The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-05
AUDITOR RESENTS
 THE PUBLICATION OF. ANONYMOUS LETTER
C. Brooks Smith Tells Probe Committee That He Has Been Treated
 Unfairly

Montgomery. March Special. De claring that mo gentleman will write an anonymous letter and no gentleman will take cognizance of one,s' former Auditor c. Brooks Smith this morning stated to the joint legislative Investigating commit tee that he had not been treated fairly as a state official by the publication of letter to Henry P Merritt, chairman of the committee, by an unknown corre spondent relative to the operations of his department.
 The anonymous letter charged that w. B. Moore. former pension clerk in the of- fee of the state auditor, had drawn two salaries from the state during the period of the purging of the pension rolls, and that MT. Moore had drawn this additional salary in the name of hs daughter who did not come to the capitol in the ca pacity of a clerk
 MT. Smith stated to the committee that Miss Moore was employed in the office by Gen. Fred s. Ferguson. special ex aminer in the purging of the pension rolls, and that she assisted her father and Gen. eral Ferguson in the work they were per- forming. He stated that she was allowed to do much of this work at home. Expresses Surprise MT. Smith expressed great surprise that MT. Merritt had allowed this anonymous letter to be published before giving him an opportunity to be heard on the subject He stated that the letter was calculated to do him an injustice.
 Investigator Merritt assured Mir Smith that there was no thought or intention of doing him an injustice by offering the letter for publication, and stated that his (dr. Smiths) reputation was so well established that the people generally would not misunderstood the matter.
 The first witness of the day was c. A. Fonville manager of the local office of the Western Union Telegraph company. The investigators wanted Mir. Fonville to produce certain telegrams sent by former Governor ONeal during his incumbency in office.
 MT. Fonville declined to produce these private telegrams without instructions to do so from the superintendent.
 MT. Fonville was asked: Do you not think you are hurting your company in the estimation of the people of this state by declining to give this committee the facts we wish?
 "No, sir was the relsy. 'I believe that in declining to divulge the contents of private messages sent by my company will be considered in no other light than that of doing my duty
 MT. Fonville was then excused from the stand.
 Scully Repeats Charges
 Former Adjutant General Joseph E. Scully today repeated to the members of the Investigating committee his pub lished charges to the effect that the com mittee did not treat him fairly in it's ex- amina ton of the state military depart ment, and again charged that the com mittee has thus far been inspired and actuated by political and interior mo- tives in discharging the labors delegated to it by the legislature.
 The examination of General Scully con suned the greater part of the day and was frequently featured by verbal tits between the former adjutant general and members of the committee. The com mittee examined General Scully on the various charges he made in the press Some questions General Scully answered freely. Others he declined to answer. When questioned concerning his charge that the leaders of the legislature were controlled by the Alabama Power com pany and other corporations, General Scully replied:
 legislature should try charge against themselves
 Will you mention the names of any lawyers of the legislature who repre- scented the Alabama Power company and other corporations?" he was asked
 T will before jury of 12 freemen." was the answer.
 Many Verbal Tilts
 It was a tilt from beginning to end. General Scully from the first maintained the position he assumed in the morning papers and neither retracted nor denied any statement he made.
 He repeated his charge that the legis- lature was not representative, indicat- ing that the members of the committee were desiring to discover all the i'll and nothing good; and that they were en- deavoring to dig up political dry bones to use for future political purposes
 Regarding the report of the special committee in 1913, General Scully repeated his statement that the report was a frame-up; that the committee members were suggested by John D. McNeel, at that time private secretary to the gov- ernor, and that the majority of that com mittee were his personal and political enemies.
 Investigator Merritt asked:
 Do you think you were fair to this committee in making your charges against them?''
 Just as fair as the committee was in publishing a report about me before giv- ing me an opportunity to he heardn wa