The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-08-11
DENIES GUILT
Cashier of Orr Mills an Alleged
DefauiteI.
BOOKS ARE TANGLED

He Is Places Under Arrest AZ the
Instance Of the President Of the
Miil--Cncashed Checks and Rat
Eaten Paper Money is Found IN
the Vault
Calhoun Harris. secretary and as
sis.ant cashier Of the Orr cotton
mills. located at Anderson was ar
res,ed Tuesday morning in that city
on a warrant obtained by President
J. D. Eammets. charging breach OF
.rass It being alleged that he mis-
appropriated $4,000 or more OF the
eompany's funds. Harris denies ever
having m!sapprop-iated oae dollar OF
the company's money and that every
thing will be found all right when
the expert accountants get through
with auditing the books.
The a.sc in,ination OF a Snort
age came on Tuesday OF last week.
Ahou. two weeks ago TWO account
ants OF the American Audit Conoany
re.. to Anderson to andit ehe BOOKS
O. the mills. - Is customary about
once 3 year. After working for
few DAYS the experts touad one or
two items which did no: appear coz
rect. On further examination It ap-
peared that Mr.. Harris vas short IN
his account $4,000 and when bis
attention was called 70 It BE saic
the showing WAS correct, but claim
cd that & was due TO clerical es-
.orS
President Eammett and the direc-
tors questioned Nj. Harris closely
and were disposed 70 believe him
Ehen he insisted that the shortage
was due to clerical errors As the
investigation proceeded. howe7e:
many false entries were found and
many things appeared which did not
tend to clear Mr. Harris from su+
psc;on. Il was found that he 40:
only made false entries TO make cor
rect balances but that hs also had
been kicing checks from one bank
to another and that in many !ns.ane'
es he had given the mill his own
personal checks to account FOR cash
which the mill should have had or
hand, had entered these checks o.
the books Of the mill and then had
never presented these checks to the
bank for payment.
In another instance. g batch o.
personal checks from merchant IL
Andersen were found n the vaul'
OF the mill Office which had neve'
been presented to the bank foc pay
mert. These checks bore diseren'
dates. several years old. They had
been entered OF the books Of the
mill. showing that the me.chan
had paid his account. The book:
show that the mill on one occasion
loaned $4,000 20 Harris. A fed
weeks later i: appeared that ;h::
loac was repaid. A personal checs
signed by Mr.. Harris was found IL
the vault for tie amount OF th'
loan. the dates corresponding with
the books entries
In addition to these checks ther:
we're found in the vault many par
cells and packages OF money, some
n old envelopes. some in old past"
board boxes and some in coiI
sacks. Some OF the money was IL
bills and had lain IN the vault unit
some OF Il had been eaten and part
II demolished by rats All Of these
items win aggregate about $s.eet
70 $4,000.
Dir. Harris was for years treasur
er Of the First Presbyterian church
In the vault were found grea.
many envelopes which the members
OF the congregation use on Sundays
IN making their payments 70 the
church. These envelopes bear the
name Of the contributor anc the
amount contributed. There were
dozens OF these envelopes that were
never opened. some Of them dating
as far back as ave years There
has been found one instance o!
where checks OF the mill had been
used by Mr. Harris in setting the
church account at the bank.
The experts OF the auditing CON-
peny say that the accounts were Il
worse shape than any they have ever
seen. They say that 1t will take
them several months to verify al!
entries. At the sana time It is
known that tae shortage will in no
wise cripple the mill. as large sar-
plus has been accumulated and the
stock Is worth more than par. M
Harris has been secretary and as
sis;ant cashier Of the Orr mills since
their establishment. He received
Q good salary but has not lived e1-
traragantly and has no: shown any
signs Of living beyond his means.
His books have been examined
repeatedly oy different auditing COM
panies. including the one nov check
ing the accounts II appears. how
ever. that hi. accounts have been
wrong for several years and that he
has been able 70 cover up all indi-
cations Of crookedness from the au-
d!tors BY various means. When
asked for statement by 8 news
paper man Mr.. Harris said: 'I Just
want 70 say that II full examina-
ton is made Il will be found that !
have not uisappropria:ed single
dollar OF the mills money. Beyond
this I have nothing to say at this
time
Those who know tie chaotic cor