Show HE HITSBACKII I I Deputy Shannon on the j City Recorder I II I HIS SIDE OF THE CASE 1 I i Carelessness ami Incompetency Both Manifested SHANNON SAYS HE JH30CEST Tho Iecnllar Kruncr In Vhieli he Was KotlCcd of the Alleged Shortage and Some of thu Circumstances Lead Inc Up to It 11Ha ha we arc uiscovercd If we aro discovered we shall be found If YO nro fovnd our name will be Dennis Den-nis if the person who really got away with the boodle who is responsible for tho considerable con-siderable mental worry and agitation now being indulged in by Mayor Scott and othors will come forward and straighten thincs out ho should bo forgiven Tin article in yesterday mornings HEU AI j stirred up tho city in a way that was a caution nnd caused several gentlemen well up in official circles to see stars Wo have given the city recorders version of the story now let his deputy speak Thomas B Shannon who until a few days ago was in the recorders office was seen by a reporter yesterday morning and asked for his version of the affair In starting out said Mr Shannon tll want h distinctly stated that Judge Powers Pow-ers did not recommend mo to Louis Hyams and It was not by the influence of the judge that I gained the position of deputy recorder re-corder But you were at one time his stenographer stenogra-pher were you not Yes I had other offers during the time I was with the judge and at his request I invariably refused them and remained Powers never intimated to me that I could have the office if I desired it but the offer came from Louis Hyams himself It was bout the 1st of April the position was first tendered me and I went into tho office on the Jth of the same month I had not been in the office very great while when I discovered that there was a very loose way of doing business in existence In what enyi Well a proper check had not been kept on money received by tho recorder and paid to the treasurer There was no monthly cash book and the only check was the stubs of the licenses and a mem randum cash book Towards tho end of each month it was the custom to take the stubs and copy the names and amounts into the monthly cash book thus making a record For a month or so after I entered the office I balanced the cash daily and handed it to Hyams who put it away in the cash box in the nult Up till a month ago I did not bare the combination to the ault although I had been furnished with a key to the cash box MUTUAD CONFIDENCE Up till the 7th day of June it had been customary with Mr Hyams to allow the money received by the recorder to accumu lute until the cash box was full and he would then turn it over to the treasurer Thee there was no stated time at which tho recorder Jnaao his returns to the treasurer I No But as I was saying up to the 7th of Dune Mr Hyams had always handed thrash th-rash to the treasurer himself On that day however the cash box was filled to overflowing and I suggested that the money had better be turned over Hyatn told me to take it in I made out the usual tag and went into tho office of the treasurer with the money Walden checked the gold silver checks etc and informed me that the mount tallied with my check Vo indulged n a littlo social chat I waited for a short time and as ho made no more to do so I finally suggested that it would be a good idea to give mo a receipt for the money I had just turned over VcTaldeu looked up as though he was slightly surprised at the request but wroto out a receipt nnd I took it into tho recorders of See Then it was that I discovered that this was the first receipt that thcTecorde had ever got for money turned over to the treasurer and yet both had been in office five months and during that time thousands and thousands of collars must have passed between them Wnerc are the other receipts for money pal tho treasurers I asked Louis I want to put this ono with them I dont believe hare any ho replied I havent any I told him that it was a mighty loose way of loing business and pictured to him what would be tho resnlt what a dilemma ho I would bo In in case Walden by mistake or otherwise should credit the money to another an-other department should make an error in the footingS or in any way fail to give duo I and proper credit for tho same In explanation explana-tion of why he had not taken a receipt for tuo money he said that Heber M Wells the former recorder has received the receipts re-ceipts as auditor I replied that in the caso mentioned such a courso was proper as the recorder and auditor were ono and the same person He began to see the matter in the same light as I did apparently appar-ently for he said he was afraid that ho might have taken in some money that he had not received credit for that might Lave been credited to some other department depart-ment He spoke of thet matter several times thereafter and appeared to be worried wor-ried considerably because he had failed to pet receiptsfor tho money turned over How many times did you turn over the money to the treasurer J 1ot more than twice or three times You got a receipt each time Yes Did yon ever again refer to the careless way of doing business Not that I remember I was his subordinate subor-dinate and I did not feel called upon to 1 dictate what course my chief should pursue pur-sue in conducting the affairs of his office II PHILLIPS AND THE TKEASUUnit What was the reason of the bouncing of M C Philips the collector of licenses I I I do not care to go into that as I know nothing bout the matter that is of any importance im-portance I do know however that his accounts were all right and they balanced to a cent SHANNON MAKES A GRAVE CHANGE One day Auditor Hoag camo to me anti tsaid there were two liquor licenses No 13 for Elliott Co1 and No ISO for Mu I phy Co that bad not