The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-11
]. M. LAMMONS IS
 FOUND MISSING Geneva Superintendent May Be
 Short S8,000 TEACHERS ARE NOT PAID Drew State Money and Announced That He Would Take His Wife Away for Treatment-May Turn
 Up With Explanation.
TEACHERS ARE NOT PAID

Montgomery. March 10.-(Special.) 1.-The officers of the state and the county of Geneva are looking for J. M Lammons, | superintendent of education of that coun- l ty, who has not been seen since February | 20, last when he drew the sum of l $53S9 50, due the teachers of his county, | from the treasury of the state, no part. ! of which sum has yet been paid to the | teachers, Lammons has left Geneva and | all of the books and papers of his office | are missing, which makes it impossible to 1 tell just what shape his accounts are in. The prospect is that if Lammons has | absconded, as seems to be the case from all the information that can be gathered, he will be found short with the state and the county as much as Ss000. In ad- dition to the S53ss. 80 referred to, he drew for the teachers on the January pay
 roll 02S0, some of which at least 1t
 is said, has not reached the ones to whom
 it is due for service. It is also thought
 that there was some school building
 money to be paid out, but this can be
 but little. if any. It is not known to
 what extent the county funds are in-
 volved, if at all.
 Lammons, who is a man of about 25 years, has been in office since Novem-
 Der, 1904, being teacher and a man of high standing. His wife is a daughter of Prof. R. J, H. Simmons of the city schools of Geneva, and they have lit- tie child a few weeks old. Mrs. Lam-
 mons and the baby are out of Geneva and are supposed to be with the husband and father, wherever he is at the present time. When he left Geneva Lammons said that he was going to Ozark to see | his father, but he never went there so | far as information can be secured. Lannon's expressed the intention to ac- l company the Alabama delegation to the meeting of the department of superin- tendents in Chicago some days ago. the | party leaving here on February 9. At ! the last moment he drew out saying that | his wife was ill and that he was going l to take her away. lie endeavored to get 1 the February pay roll ahead of time, but | was not allowed to do so. February 20 be- ing the first day it could be secured. After he received the check he was iden- tified over the phone at the bank and
 there he secured the money That wis the last of it until State Superintendent
 Gunnels received a telegram two or three
 days ago saying that there was trouble
 and it was feared that the county su-
 perintendent had gone away with money
 of the state.
 It will be difficult to discover how
 much of the January pay roll was not given out to teachers. According to the rules the checks of the teachers are signed by way of indorsement by the county superintendent. Until the owners make complaint it will not be known who have been paid and who have not. This 1aW sage from Geneva indicates that some of these payments have not been made but it is not possible to tell how many The books of the office at Geneva have
 been taken away and it is impossible to
 get any sort of order out of the chaos.
 Lammons was bonded by the Fidelity and Guarantee company of Philadelphia
 for $11 ,000, which will be ample to take care of the state and the county It will require much hard work to ferret out the teachers who have not been paid if the books are not found and lists furnished. The bond company will begin a search at once and it may be that Lammons will turn up He told the state officers that he was going to take his wife away for treatment, as she had been ill., and it
 may be that after all he will be located in
 a few days and make public such facts as will enable the officers to get at a
 statement of his books.
 Lammons lived a life of exemplary con-
 duct at Geneva. He took lively part
 in the affairs of the Baptist church and
 was a leader in such matters in the town.
 He has never been known to drink or
 gamble and there is mystery of the
 deepest sort over the developments of the
 case. His many friends here are greatly
 shocked and many of them maintain
 that he will make all clear in the end.
 There Is great sympathy for his wife,
 as 1t seems sure that she did not profit
 by anything that was done. There is a
 report that Lannon's had been specu- lating in lands.