The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-02-16

During yesterdays hard fought session, Alcorn was successful in having admitted the records for l93o- 1881 -ie32-is3s, claiming that they will take the place of city rec orts allegedly destroyed by the de- fendants. Through the medium of the Purcell.priyate records, the spe- cial prosecutor claims he con name individuals and firms who received large sums of money from the city during the years i930-le38-despite the alleged destruction of official records.
 Judge fnglis admitted the Pur- cell records yesterday because he said they had been taken from ofii- cial records now unavailable,
 1884 Sheets
 First of the Purcell sheets to be admitted today were tho 1884 sheets over which arguments were heard yesterday, After these had been ad- mitted by Judge inglis, Aleorn fol- lowed in rapid success with the ie3b- ie36-ie37 sheets, and each was admitted ia evidence in that order.
 Purcell said that the 1895 sheets were made by reference to prepaid checks and cancelled checks, which he cant find now" and which are not available.
 Attorney Benjamin Slade qucs- toned Purcell ct length concern ing each of the sheets, and in an- swer to a question by Judge Inglis admitted that the questions were preliminary to c motion to strike the exhibit from the record.
 Slade made motion to strike each Of the records on the ground that Purcell admitted having accepted as correct the figures obtained by other accountants at work on city books, in compiling his summary He admitted that oil tho preliminary work to his summary had not beeil done by himself.
 After bringing tha adnittanct from Purcell with reference to the records of each year, slade said, q move that the exhibit be stricken out" in each case the judge replied quietly, "cverruied."
 Judge fnglis also questioned Pur- cell about the practice of accepting schedules prepared by others for use in his summary,
 Attorney elade also asked. "You didn't verify it,' with reference to one schedule by Purcell in his sums mary.
 T was satisfied it was correct, , was the reply. WI
 "But you didn't verify it," was tht demand from the defense counsel.
 Y might have-f can't remember T 1 was the reply. <
 sew Present With the admission of tho final Purcell reeord-that of ie37--therc was e noticeable hush about the courtroom. As c matter Of fact, the courtroom was practically empty today, in comparison to the attend. anees Of previous days. ft is believed that the uninteresting arguments oi yesterday caused many Of the cur- ious spectators to remain away. From that trend Of questioning Special Prosecutor Aleorn turned tc "S0 or 70 boxes Of records which we left in the storeroom," which was also the storeroom for the co pack ing boxes Of records which were al- legedly destroyed.
 Purcell said that tho "untouched boxes contained cancelled payroll checks, which were prepared in the third floor office Of the controller
 "Are you familiar with the ledger kept by the city2" queFied Aleorn, preliminary to offering as evidence various books kept by the city from ie3o upwards.
 Alcorn obtained from his yolum. ino,is, mounds of exhibits. c book, which Purcell identified as "the gef. . eral fund budget control ledger and appropriation ledger for ie3o--which shows budget items and actual ex- penditures and handling of the city funds for io3o."
 In HuddIe
 When Alcorn offered it in eyi- dence. defense counsel went into c huddle to examine it, and their voices could Dc heard buxxing, as they conferred about its possible intent,
 Attorney slade objected to It's ad. niission--stating that it was iinma- teriai He added. that if it was ad- mitted that it Dc restricted to such Items as were pertinent to the is- sue. '1hey should be pointed out,' he argued. i Special Prosecutor Alcorn looked annoyed at this expression by elade ana stated that he was offeriug the