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

TO us. ne present ADMINISTRATION
have at our suggestion established
a system of filing that will take
care of this trouble and has en-
abled us to make a complete check
since the present auditor of state
took office. AS this will be car
ried out we have no doubt that in
any successive examination of &C
counts, the voucher checking viii
very easily be completed and much
time and expense will thus be say
ed
con questioning Mr.. Thomas
when the report was filed, he adj
mitted to us that he had not check
ed any of the vouchers in the aud
itors office during Dickinson's adj
ministration. In addition to this,
the committee has personally IN
spected the vouchers issued during
Dickinsons administration and find
that they have not been checked
with the books in the office. After
we were advised on Thursday, May
81, that Mr.. Thomas and Mr..
Stoddard were to meet at the aud
itor's office and go over the vouch-
ers on Sunday, it is a significant
fact that on Saturday following
Mr.. Thomas came to the committee
and asked if we would object to his
working on Sunday provided he did
so on his own responsibility and
made no charge for his work, and
gave as his excuse that book that
he needed was in use during the
week and could not be used by
him. Knowing the facts as we did,
we readily agreed in order that he
might carry out his scheme. Mr..
Thomas also admitted when before
the committee that he and Stod-
dard were in the auditors office
on the Sunday mentioned in the
affidavit. We are not specifically
advised as to just what work was
done in the auditors office on this
Sunday by Mr.. Thomas and his col
leagues, but refer to the above at
fidavit where it states that they
were to fix vouchers so that the
committee could not find anything
if they came nosing around after
the report was made.
STATEMENTS NOT DENIED.
eve call attention to the fact
that the above affidavit states that
Stoddard told McAmis that Thomas
was not going to check the vouch-
ers of the Dickinson administra-
ton. Thomas admitted to the COM
mittee that he did not check them,
and the committee found on per-
sonal examination that he did not,
yet Thomas report to the commit
tee on the auditors office stated
that he had made a complete check
of the present administration. All
this serves to corroborate the
truth of McAmis' affidavit.
1--WE want the public to remem-
Der the statements of Thomas,
Stoddard and Dickinson, incorpor-
ated in our report on the auditors
office and published in the Little
Rock papers a few days ago. Be it
remembered that these statements
were not denied by either Thomas,
Stoddard or Dickinson, conflicting
as they are. Thomas stated that
he had never seen the note before
he signed it nor had he seen it
since, and that Stoddard paid him
the money when he signed the
note. Stoddard, however, said that
he filled out the note and signed
it as security but that Thomas ne
gotiated it, with whom he did not
know, and that he (StOddard) had
not seen the note since, and had
never at any time paid Thomas any
money. StOddard also said the note
was made payable to bearer, but
Thomas had previously stated to us
that it was made payable to Dick
inson or Stoddard-St oddard, he
thought. Thomas was asked by the
committee from what bank the
money was obtained; he stated
that it was not handled by a bank,
but that he understood Dickinson
had gotten the money from a
friend. Dickinson said he signed
the note as security, but did not
know to whom it was made payable
and he knew nothing more about
the note nor where or when he Oh.
tanned the money on same.
''Yet in face of these facts and
in face of this affidavit, those con-
nected with this affair would have
the public believe that this was
perfectly legitimate transaction.
SECOND AFFIDAVIT.
"Now as to the matter of Secre-
tary of State Hodges refusing to al
low this committee further access
to his books and referring to the
committee as character assassins,'
the following affidavit of Mr. Nc
Amis, made today, on the eve of his
resignation as an employee of the
auditors office, will shed some
light:
estate of Arkansas, County of
Pulaski
81, A. J. McAmis, in continu-
ance Of and in connection with the
affidavit made on the 10th day of
June, 1915, further state that on