Show The Silcott Steal I WASHINGTON December GThe special committee charged with investigating the accounts of the office of the sergeantat arms met this morning I The committee went into secret session At the end of half an hour word was sent to Leedom that the committee desired his presence Leedom accompanied by Congressman Phil Thompson whom he has retained as counsel responded to the summons but Thompson was denied admission Leedom has made another searching examination of the books and places the amount of the defalcation de-falcation at 71800 Leedoms examination was confined to an investigation of the manner in which the busines was transacted in his office in its various ramifications with the treasury national banks and Representatives and J W W Whelpley assistant United States treasurer testified as to this mode in which the drafts of the scrgeantat arms of the House are presented and paid at the department After hearing Whelpleys statement the committee made an investigation investi-gation into the legal aspect of the case with a result most unsatisfactory as to members whoso salaries are in arrears ar-rears Although the matter is still an open question it appears as the result of the inquiry thus far that the responsibility for the loss cannot be located altogether the situation is distressing to those members mem-bers who at first had no doubt but that they would promptly receive their missing salaries Having exhausted the knowledge knowl-edge of the treasury officers the committee went to the office of the sergeantatarms and began an examination of his formidable formida-ble array of books and accounts |