The Bloated Block-Count at Narragansett Ice

≈ 4 min

Narragansett Ice Company pays its storage house keepers a seasonal bonus based on the total tonnage of ice blocks tallied into the company's riverside storage house during the winter harvest. At the close of the January 1890 harvest, keeper Ezra Colcord submitted a tally sheet claiming delivery of ice blocks across five cutting days. The company's comptroller, suspicious that Colcord's figures exceed what the pond survey and delivery records can support, has called for an independent audit. You are asked to examine Colcord's tally sheet against the available records and identify any line that cannot be reconciled with them.

The scene

Narragansett Ice Company storage house, Providence, Rhode Island, 1890

Source documents

Conveyance Manifest — Haskell & Dunn Cartage, January 1890
Pond Thickness Survey — Narragansett Ice Co., 3 January 1890
Storage House Intake Register — Narragansett Ice Co., January 1890
Letter from J. Fennick to Narragansett Ice Co. Comptroller, 14 January 1890

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This case first aired on July 26, 2026. A fresh audit runs every morning — same rules, five minutes, one solution.

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