New Britain herald., 1917-01-26
COMMISSIONERS TO CUT FAI7'S CLAIM Barber's Bookkeeping Methods
 Injured His Case PARRELL'S ROLL DWINDLING

l Against Neal Estate-Victim of AL
 legged Hold-up May Be Located Be- fore Night--C1atms He Lost But $50 Poor bookkeeping methods em- 1 ployed by George Fait will probably result in the slicing of his bill for
 barber services rendered to Frank S. ! Neal during his last illness and sub nltted to the Planville Trust conn., pany as executor of his will. Testi- lnony concerning the bill was heard yesterday afternoon by H. c. Thomp-
 son and James Simpson, acting as commissioners under an appointment from the probate court, and while
 they had not rendered decision 1 this morning they admitted that they would not be able to report in favor of the full amount of the in , debtedness as claimed by the barber. Evidence presented at the hearing 1 indicated that Fait had been rather
 careless in keeping an account of the services he rendered and his testi- 1 mony before the commissioners con- ficted to some extent with the item ized bill he had presented to the ex- ecutor. Among the disputed items were those concerning slaves which the bill indicated were given but a few days before Judge Neal passed away while the barber testifying yes 1 terday admitted that he had not served the man for two weeks be- l fore his death.
 Fait asked for $49 for his ser vices, charging at the rate of $1 for each shave. When he first presented 1 his bill to the Trust company he | asked for $10O but when told to pre- | sent an itemized claim to cut the amount in two The barber was evil l dently the victim of circumstances l information.
 During Mr. Meals illness he was told to call every day and payment for each call was promised even l though his services were not required. Fait told Judge Kirkham, who rep resented the estate of yesterdays
 hearing, that he had burned up his
 mem orandum sheet after he prepared the itennized statement and conse- quently could not produce 1t in court.
 He made no charge in his bill for
 calls made at the Neal home except
 on days when he had to shave the
 patient but having incomplete rec
 ords he found 1t difficult to give
 specific dates.
 A. J. Bordeau and Frank Wright,
 Fait's competitors in the barber bus- mess, told the n1missioners that their usual charges were 50 cents a call.
 Sympathy of all the witnesses ap- peared to be with Fait whose case was materially weakened because of his inability to prepare his accounts properly. The commissioners, having to render decision entirely on the strength of the evidence given be- fore them yesterday, stated that they could not allow the entire amount even of the reduced bill and while they have not decided on the report they will offer for probate they ad- l mitted today that 1t would be neces- sary to make deductions Farrcll's Roll Dwindles. While the local authorities admit ted this morning that they had not made great deal of progress i'll their investigation of the mysterious hold-up in the alleyway of the Hotel Clarendon Tuesday night, when Jo- seph Farrell, an employe of the Bris- tol Brass company is said to have been beaten and robbed by two Plain vile young men, they stated that they
 
 night that will warrant the issuing of writs for the suspected assailants or the dropping entirely of the case They hoped to be. able to locate Farrell before tomorrow. He mys- teriously disappeared a short time af- ter the alleged hold-up took place and the police have since been un- able to locate him. Farrell gave up his place at the brass mill recently but continued to live in the camp l which the company provided for some of its out-of-town workmen, remain 1 ing in Bristol until he could collect l what pay he had coming to him. Constable Cornelius Downing. who 1 has been working on the case, spent considerable time in Bristol yesterday, l in the hope of locating the victim of the alleged hold-up. Farrel had left the city on the preceding night after he had told that he had been beaten and robbed in Plainville, his assailants taking $50 from him. His
 original story indicated that the roll from which hc claimed he had been separated amounted to several hun- dred dollars FarrelIs home is in Boston but his return to Bristol is confidently expected as he not only has back pay due him at tho mill but has $29 in the care of Deputy Sheriff James Doyle. The money was given to the officer by Farrell who ex plained that Plainvlle thugs had stolen $50 from him and he wanted the sheriff to take the balance for safe keeping. He expressed his intention
 of returning last night for it. The local constable and the Bristol po lice were on the lookout for him but he failed to put. in an appearance. The authorities in the neighboring city. however, promised to hold him,