The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-04
BAD BOOKKEEPING . IN MORGAN COUNTY Examiner Finds State Is
 Due $6315.72 EX-SHERIFF SHIPP Is Charged With Owing $6315.72. Several Officers Found to Have
 Poor System of Keeping
 Their Accounts
SHIPP
By BEsRyMAN q. BETTY

Ny BERRt MAN ts. bE1Tf
 Montgomery, -3.-t Special Weird and even tragic bookkeeping and material ignorance of the statutes abounded to great extent in Morgan during the past few years, ac- cording to information furnished Gov Emmet ONeal in a report which has been made on the accounts of various of that county. The report was submitted by Charles l.. Townes, one of the associate examiners. of pub lie accounts, and shows that as a re- suit of the bad bookkeeping and lS norance of the law the state is due an amount of money aggregating s6,315.72. while the county is due the handsoma sum of sS,4SS.67.
 As a result of the work of the ex- aminer in Morgan county, moreover, the state had already been paid s1SS17, while the county has been to the extent of s2,531.15. All in all, the entire indebtedness to state and county prior to the exam iners investigation, aggregated ac- cording to his interpretation of the law more than s12,00o.
 The amount that is now due tho state, aggregating s6,S15.72, is attrih- uted against Ex-Sherlff T. R. Shipp of Morgan county, and is derived by the examiner owing to the fact that books in the office have either been lost or mislaid,' making 1t necessary for the examiner to charge against the ex-sheriff the entire board money paid to the sheriff by the state between the dates July. 1907 and January, 191l Owing to the drastic report that he was submitting, however, because of the disappearance of the books, the examiner recommended clemency on the part of the board of compromise in dealing with the situation.
 County Indebt tedness
 The indebtedness of sS43S. 67 alleged to be due the county is attributed against three county commissioners of Morgan county, and against the present treas urer and the ex-treasurer. Because of the fact that the county commissioners paid themselves for certain services rem dered the county. prior to the act of 1907, they are said to be due the county as follows: Abe Ryan, s519. 76: A. A. Har- dage. s346. 46; J. M. Jackson, S430. 52 Ex- Treasurer J. D. Eperson is said to be due the county $296 O6, and Treasurer T, R. Ryan the sum of slS09. .75, because of paying those amounts, upon commissions CTS warrants, for certain charitable pur- poses that were taken by the examiner to be against the provisions of the stat utes. While he looked upon the expen- ditures as meritorious, he at the same time stated that they were evidently er- roneous.
 With respect to the county commits sioners' court, the examiner reported that J. D. Mechanism is now due the county s49274, and James F. Forman is due the county $36.12 for the same act in paying for certain services which were formerly against the provisions of the statutes.
 Report in Nutshell
 In a nutshell the examiner reported as follows:
 Thomas R. Shipp. ex-sheriff. due the state s6S15.72 because of not having books in his office to show when prisoners were committed, and when they were released Witnesses arraigned before the examiner, he stated, could throw no light on such commitments or releases. hence he had charged against the sheriff all board bills that have been collected from the state. The examiner stated that the office was poorly kept.
 A. S. Blackwell. circuit court clerk. due state s67 40, which was promptly paid. The system of bookkeeping here, he says, was bad.
 J. Troup tax assessor. and c. c. Hardwick, tax collector, were found to have their accounts correct.
 James S. Fowler, ex-crcuit clerk, was l. c n- I. s..I. promptly paid. He said that he found the office poorly kept, without any heed to section 3272 of the code. which prescribes the duties of the circuit clerk The anne criticism was offered Mr. Blackwell in this respect.
 William H. Skeggs, jrobate judge, due state s20.So, which was promptly paid.
 T. A. Oden, superintendent of education, accounts correctly kept, as were the ac- counts of R. N. Mccullough, present sher- if.
 Charged to Treasurer
 In simplifying the amounts said to be due the county by it's courts of commls- sioners, the examiner stated that many claims were ordered improperly paid which in turn were charged to the county treasurer because of the fact that the lat ter should have looked into the legality of the payment before issuing checks.
 Some of the commissioners" the ex- aminer stated, have violated section 7434 of the code, which prohibits coun- ty officials from performing service for or selling goods to the county wiii ci are subpect to indictment The report showed that all claims audited were properly itemized, but were not sworn to- The report stated that exSheriff Shipp kept fee book foi felony cases, for which he was charged with an indebtedness of s130.75. The ex-sheriff was also charged with of. ficers' script aggergating s1717.5( against the fine and forfeiture fund but that the script was promptly re- turned
 Circuit Court Clerk Blackwell wa. credited in the report for return tt the county of s6o3.25 said to be due il 1 fines.
 | Poor bookkeeping of ex-Circuit Clerl Fxrr AAut fhA a.~.-