The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1914-03-27
PENFTfNT|ARY
COMMITTEES
Attempt to White.wash
BoyCe { Go. Makes
Flash in the Pan.

Hie'eS ""o oee" "orihlnB n WrlQ
Cling e penitentiary affairs for SOM
time. A majority of the Commits
has tried every plan known to huma,
ingenuity to discredit Governor REV
er's investigation of the penitent;ar,
management and to justify, if possible
the senate majority in its failure =
pay the detectives who hunted up tn,
data for the Governor upon which h,
based his charges of graft. So anxiou
were some that Brewer be discred
tied that the penitentiary COMMITTEE,
went SC far as to invite and urge m,
cotton firm of C. P. Boyce & Co. a,
Memphis to come to Jackson that hi,
books might be investigated" (?l
Boyce came with a flourish of trim
pets; but 10, the auditor saws he bro,
no original records, in fact nothing. In,
what the state already had. The com.
mittee took the action it did in the face
of the fact that Governor Brewer hac
a SUIT pending in the courts of the stat
for $400, 600, to recover what it is al.
legged BOyce had mulcted the state ont
of in weights on the bales of cotton
and on grades. The auditors d
shows that Boyce did not show his real
records.
The report of Mr.. Crook was as fol.
lows:
Committee, Senator j. D. Donald,
chairman:
"Gentlemen-1n accordance with O u
request, l have assisted H. A. Pagan
in the checking of the weights of cot
ton purchased from the state by w. d.
Boyce & Co. during the five seasons.
l9OS-l3, and from such data as pre-
sented by the said Boyce & Co., | beg
to report as follows: @
There were no books furnished by
Boyce q Co. which pertained to the
weights or prices or grades of cotton,
but he'll records or data consisted of
the following:
Sheets containing weights of state
cotton only; copies of invoices from the
Manchester Office, for consignments
from this side; copies of invoices for
shipment to foreign mills and brokers
which did not state the actual prices or
weights. Master porters' weights and
United States weighers' certificates
were furnished in most cases.
I'VE were unable to determine as to
the exact price and weights from the
copies of consignments to the Man.
chester office, and when Mr.. Boyce was
asked if he would produce the invoices
or records to prices and weights for
cotton sOlp spinners from the Manches-
ter office, he answered in the negative,
THE attitude of Mr.. Boyce and his
assistants during this investigation has
been pleasant and they have exercised
fairness in meeting all contentious as
to the checking of data submitted, and
while the weight sheets appear to be
genuine, it occurs to me that under the
circumstances Mr.. Boyce should have
made a complete showdown of his
books and records (Which he says are
kept in both the Memphis and Man.
chester offices,) giving a complete rec
ord of the manlpulations of the states
cotton from the time it left the farms
to the delivery to the spinners, so as to
eliminate any doubt in the minds of
the auditors.
However, concerning the question
as to the originality and completeness
of the data presented by Mr.. Boyce
and the fairness to him, | had your en-
tire committee to appear before US and
| asked him questions on this line, and
you can best judge by his and
explanations as to these matters. The
results of abe checking of the weight
sheets of Boyce & Co. with the weights
procured by Mr.. Pagan land having to
accept many of the weights presented
by Boyce & Co., which were not pro-
cured by Fagan) is shown in the sched-
ue following in this report, which
gives in detail each shipment, the
weights paid to the state, the landing
weights and the gain or loss, which is
self-explanatory.
While the total purchase from the
Parchman farm was l6, 974 bales, you
will note that during the period of five
seasons that only 14,8S5 bales figured
IN the gain and loss, and after deduct
ing the loss the gains amount to 49, 39
pounds. From this dain | deduct TO-
@l pounds, which comprises cotton re-
sold by Boyce on the basis of state
weights with a pad of five pounds per
BALE also a contention of $500 pounds
on New Orleans shipments, reducing
The gains to 81, 1853 pounds, according
70 the figures of Boyce & Co., against
thls gain of 81. 1853 pounds, Boyce &
70. have presented a claim for dam
aged cotton amounting to Is, 532 pounds,
which is attached to this report for
your consideration.
The schedule of shipments and
weights shows a gain on lots ranging
from a to 10 pounds per bale, and a few
lots show a luss ranging from two to
nlne pounds per bale.
In conclusion, l desire to say that l
nave endeav0red to give the facts from
me data presented, and l do not charge
mat the weight sheets, copies, tran
scripts, etc.. are untrue, but the books,
records and invoices showing the dispo-
Mtlon OF the state cotton to English
spinners would be convincing.
Respectfully submitted,
Lewis E. Crook,
Accountant and Auditor.
Meridian, Miss.
Governor Brewer gave out the fol-
Uwlng statement to the press relative
70 Boyce & Co. and their books:
We'll, Mr.. Lewis Crook made q re-
port to the committee. He showed very