN a comparatively
short time, for they viii permit the eN-
perts 10 turn directly 10 the months in
=.- that fziSifCa-
lions were made and by reconstructed
accounts to get somewhere near the
original condition OF the books. lt was
the discovery Of these records yester-
day that caused the district attorneys
Office TO abandon the further examina-
tion of Tomalty and TO reach decision
10 have him arrested
One great handicap that confronts
the district attorneys Office is the fact
that the orders and receipts on which
the men in the supposed conspiracy
drew the money from the treasurer's
office. il il was drawn in the regular
way, have been destroyed. The falsi-
fed records and the cash balances dis
covered yesterday are the only eVl-
dence the district attorney possesses.
Tomalty at the investigation Friday
in Herrick & Herrick's Offices, while
trying 10 explain some of the peculiar
changes in his books remarked several
times that If changes had been made
they were made under instructions of
his superior. referring TO Edward
O'Connor. q chief deputy Of the Office,
who died u months ago. Several of the
vestigators We're disposed 10 believe
that Tomalty was endeavoTing to pass
responsibility 10 O'Connor thus leaving
the investigation without final and
satisfactory explanation for the many
discrepancies in the books.
LAW CAREFULLY REVIEWED
Yesterday was a busy day in the dis
trict attorneys Office. where the law
bearing on the Tomalty case was care
fully reviewed. A warrant for Tomal-
tvs arrest was prepared early in the
day. but it was found to be faulty and
this necessitated the preparation Of an
other, which was not served on Tomalty
until o'clock in the evening
There were two counts in the COM
plant on which the warrant was is
sued. One was under a provision of
section lib Of the penal code, and the
other under section 11z. The reason for
this was that a question arose as to
whether Tomalty. acting in the capacity
OF book keeper, could be regarded as an
official as provided in section 1Is, or
whether he was amenable under section
lie officers. II convicted under section
113 Tomalty is liable to il years i'm
prisOnment The other section provfdes
for q maximum penalty of five years.
i have not falsifed any records in
that Office" was Tomalty's first remark
as he stepped away from the booking
sergeant's desk in the city prison, after
his name had been properly registered
Amy changes that may appear on the
Usually L reported the preceding days
disbursements 10 the auditor each
morning. but during the earthquake
days this duty was not attended TO reg
ularly. Sometimes three or four days
would elapse before ] would render a
report. owing TO the muddled condition
Of affairs ] think that is the way
these changes may have been made
When ] made these overdue reports
may have put in the total for the sew
eral days.
TOMALTY ADMITS FIGURES
Tomalty insisted that he had not de-
nied that the figure that had been
placed before the item sos was his
when questioned at the investigation.
''On the contrary / admitted that IL
was my figure and I believe still that
1t was, although il is pretty hard to
have an accurate idea Of transactions
that took place in the course Of routine
business two years ago. never
handled any money in the treasurer S
Office, Z was simply the book keeper
and took care OF the records. 1t is
nay opinion that the money that is
supposed to be missing never came into
the office. ] was the first to report
20 the finance committee Of the board
of supervisors the fact that S37 900
was missing from the Office"
Tomalty said the first intimation he
received Of trouble was last Saturday
when he was taken to the attorneys
Office and '-sweated."
Monday" said he, Il was told when
arrived al the Office that Postmaster
Fisk, who is McDougald's attorney.
wanted 10 sec me. When 1 saw Fisk
he told me ] had better take a layoff
for while. ] then suspected that /
would be arrested for some cause or
other During the week / was sub
mitted TO frequent examinations at the
Office.
No FEAR OF OUTCOME
i have no fear of the outcome. al
though I regard il as a hardship to
have 10 stand up against all those ex-
perts and try to refresh my memory /
do not expect TO get bail and will prob
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