The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-07-04
FORMER CLERK TO
Be SUED0N BOND
County Board 1nstructs
Seaver to Bring Action
Against Porter
SHORTAGE $5,329.85
Confusing Methods Made
Audit Tedious Undertake
ing Says Cassidy

A resolution instructlng the county
attorney 10 bring suit against John
y. Porter. former court clerk and
his hondsmen for the sum OF S..
sz555 was passed. by The board o!
county commissioners yesterday
after tho report OF The audit Of
porter'a records mado hy Deputy
state Examiner I'd o. Cassidy had
been presented 20 the commission
crs. Tho audit showed that Porter
was short .5,32o.sb.
The audit was completed In De
cember OF last year ana shortly after
IS completion q preliminary report
was made 10 the commissioners. No
official action was taken, however.
until tho complete report, compris-
Ing 400 iypewrittcn pages was sub
mitted yesterday.
In his summary Of the audit.
Cassidy. said that Porter was shown
to be short Sb,329.S5 OF which t1.l27-
80 could not be accounted for. The
other money had been lost IN over
paymenta and other illegal dlsburse-
ments. Cassidy explained.
TOO much time was consumed In
read. This eycess time was caused
by Improperly kept records. We
found numerous errors and the ro-
ports were inaccurate and for n
period OF 10 months no reports were
filed The docket entries we're in
acurate. confusing and misleading
The records OF processes couldn't he
audited and we had 10 rely on sub
6ldiary records which were uncer-
tain. During Porter's term of
office ali eystom was abandoned
and confusion reigned supreme.
Had Porter and his deputies by
design and elaboration promediated
attempted 10 confuse and confound
his records the results would have
been no moro perfect.
ANY business institution operated
hs Porter ran his office would
have been bankrupt I'm six months,
no matter how great Its assets and
no matter how great Its earning
power, but. OF course. the tax payers
inexhaustible purse and patient
iuentnR pubic prevented his office
going into bankruptcy.
THE actual cash shortage develop
ed by the audit IL s1.1276e, provided
that all OF the disbursements shown
could have been allowed by the audit
and given proper credit, But this
could not be done, There were
many Illegal and erroneous disbursc-
ments so that the audit shows the
net cnsh TO be accounted for totals
s5.s2o.s5.
I'VE found that Porter had q
personal account In the Union
National bank OF slS.I96.9s. This
account was made UP of county
FUNDS and Porter paid out tho dis
bursements with his personal
checks. This was nil In dlrec, viola
tion OF the state law. There were
many Illegal and erroneous dlsburse-
ments here.
I'm making this audit we discover
ed so many Irregularities that TO
enumerate them all would consume
much time and burden our report
But we Will mention some OF the
most Hlaring. Some OF porter's
deputies frequently took advantage
OF tho public in performing n public
service for which tho county was
paying them. In the issuance OF
marriage licenses there wnn con.
stantly occurring during his Ad-
mlntStration, by certain OF his
deputies, a petit larceny graft upon
the public. Where persons desiring
n license appeared at the court
clerks office fcw minutes before
or about closing time. I'm many in
stances they were refused the license
unless the deputy was paid a bonus
Tor working n few minutes overtime.
Again frequently In cnses disposed
or where small amount Of money
would he coming 10 litlgants as re-
bates upon cost deposits. In MANY In
stances such rebates were paid 10
certain deputies without any record
In she cases showing that tho same
was assigned to them by the person
entitled TO tho rebate.
Your attention IL again called Ia
the fact that OF the net shortage of
Sa'S29.9b, we can account for the
money excepting the sum OF 81
izEb9, This amount is cash that
came into the possession of tho
court clerk and which has not been
accounted for. II was not paid on,
IN error and II was not on hand I'm
MS official depository account at the
close OF his term.
we recommend that tho board O,
county commissioners of Tulsa
county by proper resolution, wher
this audit Is officially filed with the
county clerk, direct the county at.
torncy 20 institute proper actlcr
against Porter and his bonds,
men for the recovery Of the amour,
ehnpynfF.