been paid for I said nothing at tho time but looked tho matter UD and told him that Mr Hyams would probably be able to throw some light on the matter These licenses remember particularly The applications were pla eon e-on my desk marked paid and I made out tho licenses as was the custom and sent them by mail The licenses were fcr throe I months each and footed up 600 I told I Hyams when ho came in later that the accounts ac-counts did not check up properly tand his reply was to the effect that he was short of money in the bank and had been compelled to deposit that amount 5000 to his personal per-sonal credit However in order that the cash should balance he wroto out his personal per-sonal check for tOO and it wasput in the cash box with the other valuables A few days later tho cash was about to bo turned over to Walden and the check was among the others that were to go in II yams however took it out and said he would not turn it over for a few days I never saw that check again I made a I memorandum the licenses and their num hers and put the slip in the drawer giving I the firms named credit for 300 each on the I strength of Mr Hyams check I thought I at the time that I was assuming considera be responsibility Sometime afterwards Hong camo to me and said he could not al low the account of GOO because he hadnt the treasurers receipt for it Well a few days ago I called upon Councillor Lynn i chairman of the nnanco committee and had a talk with him in reference to the matter He said that Hyams denied de-nied ever having issued his personal ieck for SGOO to cover city money that he had paid into the bank on his per sonal account I was little less than para yzed l to think that Hyams should have made such a statement after the conversation I had had with him I then told Mr Lynn that the investigation might just as well end there that if Hyams would borrow K0 issue his personal check for it and then deny it he would take 0000 1 made a similar statement to the mayor but he seems inclined to believe Hyams in prefer once to me Again in the month of September Sep-tember A Fisher Brewing company paid their license of 5150 I round that they had received credit in two places for that amount when they should have been credited once only The credits appear on the 2nd and 10th Elbridge Tufts has no credit for which was paidthatmonth by a check of the A Fisher Brewing company com-pany This mistake I suppose was made innocently I went to Walden for an explanation ex-planation and he flared up and refused to make any and grew very red in the face I asked Auditor Hoag who was present whether I had said anything that justified Walden in his action and his reply was an emphatic No I mentioned the matter to no one else save Hyams and Phillips who were both in the same office as 1 I under stand however that Phillips did considerable consider-able talking about it and this aroused Valdens ire Councilman Cohn heard oft of-t someway and there was a sort of a semiinvestigation in which Walden grew ery angry and made the remark that he was either a thief or elso Incompetent I replied that did not believe thathe was dishonest but I did believe that he was incompetent and that I wanted the matter investigated Later he came to me and said he regretted that the trouble had occurred oc-curred because it was liable to embarrass both offices I asked him why he got so frantic about it and said that I had mentioned men-tioned the matter to no one He said he believed that but Old man Phillips had Ee finally said it would be better to let tho auditor examine both books and then fix the matter up between ourselves Hyams agreed to this but so far as J was able to learn nothing was ever done about it A VEUY STHAJJGE PROCEEDING I When did you sever your connection 1 with the auditors offica I havent severed it When were you discharged J I havent been discharged I am still deputy recorder I havent been in tho office since the 25th of November and will not go until the matter has been straightened out I 1 When did you first hear that there was a shortage in the receivers office 1 believe it was on the 2oth of Novem bar 3erWho Who was your informant Who made the charges That evening I got word from my fatherinlaw Bishop Warburton that he wanted to see me I went up to the house and he told me that he had receh ed a note from Marshal Young asking him to call at the city hall Ho called there and mot Hyarns On asking what was wanted Hyams made a remark to tne effect that he was very sorry etc etc but Tommy was short in his accounts ac-counts Mr Warburton asked How much 4 We dont know exactly about SSOO was the reply he received n Vcll what does he say about it Mr Warburton asked What explanation does ho make I We havent said anything to him about it was the answer I assured him that I was innocent and he said he believed me I could not enter into details just then but the next morning morn-ing the 2Cth I started for the mayor My search was fruitless and I finally consulted con-sulted Judge Powers and told him just what I have told you save perhaps in greater detail His advice in substance was You demand de-mand and insist upon a thorough and searching investigation and the guilty party will be found Afterwards I had a talk with the mayor Ho seemed inclined to believe Hyams and Walden in preference prefer-ence to me He said there was a shortage I asked him if he had seen the books He said ho hadnt HE AITIRMS HIS INNOCENCE And you say you have no knowledge of any shortage and that if there is one you got none of the boodle I say that I know nothing about the shortage save what I have learned in the last few days thatl never took a penny of tho citys money and that other people are using me to cover their own tracks |