The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-14
SHORTAGE A AT EsSSsS s52,52s 1 New Sensations Looked For In Municipal
 Scandal AUDITOR QUIZZED BY COUNTY JURY Declines To Tell Commis- sion Responsible
 Parties
 ------------- s CHANGE OF SYSTEM IS RECOMMENDED All Discrepancies Probably Not
 Covered, Smith
 Declares

New sensations, including another ar- rest. are expected to follow the final report submitted to the city commission Saturday by F. Hopkinson Smith, spe- cil auditor, definitely placing the short ages in the public improvement depart ment of the city comptrollers office al $52.32S.
 smith completed his report last Tues day, but withheld it from the commls- sion until the grand jury had studied it and terminated its probe of the short ages.
 The report filed with the commission did not fix responsibility for the long. chain of defalcations, but Smith IS. understood to have given the grand jury. information touching phases of his audit that have not been made public.
 Attached to Smiths report were photostatic copies of niue checks which cover the missing money. These checks bore the city's rubber stamp indorsement and were deposited ill the bank to the city's credit, after which currency in equal amounts was stolen from the cash drawer of the public improvement de- partment, the report showed.
 Confers With Commission
 Smith was closeted with city commits sioners for two hours after he filed his report and was urged to give the names of the guilty persons. He flatly declined. saving that was a province of the Jef- ferson county grand jury.
 The nine checks which account for. the stolen money were listed by Smith as follows: .-
 Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company, $S,S19.24; Birmingham-South- ern railway, S9,769.70; Alabama Great Southern railroad, $7,6SS.23; Elmwood Cemetery corporation, $1,640.75, and five checks of the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company, as follows :: $5,969.39; $5,50S.48; $7S9; $4,274.1Si $3.396.S3.
 These checks total SAY 7,s55.S9, and are added to the $4,472.36 which Will liam l.. Lehman, fromer clerk, confessed to embedding, in order to arrive at the grand total.
 Smith pointed out many glaring clerical errors in the departments rec ords and listed public improvement as- sessments now outstanding as $91 ,431, exclusive of property purchased by the
 
 the original owners.
 Small Items Unchecked
 This report may not cover all of the shortages and errors," Smith con- tinued, but an interminable amount of checking would be necessary to run down every item"
 His report showed that S,121 letters were mailed to property owners in an effort to verify their accounts, and that replies to 76 per cent of these queries were received.
 Numerous assessments standing in the name of the state were not verified," the report went on, and it may be. that the states name was inserted to cover up defalactions. This also holds for hundreds of cases where letters were returned for insufficient or in- correct address. It is possible that ficti- tious names were used for an ulterior~ purpose. Moreover, there is a chance that vouchers for refund and abatement of assessments were drawn in incorrect amounts to cover defalactions. We had to accept, however, the vouchers as drawn"
 smith, Tn conclusion, pointed out that the ledger system of Keeping the rec.
 
 card index system that would provide a triple check and tend to minimize the danger of future defalcations. The commission has agreed to install this system January l, 1925.
 Smiths report was submitted after he and a staff of assistant accountants had spent three months in examining. the books. -
 The audit, which cost the city ap- proxmately $1O,OOO, was ordered shortly after the shortage began com ing to light. A previous audit by c. Palmer Parker had found nothing wrong except shortage of $4,472 which w. l.. Leham, young clerk, admitted before he was sent to Kilby prison for. three years.
 Leham was brought back to testify before the grand jury, and the indict. lnent and arrest of w. II. Glasgow. former head of the public improvement department, followed. Meanwhile, ad- dltIonal shortages had been uncovered. smiths x inference Saturday that the whole story of the shortages has not yet been told. coupled with the predic- ll"h that other sensations are near. set the clty nall agog with excitment,
 The grand jury finished it's probe late Friday. Any indictments that may have been voted were kept secret in advance of arrests. The jury's present. ments, which scored the 'laxity at the city hall' and indirectly rapped Com mission President D. F. McLendon for ''upholding officials and employees under suspicion" were made public.
 McLendon said Saturday that if the grand jury was hitting" at him, he did not mind. j
 "M,' conscience is clear" he declared l "I know there has been laxity and I have for months led fight to change the system in the comptroller's office. And shall always decline to denounce persons as guilty until they have been 50 proven in fair trial"
 The commission, with w. L. Harrison absent, heard Smiths report in an exe- cutive session Saturday morning, dis lcussed it at length and g=-== =
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