The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-05
TOMMY ATKINS
RETAINS BUNCH
OF CITY'S CASH
NegIeCtS, to Turn in Receipts
From Poll Tax and Stubs
Are Withheld.
is SUSPENDED, BUT SAYS
He CAN EXPLAIN ALL
BOOKS TAKEN FROM SAFE IN
STREET DEPARTMENT AFTER
THREATS TO USE HAMMER.

The embezzlement of 1851 of funds
belonging to the city is charged
against t. st. Leger Atkins. chief
clerk in the street department
The learned special auditors whom
the city is paying thousands of dol
lars to make perfect the bookkeeping
of the various departments did not
discover the discrepancy in Mr.. Atkins
accounts and it remained for Council
man L. ]. Wood to make the disclos-
ure.
Atkins is chief clerk of the street de-
partment, of which J. T. Raleigh is
superintendent, and in that capacity
keeps all. the books. It is said that he
has kept a private receipt book for
poll tax collections in the office and
that the persons who paid their poll
tax to him received receipts from this
book which were never entered in the
ledger.
That this is so was substantiated by
several cOuncilmen who visited The
street department office yesterday af-
ternOon. In the party were Council
man L. J. Wood, G. H RaybouId, I.
r. Black and John Holley.
Clerk Is Embarrassed.
Wood demanded that Atkins show
him the private book which he kept
in the safe. This embarrassed the
clerk and he declared that he did not
have the key to the safe with him
it is an old-fashioned cOntrivance with
out combination lock.
you had better get that key and
hurry up about it," said Superintendent
Raleigh, 'or 1 will have the safe brok-
en- open with a siedge hammer"
Atkins said the key was at his home
and went to get it. Returning, he
said that he could not find the key,
and Raleigh Immediately called for the
hammer, saying that he was deter
mined to see the book which Wood
/ said was there.
/ Before his command could be exc
cuted, the electrician of the county
| building was found and he managed to
pry ODen the lock without breaking
/ the safe.
Book Is Found.
In the safe was found the book
which Wood claimed was there. 1t con-
] tanned originally 600 receipts, but III
of them had been torn out. The stubs
showed only the name and address CT
the payer and did not show the date.
or whether the poll tax had been paid
/ for in labor or cash On the ledger
/ kept in the office there were no en-
1 tries of any of these receipts The
numbers in the book were from 1900
| to 1899, and how the special auditors
| failed to discover the discrepancy is
/ a mystery. as there was another book
numbered from 1000 to 1899, which is
! recorded in the ledger. as are also the
4 two books on the other side of The
missing numbers.
( The accusation is that Atkins kept
/ this book in the safe, and whenever
any one paid poll tax TO him he gave
them a receipt out of the book and
did not enter it in the ledger.
| Councilman Wood, who made the
complaint, acknowledges that he has
known of the book for four months
why did you not tell me about it?'
| asked Superintendent Raleigh.
"Well, because I was afraid you
would tell Atkins and he would destroy
the evidence" replied Wood.
Atkins Protests Innocence.
| Wood, before his election to the
council was a poll tax collector, and
was under bond of 81, 900 to the city,
as is Atkins.
| Atkins says there is nothing TO the
charges. He claims that he has not
| had time to enter these receipts in his
! ledger and that he intended to do so
at once He says he can prove his in
nocence of any wrongdoing.
/ The matter came before the council
/ last evening on the reading of a COM
munication from Superintendent Ra-
leigh suspending Atkins until an in
vestigation is made. The matter was
referred to the streets and finance
committees.
I