Hon. DAN R. McGEHEE, WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., November 26, 1943. Chairman, Committee on Claims, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. MCGEHEE: Reference is made to your undated communication received May 21, 1943, containing a request for information and the views of the War Department relative to H. R. 2736, Seventy-eighth Congress, a bill for the relief of E. Sullivan. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to pay to Col. Edwin Sullivan, Air Corps, United States Army, the sum of $1,613.25, representing a stoppage of his pay in that amount on account of the embezzlement of public funds for which he was held accountable while agent finance officer at Kelly Field from June 1927 to June 1928, while holding the rank of lieutenant in the Army. The records of the War Department show that because of irregularities, neglects, and frauds in quartermaster activities at Kelly Field, Tex., extending over the period, June 1924 to June 1928, there occurred a shortage in appropriated and other funds amounting to $9,119.95; that this matter has been investigated by a board of officers and their findings reviewed in the War Department by the Inspector General; that as a result of the investigation it was determined that Col. (then first lieutenant) Edwin Sullivan, Air Corps, was responsible for losses through fraudulent payments in the sum of $1,613.25; that a stoppage was entered against his pay in this sum; and that the entire amount has been returned to the United States. The amount charged against Colonel (then first lieutenant) Sullivan, who was the agent finance officer for Maj. W. D. Dabney, Finance Department, was due to embezzlement by one E. J. Barricklow, a civilian employee in the office of the Quartermaster, which occurred under the following circumstances: In addition to the regular semimonthly pay rolls paid on the 1st and 16th of each month there were many so-called short-form pay rolls submitted on odd days of the month for immediate payment of employees who were being discharged or otherwise separated from the service between regular pay days, and it was in these short-form pay rolls that the frauds were perpetrated. Barricklow was the clerk charged with the duty of preparing these rolls, and the quartermaster delegated to him the duty of paying the money to the payees listed on the rolls. When these payments were to be made in cash the money was invariably obtained from the local agent officer, occasionally by the quartermaster in person, but usually by Barricklow upon the quartermaster's standing authorization to the agent finance officer to deliver the money to Barricklow whenever he presented a copy of the-short form pay roll accompanied by a "hand receipt" for the money signed by the quartermaster. The money obtained by Barricklow on all the genuine rolls so prepared and submitted to the agent officers was promptly paid by him to the proper payees. This on the morning of June 2, 1928, when Barricklow was absent on leave and a question arose as to some voucher numbers on which civilian employees had been paid. The matter was immediately reported to the quartermaster and to Major Dabney whose agent Colonel (then first lieutenant) Sullivan then was. Department of Justice and of the Secret Service, Treasury Department, and the inspectors of the Army collaborated. It was then developed that for a period of 2 years Barricklow had been preparing false short-form rolls bearing fictitious names of one to five alleged employees, to which rolls he forged the name of the quartermaster as certifying officer, and also forged the names of the fictitious employees. Some of these fraudulent rolls were submitted to the local agent finance officer, accompanied by forged hand receipt of the quartermaster, and he (Barricklow) obtained the money in cash, misappropriating it to his own use. Other rolls of the same class he transmitted to Major Dabney for payment by check and when the checks were received in the quartermaster's office to be delivered or forwarded to the payees they first came into the hands of Barricklow as mail clerk, who intercepted them, endorsed them with the forged signatures of the fictitious payees, cashed them, and misappropriated the proceeds to his own use. When confronted with evidence of his guilt, Barricklow readily confessed to having perpetrated these frauds. An investigation was started at once in which agents of the The report of the inspector, which was concurred in by the corps area commander, and which was to the effect that there was no carelessness or negligence on the part of the several agent officers in making cash payments of the sums charged against them, and that "they took every precaution required of them,' was not concurred in by the War Department. For many years there has been a provision in Army Regulations that "except as otherwise prescribed by law or regulations, payments of public money may be made only to the persons to whom the money was originally due." The action of the War Department in holding Colonel (then First Lieutenant) Sullivan pecuniarily liable for the shortage in question was predicated on the view that these fraudulent payments were made in violation of this regulation; that is, that Colonel (then First Lieutenant) Sullivan, acting as the agent officer for the accountable disbursing officer, in violation of this regulation did entrust to Mr. Barricklow the public money in question. In view of the above, the War Department reported unfavorably on several bills introduced in previous sessions of the Congress (S. 3016, 74th Cong.; S. 2232, 75th Cong.; and H. R. 5465, 76th Cong.), each having for its purpose the relief of this officer on account of the loss of the Government funds above referred to. In these reports the War Department expressed the view that after careful investigation it was determined that this officer was pecuniarily responsible for the loss in question for the reasons stated above. In as much as the War