The Harrison times., 1916-02-19

fairness 10 all concerned, and that no
question might be raised, he employ.
ed the same accountants 10 audit my
books tnat had audited the other
Offices. | attach hereto his letter,
which shows for itself; 4
"Messrs. Pike. Crofton a. Co..
Memphis, Tenn.
Gentlemen: This will authorixe
you TO audit the books and accounts
Of the Office of Hon. Earle W. Hodges,
Secretary OF State, with the under
standing that the work is 10 be done
by Mesrrs. I. II. Beebe and c. 4.
Russell, the accountants who have re-
Gently been auditing the books al
the State Capitol, under the direction
OF the legislative committee.
I'VE shall expect thorough inves
tigation made, without partiality or
prejudice. and report made to the un-
dersigned.
THE matter OF terms has been
agreed upon with Messrs. Beebe and
Russell, and shall expect you 10 20
to work at once and complete same at
the earliest possible moment.
"Yours very truly,
GEO. THORNBURGH.
II will be observed that he EN-.
pNyed Messrs Beebe and Russell 10
audit my office, and they we're the
ones that were In the employ OF this
legislative committee. IL they did
honest work for the legislative COM
mittee, who can say that they would
not do honest work for the Hon.
George Thornburgh! And what night
has this committee to question their
report when working under Mr. Thorn
burgh. when they. themselves, had
the same committee employed!
Col. Thcrnbursh's Report.
Messrs. Beebe and Russell tock
UP the work in my Office Immediately
and made the report to the Hon.
George Thornburgh on the sta OF Oc-
tober. The substance Of this report
was published in the daily papers
soon thereafter. Mr.. Thornburgh, In
commenting on this report, made the
following statement:
Il think ! am justified in saying
that this report Ia indeed credltabls
to Mr.. Hodges, as II covers a period
Of about three and one-half years, and
an amount Of over two hundred and
seventeen thousand dollars, with
every cent accounted for. and accord
ing to Mr. Hodges receipts, s2l.6t
over, which was paid in two or three
years ago. The accountants in the
discharge Of their duties call attention
to the fact that certain amounts
should have been received by the sec
retary Of state, but they cannot say
they we're ever received ry him. Mr..
Hodges explains this in statement
which is hereto attached.
I'm regard to the system OF book
keeping, which the accountants criti.
cised, it is proper to say that they
found the same system in vogue in all
the state officesS and in order to
change 1t in one Office, it will be pro
per to change it in ALL The system
was not adopted by any Of the pres
ent state officers and they are not re-
sponsible for It,
yours truly,
GEO. THORNBURGH H."
DR.. Brough, in his effort to preju-
dice tie people against me, does not
hesitate to make any kind OF charge,
regardless of the kind OF O charge
He states that had on deposit in
the banks of Little Rock, in my own
name, s217.000.00, which should have
been in the state treasury. The -eal
facts are that | received checks In
most every mail every day, and these
checks could not be turned over to
the state treasurer himself / would
deposit them in the bank daily and at
the end OF the month l would settle
with the state treasurer for all OF the
money received by me during the
month. / have his receipts for over
SILT. 100000. When the accountants
completed the work In my office, 1t
was clearly shown that the SILT 100000
received by me during the three and
a half years time had been turned
over to the state treasurer and had
his receipts for the same.
He leaves the impression that | had
deposited at one time over 100000
in bank, when he well knew tOr lie
could easily have found out with slight
investigstion) that such a statement
was wholly without foundation and
absolutely false.
Now, he claims to be lawyer, yet
ne misconstrued the law Of Section
1891 OF Kirby's Digest when he made
the charge that ] had violated that
section by depositing the funds men'
toned above in a bank.
The last Legislature passed law
xocuirinv that uattlementa ha made