Show 1 J 1 HaL i PROVO REACHES TOTAl Of OVER DVm OO Crude Forgeries Eni Checks Alter Altered I Investigator S Says ays An additional shortage of 1000 lOdO j has been uncovered in the city audi tars tors office in Provo bringing tl-l tl tilt total to more than and fur ther work will proba probably ly reveal more discrepancies John W W. Guy of Salt Lake who has been making a se cial audit of the books said Thurse Thurl- day AU All the Canceled checks for tor 1529 and for tor nine months of 1921 have mysterioUSly disappeared He said that the shortages occurred during the time Mrs Ruth B. B Farrer was city auditor and reveal crude for for- genes gerles the use ot of chemicals t to alter after cheeks checks and altering of vouchers First only small sums of abo t 10 or 01 15 were taken and then the tb guilty party gradually gaining cour age raised the amounts amounts' until last sum was taken In December 1925 Mr Guy saIdI saId I am not guilty and I dont don't kite se anything about the deficit Mrs Mr Farrer declared at her home itt lri Provo PrO Thursday y f I have a baby who is perhaps at the point o of death and I 1 ant am not going to worry over the shortage until it is bet tar ter I Mrs Farrer Is a widow and th mother of five children Her term termas as auditor covered the perlo from 1921 to 1925 and until March 2 28 she was employed as an assIstant In the city elty treasurers treasurer's office CHECKS ALTERED ALTER D I According to the special auditor some of the checks were made out In the name of Mrs Farrer and indorsed indorsed in- in by her and then after they were cashed at the bank chemicals chemical were used to to take Mrs 1 Farrer's name ot off the front of the canceled checks and other names ed lIe said that a small magni- magni lying fing glass easily revealed the thc two tl signatures Mr GUY said that sonic some ot of th the people whose names appeared on th the checks could not hot be be- located while others were ere obviously ush fictitious There was no money taken out out- of the treasurers treasurer's office as far as al we can fin find so so far said Mr GUY The treasurers treasurer's office seemed to lii have the the- sole function ot of taking in funds There was was no waY afforded afford afford- ed that office to malce a 9 the work of the s 's offIce here was no system stem at all The records ot of the present auditor auditor audi audi- tor are clean In many cases checks were issued on fIctitious authority and th the old voucher would te brought up to date to match the check The shortage e certainly not be less Jess than and it will be bemore bemore more than a a. week before we have completed our work W. W C. C who Is aiding me inc in the work s-c s Investigating a a. few names in Salt Lake which appear on some of the checks under suspicion I 1 believe that they will all be found to be forgeries or fictitious Checks were drawn against both the general fund and thE special Improvement Im- Im provement fund One or of the things which aroused ou our suspicions S was the fact that a a. check was issued to a man who we knew did not hold holda a ticy y of The bonds Were held by a local bank Mayor Maor Alma Van said that hat he was now convInced that the tha had been tampered with and md that someone was certainly guilty He declared that the I tem em had been loose careless anti and Inadequate In handling the city's funds fund's and that It Would be altered Lt at once lIe said that lie had not et determined what action would woud be e taken to determine who was the gunty party part to Provo officials the cit ity is protected from loss Joss by surety 1 bonds and when the audit is com com- and the amount of oC the shortage short short- age ge determined with the ha bondsmen will be held Mr Guys Guy's suspicions that som some some- thing hing might be wron wrong with the c tys records prior to 1926 were wre first aroused when he was making auditor audit or of the books ot of Mrs 1 Mary F. F Smith the thu present auditor in 1928 1925 A number of checks were found outstanding When making makin his a audit au- au dit the first of the year Mr Ir Guy again Inquired if any of the checks had been returned Finding that they had not he began going back backover backover over the accounts as far back as 1920 with the result that the discrepancies dis- dis Were discovered vered |