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relating to railroad indorsement. Governor Smith, as later developments showed, had become careless with his bond indorsement and kept no records, or else destroyed them or carried them away. Auditor Reynolds reported in 1871 that his office had official knowledge only of the indorsement of the Mobile and Montgomery road.[1664] In his message of January 24, 1871, Lindsay said,
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To what extent bonds under the various statutes have been indorsed and issued by the state it is impossible to inform you. No record can be found in any department of the action of the executive in this regard. None of the securities required by law could be found. Lindsay was unable to ascertain even the form of the indorsed bonds, except those of the Mobile and Montgomery and the Montgomery and Eufaula roads. Lindsay telegraphed to Smith's secretary, who replied that there was no record of the bond issues except the certificates of the railroad presidents. Lindsay found some of these, which were plain certificates:
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This is to certify that five more miles of the (----) railroad has been finished.