The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-07-26
ACCOUNTSOF DEAD
MAN BADLY
MIXED
Alfred Roscoe Who Held Many
Town Offices
SHORTAGE OF THOUSANDS
investigating Accountants Find No
Record Made of Many
Transactions.
SHORTAGE OF THOUSANDS

Middlebury. July 26.-Since the
death of Alfred Roscoe at New Haven
about six weeks ago, there have been
developments which have caused
much surprise among the people of
that place and surrounding towns. If
the reports OF some of the officers of
the town of New Haven prove to be
| true, Mr., Roscoe, wac held the confid-
ence of his fellow townsmen, and had
served in nearly every town Office was
short in his accounts to an amount
| running well up into thousands of
| dollars. Mr.. Roscoe had been town
clerk town treasurer, treasurer of the
| Congregational church, the only place
of worship in the town, and was also
| treasurer of the Beeman academy
fund for many years. The first sus-
picion that there nad been anything
wrong in the way Mr.. Roscoe had
handled the funds arose when. a few
days after his death the books were
looked over. Ii was found that mon
ey had been borrowed from certain
banks to pay town expenses. so
strong was the faith that the people
nad in Mr.. Roscoe that, although they
admitted that he had exceeded his
authority in borrowing money as he
had done, yet some people expressed
the belief thA upon thorough investi.
CATION everything would come out
straight,
Middlebury accountants went over
the books to unravel them but the ac-
counts grew more complicated. One
citizen of New Haven presented re-
ceipt signed by Mr.. Roscoe and stat
ing that Mr.. Roscoe had had from
this man a sum of money amounting
to hundred dollars. This money
was to be used for town expenses.
There cannot as yet be found any re-
cord OF this transaction on the town
books and this action on the part of
Mr. Roscoe still remains unexplained.
The selectmen of the town ISSUED an
order on the town treasurer to pay
this amount but +. G.. Hunt who is
town agent forNew Haven ordered the
treasurer not to honor this order un-
til it could be shown that the town
was liable for the debt
AS treasurer of the Beeman acad.
envy fund, Mr.. Roscoe loaned money
on notes and only a few days after
his death the maker of one of the
notices receiveda request to pay up the
interest which was due August l,
1908. The maker of the note went to
tae office formerly occupied by Mr..
Roscoe and asked to see the note. To
his surprise, although he had paid the
interest in question, the same had not
been endorsed on the note In
small memorandum book that had been
kept by MIR. Roscoe there had been
an entry that showed tnat the inter
est on the note had been paid.
Another citizen of the town was sur
prised to receive a notice that he
had not paid for his seat in the
church for three years and that the
amount due was 500. This man
stoutly asserts that the seat had been
paid for and produced his books to
prove this fact.
A great amount of work has been
done on the books of Mr.. Roscoe since
his death; yet there seems certain
to be a shortage in the various ac-
counts. The amount of the deficit, it
has been estimated. is between $1,000
to $4,000. That the people had great
faith in Mr. Roscoe is shown by the
fact that even now there are many
who believe that matters will come.
out straight The books have been
placed in the hands of an attorney of
this village and expert accountants
will be employed in an endeavor to
ascertain the amount of the shortage.