Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/61

Rh subordinate in his office. Said Ahern kept no regular books of account, or vouchers, but made entries, or omitted to make them, as he saw fit. In 1834, the Common Council created the office of Clerk to the Major, and appointed this man, Ahern, to that office, General Morton still remaining Clerk to the Common Council. Ahern continued under him to perform the same services as when a private clerk, or subordinate, in Morton's office, and attended to the returns of captains of vessels, the receipt of commutation moneys, and other fees receivable by the Clerk of the Common Council. The moneys were paid by Ahern to the Clerk of the Common Council, and by that officer, under his own name, returned to the Comptroller.

Under the successors of General Morton, who died in 1836, Ahern continued to perform the same duties, made similar returns, which, without being first examined, were made a part of the County Clerk's returns to the Comptroller. During all these different clerkships, until December, 1842, the returns of captains of vessels, and the bonds taken, were sent to the office of the Commissioners of the Almshouse, to enable them to ascertain, when persons applied to them at that office for assistance, whether such persons had been bonded, so that the sureties might be called upon for their support; or whether they had been commuted for, and were to be supported at the expense of the city. No account or memorandum has been kept in the office of the Clerk of the Common Council of the number of passengers commuted for, or the amount of moneys received for the commutation of passengers.

This utter neglect of supervision or control existed for about eighteen years, without even exciting any suspicion. At last, in 1842, the impropriety of this course became so apparent that Mr. Underwood, Alderman of the Third Ward, at the meeting of September 12, offered a resolution appointing a committee of three, to examine into and report upon the subjects of reporting, bonding, and commuting of passengers, and the course pursued in relation to aliens and others who had made application to the Commissioners of the Almshouse for relief.

This committee, consisting of Messrs. John A. Underwood, H. W. Bonnel, and Hobert Jones, thoroughly performed their