The weekly soliphone. (Paragould, Greene County, Ark.) 1907-1918, 1915-06-25

they came out OF the Office StOd-
dard called Thomas, the commit
tee accountant, back into DR.. Dick
inson's private office, and they re-
manned in there for 80 minutes or
more. When Thomas and Stoddard
came out of DickinsOn's office
Stoddard came to me and said that
we have made a proposition to
Thomas that if he would make the
kind of report that we wanted on
! the auditors office during DR..
Dickinson's incumbency, we would
get him the money on his unpaid
vouchers. Stoddard remarked that
when they made this proposition to
/ Thomas che (Thomas) pulled the
cork plumb under" Stoddard said
that Eve are going to pay him a
hundred dollars today and the bal
ance when he makes the report. !"
He said that Thomas wanted all the
money that day, but that they were
not willing to pay him all until he
had made the report. At this time
he said that he wanted Rieff and
me to arrange the vouchers so that
he (Stoddard) and Thomas could
get to them easily and I began i'm
mediately arranging them for him
as directed. He said that he and
Thomas were coming over there at
night and fix them so the commit
tee could not find anything if they
came nosing around after the re-
port was made. Stoddard said that
Thomas was not going to check DR..
Dickinson's books, but was going
to fiddle around and kill time I'M
til they got everything fixed up"
Stoddard said that Thomas was 60
ing to let him (Stoddard) write the
report on Dickinson's administra-
ton.
con the 9th day of May, 1915,
I was informed by Stoddard that
he and Thomas were going to
work on the vouchers, change any
irregularities that might be found
so that the committee could not
find them after the report was
made by Thomas to the committee.
"On Monday, May 81, 1915,
Stoddard told me that he and
Thomas did work in the auditor S
office the day before and in MAX
ing the report they jumped on
lobe and Coffman, but when they
got to DR.. Dickinson's administra-
ton they jumped the other way
He said Dickinson was going to get
a good report.
con Wednesday, June 2, 1915,
Dickinson, Stoddard and Thomas
had a conference in Dickinson's pri-
vate office. Dickinson came out
and went downtown. Stoddard
came in to my desk and showed me
two vouchers, issued to Thomas,
amounting to $3.50, I think. One
of the vouchers was No. II, but
did not notice the number of the
other one. Dickinson came back
to the office. Stoddard sat down
at his desk, filled out a note and
called Thomas in and told me to
step out of the office while Thomas
signed the note. l went back to
my desk and Stoddard showed me
a roll of money (bills) and re-
marked that there were a lot of
ways to kill a dog without choking
him to death on butter. Dickin-
son came out and called Thomas
and Stoddard. Stoddard and
Thomas all went back into Dickin-
sons private office.
con Saturday, June 5, 1915,
overheard a conversation between
Stoddard and Thomas in which they
agreed to meet at the auditors Of
flee at 500 o'clock the next morn
ing (Sunday.)
con Monday, June 7, 1915, StOd-
dard came to me and asked if /
had any money about me and said
THAT he wanted to cash a check and
when 7 answered in the negative he
went downtown. and came back in
a short time, when he showed me
a roll of bills and asked me to step
lCut of the room and tell ThOm0s
to come in. AS I walked out of
the door l looked back and saw
Stoddard hand Thomas a roll Of
bills and Thomas put same into his
pocket
OH more ludu one OCCdSiOu uul
ing these negotiations, mentioned
in this affidavit, I have seen pr.
Dickinson, Bill Stoddard and Thorn
as go into DR.. Dickinsons private
office and close the doors, remain
ing in there for some time.
(Signed) ga. J. McAMIS,"
State of Arkansas, County of Pu-
laski, SIS.
Subscribed and sworn to before
me this the 10th day of June, 1915.
(Signed) VERNE McMILLEN,
(Seal) Notary Public. ="
"My commission expires Febru-
airy 8, 1916"
"The first knowledge of the ne
gotiations between Thomas and the
officials in the auditors office, as
set out in the above affidavit, was
brought to the attention of this
committee on May 26 by Mr.. Nc
Amis, who said that he had debated
in bic mind for 81 hours who n or