Department has found that negligence on the part of Colonel Sullivan was a major contributing cause for the losses in question, the War Department cannot take a favorable view of the proposed legislation. The cost of this bill, if enacted into law, would be $1,613.25. The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the submission of this report. Sincerely yours, HENRY L. STIMSON, Secretary of War. HEADQUARTERS, SAN ANTONIO AVIATION CADET CENTER, CERTIFICATE I, E. Sullivan, Colonel, Air Corps, United States Army, hereby certify that the following statements, relative to the payments made by myself on fraudulent vouchers alleged to be forgeries and presented for payment by the quartermaster at Kelly Field, Tex., for the period of August 4, 1927, to June, 1928, are true and correct: Prior to detailing the procedure followed and the detection of the frauds it should be borne in mind that I am an Air Corps officer and that my principal duties were those of an officer peculiar to that branch of the service, actively piloting aircraft and complying with War Department training directive relative thereto, and acted as agent finance officer in addition to performing my Air Corps duties which duty details are appended hereto and marked "Exhibit A." My duties other than agent finance officer required the major portion of my time and I had no training in the many ramifications peculiar to the Finance Department, United States Army. The procedure followed by myself is detailed in attached true copy of first endorsement, Kelly Field, Tex., August 23, 1928, to Maj.E. P. Pierson, Inspector General's Department, Headquarters, Eighth Corps Area, Fort Sam Houston, Tex., marked “Exhibit B," further substantiated by sworn statement of Norman D. Anderson, staff sergeant, Finance Department, a true copy attached hereto and marked "Exhibit C," and sworn statement of Miss Habinell Hayes, a true copy attached hereto and marked "Exhibit D." At this time it is desired to state that the procedure followed by myself was similar to that of my two predecessors, Capt. William B. Wright, Jr., Air Corps, and Lt. F. H. Kuhn, Quartermaster Corps, both of whom were also victimized as was myself and reference is hereby made to first endorsement, Kelly Field, Tex., August 17, 1929, to Maj. E. P. Pierson, Inspector General's Department, headquarters, Eighth Corps Area, Fort Sam Houston, Tex., by Capt. Wm. B. Wright, Jr., Air Corps, a true copy of which is attached hereto and marked "Exhibit E" and sworn statement of Staff Sgt. Norman D. Anderson, Finance Department, a true copy of which is attached hereto and marked "Exhibit F," and first endorsement, First Lt. F. H. Kuhn, Quartermaster Corps, Kelly Field, Tex., August 24, 1928, to Maj. E. P. Pierson, Inspector General's Department, investigating officer, office of the corps inspector, Fort Sam Houston, Tex., a true copy attached hereto and marked “Exhibit G,” and sworn statement of Staff Sgt. Norman D. Anderson, Finance Department, a true copy attached hereto and marked "Exhibit H," and sworn statement of Staff Sgt. Reid P. Smith, Finance Department, a true copy attached hereto and marked "Exhibit I." I further certify that the circumstances under which the fraud was detected and exposed were as follows: I, then First Lt. Sullivan, Air Corps, was detailed agent finance officer, Kelly Field, Tex., on August 4, 1927, and in June 1928 discovered the frauds as follows: As agent finance officer I was required to make my returns to the finance officer, United States Army, every 10 days and usually carried approximately $250 cash on hand for the payment of small accounts. On the particular day in June 1928 that I was to turn in my account it was necessary for me to secure the original short-form voucher on which I had given the quartermaster the funds the day before. I called the quartermaster's office and requested Miss Habinell Hayes, the quartermaster's stenographer, to get the voucher over to my office at once. She later telephoned me that she could not locate the voucher as the clerk who attended to those records was not on duty that day. I then went to the quartermaster's office and requested that a search of his desk and files be instituted for the missing voucher. While the search was in progress, the quartermaster timekeeper, a Mr. C. L. Braesicke, walked in the office and believing that he might have some knowledge of its whereabouts I explained to him that I was looking for the voucher on which some laborers were paid that were discharged the day before. He stated that no laborers had been discharged in the past week. I then produced the duplicate copy of the pay roll which I always retained until the return of the original and Lieutenant Van Meter's receipt for the cash. After looking over the duplicate voucher the timekeeper stated that no such men had ever been employed at Kelly Field, Tex. I then realized that there was something wrong in the quartermaster's accounts. I immediately telephoned the aforementioned information to Maj. W. D. Dabney, finance officer, United States Army, Fort Sam Houston, Tex., for whom I acted as agent finance officer. He immediately came to Kelly Field with his assistant and with the aid of the timekeeper (Mr. Braesicke) established the fact that payments of some $600 had been paid on fraudulent vouchers. The matter was referred to the Inspector General's Department for investigation and the result of same is indicated in the eleventh endorsement, War Department, Judge Advocate General's Office, February 1, 1930, to The Adjutant General, a true copy of which is attached hereto and marked "Exhibit J." In perusing this eleventh endorsement it will be noted that these peculations were going on for over 3 years before I was detailed in addition to my other duties as agent finance officer, and I was the one who detected and exposed the fraud and that my two immediate predecessors were victimized under the same circumstances as was myself. E. SULLIVAN, Colonel, Air Corps. EXHIBIT "A" Duty