The Detroit times., 1912-04-09
BOILER INSPECTOR M'CABE
UNCOvERS GRAFT IN HIS
OFFICE CHANGES SYSTEM
Two Former Employees Forced
To Pay Back Money Alleged
To Have Been Stolen
HOW GAME WAS WORKED
Clerks Issued Licenses Under
Numbers Formerly Used
and Pocketed Fees
HOW GAME WAS WORKED

As the result or the discovery oil
graft In the Office OF the city boiler
inspector. Inspector McCabe has in
augurated new system OF keepine
check on licenses issued to engineers.
for which fee OF one dollar Is paid.
% A former employe of the depart
ment under McCabe. O clerk, has been
made to pay back 500 to the city. An
other former employe, an inspector, Is
accused by McCabe OF having appro-
priated 81 received for licenses. but
he has not paid back the money, al
though McCabe says he paid 81 which
il was discovered he had appropri-
ated from money received as inspec'
ton fees.
There are 46 licenses issued to en-
gineers on file in the boiler inspectors
office across the bottom or which ale
written:
The name OF the former employe
under McCabe Is written on AZ OF
these, while the name Oh the former
inspector Is written on four.
When the alleged theft was discoy-
cred by McCabe, he discussed the
matter with the city accountant and
-. VI. Hally, who was then corpora
lion counsel. The latter advised Nc
Cabe that the employees OF the de-
partment could account for the short
age by saying that II resulted from
clerical error and no prosecutions
were begun. McCabe then compelled
one former employee TO return $Ss on
licenses where IL was proven the
money had not been returned to the
city, and the matter was then
dropped.
Under the new system. McCabe has
inaugurated the licenses are printed
IN book form. and each license blank
has a stub. Stub and license bear cor.
responding numbers, printed in req
ink.
"A number was written on each
license as Il was written out under the
old system" said McCabe. They
were supposed 10 run in consecutive
order. but the employe wrote In on
some licenses numbers that had been
used on licenses issued long before.
He would pocket the 81 fee. There
would be no record OF the license Is
sued and. of course, the employe
would fail TO enter the receipts OF the
zee III our DOOhS.- NV ~ 49,
on the licenses.
II took ONCE in August, 1908, and
In the middle OF that month appoint
Ell the clerk who did most OF the
zthieving. The records show that he
began taking the money almost at
once. hit there was no way OF hndinS
Il ont until a year after the licenses
wers issued. Then the licenses started
fAr Il
nicious in one instance and investi-
gated. For instance, found on one
Blank the name OF Ed. p. Lynch, the
number 1863. and the date of the or
iyinal issue OF the license March IL.
1909. BY looking over back records
found that license that had previous
" been issued in the regular order OF
rotation TO another man bore the same
number, $3.50.
McCabe did not expose the en-
Move at the time because of good
FAMILY connections He did not get
On 10 the employees populations urtll
after the latter had quit his joD and
left the city. The mans wife had
him arrested and brought back to
Detroit on charge OF 6esertion, and
IL was while he was confined in jail
that the money was returned
A peculiar circumstance in con-
nection with the affair was that this
employe aided II obtaining evidence
for McCabe that showed that
former inspector in charge of the de-
partment had failed to properly ac-
count for money taken in as license
fees.
This Is but one Of tbe instances Of
lax methods which formerly obtained
in the Office as shown by investiga-
ton since McCabe took hold. When
McCabe took Office one inspector
laughingly declared that his snap
had ceased, that he had actually
worn out couch" sleeping on it
while he was supposed TO be In
specting boilers.