The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-22
Rep0rt on Accounts <
 of Col. Bricken Made

unduly extravagant in his expendit- ures.
 According to the courts report no discrimination between drafts from private funds and State appropriations was made by Examiner H. r. Brooke, and as his report was based upon, the expenditures from the consolidated fund.-. the apparent unseemly expendit- ures were easily explained.
 In all, according to the fndings. the State of Alabama is due Colonel Brick : en t17.52. instead of the officer being the debtor to the State.
 The complaints of Examiner Brooke were taken up severally. In regard to the military encampment at Selma, of 1906. the Examiner had recommended that vouchers amounting to s4s7.s5. made out by Colonel Bricken, should have been rejected. The court de- clared. however, that only s2li.7o of this should have been rejected. And this, with the fact that s1e7.2a was ex- pended from private funds, made only $l4.4t which was due the State by Colonel Bricken.
 AS to the Selma encampment of 1907. Brooke declared S6s4. which Colonel Bricken had represented as necessary ' G4PCnccS, SnOukQ nave QEGu ISIcCLeQ 0y the State. This the Court cut down to $s6s.55. but here. too, private fund, outside of the State appropriation, was drawn from. so that sl6.os is due Col onel Bricken.
 As to an item for two days extra pay. amounting to s1,2i0.32. Brooke held that Colonel Bricken is due the State that amount. But the court found that the amount was legally drawn. and that Bricken could not be held for 1t.
 Brooke held several expenditures by Bricken at the Daphne target practice, for liquor and for bathing suits to be unseemly and unnecessary. The court allowed these amounts. rejecting only $20 for bath towels and cigars.
 The court also placed to the credit of Colonel Bricken the amount of $40. 50 which the officer had sent to Governor Conner, when he considered Himself in error. Altogether s55.os was credited to the Colonel. by the court. while vouchers Of. sss.oS were rejected, mak- ing q balance of s17.o2 still to the cred 1t of Colonel Bricken, and unpaid by the State.
 Examiner Brooke also sought to charge to Colonel Bricken $500 for armory rent at Luverne. and again, $loo for armory rent at 0pelika. The court held. however. that these amounts should not rightfully have been charged to the officer.
 The investigation of the court began with hearing on February go. and the findings were submitted to Governor Conner on April 3. The intervening time was taken up with consideration of the evidence by the court, and by its private Investigations.
 Recommendations Made.
 The court, which consisted of Gen erai Louis V. Clarke, of Birmingham, President; General R. F. Ligon, Jr., of Montgomery, Colonel McKIeroy, of An- niston, and Major A. c. Sexton, Re- corder, submitted, with it's findings, recommendations, which asked that more adequate provision be made by the State for the holding of militia en- campments. and that the State appro- priation for such occasions be made sufficiently large to cover all demands. It was shown that the officers had been forced to the resort of soliciting aid from the town people among whom they encamped. and it was these con- tributions which caused the difficulty, as the money procured by tine dona- tions was placed with. the State appro- priation. and drafts made from the con- solidated fund. It was shown that Fcx- aminer Brooke was not cognizant oe the fact that much of the money spent did not strictly belong to the State, but had been acquired through other sources.
 The recommendations in full are:
 Montgomery, Ala, Feby. 20, 1909. Governor B. B. Conner, Commander-in-
 Chief Alabama National Guard,
 Montgomery. Ala:
 Sir-We, the undersigned officers of the Alabama National Guard, while as- sembled as a court of inquiry by your command, to examine into the receipts