details of Col. E. Sullivan, Air Corps (then First Lieutenant Sullivan) at Kelly Field, Tex., for the period of June 25, 1927, to June 2, 1928 Duty details of Col. E. Sullivan, Air Corps (then First Lieutenant Sullivan) at Kelly Field, Tex., for the period of June 25, 1927, to June 2, 1928-Continued Duty Commanding officer, flying cadet detachment. Athletic officer, E. and R. officer, and supply officer, 10th School Group, Air Corps. Member of special court martial to meet Aug. 24, 1927. Detailed to audit accounts and take inventory of the post exchange. Member of General Court Martial to meet Apr. 10, 1928. Abbreviations: SO-Special Orders. From per order detailing Aug. 8, 1927, per SO 180, par. 1927. May 1, 1928, per SO 88, par. 12, Per SO 192, par. 3, Hq. the Per SO 82, par. 7, Hq. the To per order relieving Apr. 1, 1928, per SO 73, par. 9, Hq. Relieved as athletic officer per SO 1928. Hq. the ACAFS and 10th Sch. Gp., KFT-Headquarters, the Air Corps Advanced Flying School and Tenth School Group, Kelly Field, Tex. Certified correct. EXHIBIT B E. SULLIVAN, Colonel, Air Corps. [First endorsement] KELLY FIELD, Tex., August 23, 1928. To Maj. E. P. Pierson, Inspector General's Department, Headquarters Eighth Corps Area, Fort Sam Houston, Tex.: 1. In compliance with basic communication it is desired to state that all moneys were paid either direct to the quartermaster, Lt. I. D. Van Meter, or to Mr. Barricklow, on Lieutenant Van Meter's written and signed order, together with a copy of the roll so paid upon; Lieutenant Van Meter previously having advised me that he would send his clerk, Mr. Barricklow, over for small amounts, with his (Lieutenant Van Meter's) receipt. 2. It is not understood how the vouchers can be forgeries, since in the majority of cases the money was paid direct to Lieutenant Van Meter by myself, and on many occasions I have in the presence of my finance sergeant-brought to Lieutenant Van Meter's attention the excessive number of short-form vouchers that he required me to pay; this with a view to having them consolidated on the bimonthly rolls and thus prevent the depletion of the small amount of cash which I carried on hand. Î was, in each case, advised by Lieutenant Van Meter that the money would have to be paid as required, on account of emergency discharge of employees. While this explanation was satisfactory to me at the time, it now serves to indicate that the quartermaster had knowledge of the excessive number of vouchers being presented; and since he claimed them to be valid, it is contended that any payments made upon vouchers which turn out to be fraudulent was a direct result of the certification of Lt. I. D. Van Meter. 3. Under the circumstances it is believed that due precaution and reasonable care was taken to safeguard moneys entrusted to me. Further, it is not believed possible for these vouchers to be forgeries, since the undersigned knows that when Lieutenant Van Meter received the money he signed the vouchers at the same time, in the presence of myself and the finance sergeant. 4. At this time it is desired to invite attention to the fact that the two agent officers who preceded me paid vouchers under identical circumstances, which are now questioned. This, in my opinion, tends to indicate that the possibility of detecting fraud was precluded under the circumstances and tactics employed by the quartermaster. 5. In view of the above I protest against any decision that would tend to hold me responsible in any manner for the payment of the alleged forgeries. 6. Sworn statements of Miss Habinell Hayes and Staff Sgt. Norman D. Anderson attached herewith. 1. Personally appeared before me, the undersigned authority for administering oaths, one Norman D. Anderson, staff sergeant, Finance Department, who, being duly sworn, deposes and says: That he has been on duty as finance clerk in the agent finance office, Kelly Field, before and during the period that Lt. Edwin Sullivan, Air Corps, has been agent officer, and that during that time he witnessed all payments that were ever made to any activity; his duty being to pass upon correctness of all papers submitted, first, and after determining them to be in proper form to pass them to Lieutenant Sullivan, who would again scrutinize them before making payment. That Lieutenant Sullivan never made a payment to Lieutenant Van Meter without Lieutenant Van Meter signing the voucher and receipt at the time he secured the money, nor was payment made to the quartermaster clerk, Mr. Barricklow, unless Lieutenant Van Meter's receipt was furnished, together with a copy of the voucher submitted. That Lieutenant Sullivan on numerous occasions brought to Lieutenant Van Meter's attention, in the presence of Mr. Barricklow, the number of short form vouchers being submitted and explained to him the necessity for having these vouchers consolidated, inasmuch as very little cash was kept on hand; but was always advised that that could not be done as the money had to be ready whenever required. That on one occasion when Mr. Barricklow and Lieutenant Van Meter came to the office for money and Lieutenant Sullivan brought the matter to their attention, Mr. Barricklow said: "Don't bawl me out for coming over here. This is the boss that sends me. Speak to him about it." That the method of paying vouchers by Lieutenant Sullivan was the same as had been in use by previous agent officers at this station since my arrival here in January 1927, and every effort and precaution was taken by this office to protect the funds disbursed by us. NORMAN D. ANDERSON, Staff Sergeant, Finance Department. Subscribed and sworn to before me on this 24th day of August 1928. 1. Personally appeared before me, the undersigned authority for administering oaths, one Habinell Hayes, stenographer, civil service, Quartermaster Corps, who, being duly sworn, deposes and says: That my desk is in the same room with the quartermaster and at various times during the past year I have seen and heard Mr. Barricklow bring short |