Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 October 1884 — NO BOTTOM TO THE MUD. [ARTICLE]

NO BOTTOM TO THE MUD.

Jap Turpen, the Correspond* ent, Investigates the School Fund Charge. “Humiliation to Calkins.” Special Correspondence Indianapolis Sentinel, August 30, 1884. LaPorte, Ind., Aug. 28.—-A letter lately written by me with some feeling refuted the idea of a fraudulent connection between Major Calkins and the school fund of LaPorte county. Tho’ the charge was made by the Argus of this city, a paper that is edited by a gentleman who, while he may never shrink from severity, I know usually to be conservative. I treated it as the vaporing of a campaign, heavily charged with malice, that could even find expression in personalities and perversion. ******

The next post after the appearance of Major Calkins’ version, over my signature, brought me a hat full of matter bearing, on the subject, declaring the Argus faithful to the record in statement and implication—that even a decent respect for outside facts and circumstances touching the transaction would show Major Calkins wholly unfit for any position of executive responsbility; that by an act originally dishonest the Republican nominee for Governor, to-day not only holds SSOO due the school fund, but that he has frequently recognized his individual obligation, and that his more recent statement is a shameless prevarication. Several letters from gentlemen whose names I had mentioned were hot with indignation, one demanding, “Inasmuch as you have been so unanimous on the side of Major Calkins, you must come down and make an investigation. Reasonable inquiry on the outside, as well as an examination of the records, will reveal that you have been altogether too previous. Major Calkins mortgaged to the school fund a tract of Kankakee marsh, for which he never would have paid during his wildest delirium of anti-panic speculation onehalf of S3OO, the money advanced.— Except for growing ducks and creeping things, and to pad out a trade for stocks and stuff equally fanciful, the land-nev-

er had a tangible value since the world began. But even in other particulars your article in the News wants accuracy.” This is the state of facts disclosed by the record that I am called to examine, and though it may not convict of swindling to the full satisfaction of Major Calkins’ partisans, a negligence is shown that must prove embarrassing to a candidate for the office of Governor. Major Calkins hai certainly taken liberties with the school fund of LaPorte county that he would have declined in any private or individual .interest. A bank er corporation would long since have instituted suit to recover. Even in a horse race he could have not availed himself of the same advantage and escaped the imputation of cheating. In his first conversation with me, Major Calkins said that Mortimer Nye, now Mayor of LaPorte and a Democratic candidate for Elector, was one of the appraisers whose affidavit secured the loan. He has since informed me that he was mistaken, that he and Mortimer Nye having held the property together, led him to mix the two facts. Mortimer Nye has answered me: “It was ten years ago. Many of the facts have faded from my memory. I never saw the land, and doubt if Major Calkins ever saw it. It is in the centre of an absolutely valueless district, except for hunting and fishing. I have heard that there is not a hay press within five miles of the property. So its worth for haying purposes, considering its distance from the nearest railroad, is fictitious. I have forgotten how we came by the land and its cost, but never could have paid more than SIOO for it. Major Calkinsand I were trading together. In closing up, this particular piece of land fell to his share. Some of the Kankakee property falling to me, is still on my hands, and in all human probability, will belong to me and my heirs forever. I once attempted to discover it, but the route, even when the season was dryest, was not practical. To the mud there was no bottom, and the swimming for a horse was hazardous. No, sir; I was not one of the appraiser?. I was ignorant of the loan having been made for years afterward. Had 1 known it at the time I should have felt compelled to caution the Auditor.” So, from the language of Mortimer Nye, it is reasonable to infer that the original transaction was of questionable honesty. For the reason that this gentleman was erroneously connected with the appraisement it is only fair that he should be heard. * *’ * * “At that time,” a gentleman observed to me, “such transactions were by no means uncommon, and that character of excess is what resulted in the defeat of the local Republican party. The Germans of LaPorte county came over to the'Democrats in a body because they had good reason to suspicion the exact honesty of the ‘court house ring.’ If not wholly on the beat, it was altogether too liberal with the people’s money." “Why have not the officers of LaPorte county recovered the money ?” I asked. •‘The officers of LaPorte county have done everything possible under the law. By legal provision the land must first be sold at its appraised value, $200.” ****** “Has Major Calkins ever recognized his individual obligation, or has it seemed to give him any trouble ?” “Yes, he has promised the officers time and again to fix it up. He is loose in his business habits and a chronic procrastinator. While a great big boy, whom to meet socially is something like a tonic, there are really many elements in his composition that totally disqualify him for the office to which he aspires. Though in his explanation he avoids the truth and flounders, like all who attempt to deceive, he does not, perhaps, realize the full force of the moral question involved. Fearing that Dudley would get hold of the facts and use them to his detriment at the Republican State convention, he asked to have it fixed up, offering to give his check for S3OO, which if the land could have been sold at its appraised value, S2OO, would have made the amount required. The matter hung ; he has a haphazard way of doing such things, and it floated unobserved until he became the Republican nominee for Governor. He may think such things of small consequence to a Republican candidate. Anyhow, LaPorte county continues to pay taxes to the school fund on money at first, it is no more than reasonable to suppose, dishonestly secured, and to day unlawfully held, by Major Calkins. It won’t do for his partisans to say that he is too big for such a thing, for there it is a matter of record. Suppose he has sold it subject to the mortgage, no purchaser ever became liable to the school fund. Suppose he values it at SSOO, SI,OOO or $5,000. As against the stuffs for which it has been exchanged, car shop stock and mining stock, it was, perhaps, worth SIO,OOO. * * * To command the logic that could explain this, to the complete satisfaction of any reasonable man, doesnot lay within the possibilities of Major Calkins, and if a suitable man for the office of Governor, he would have satisfied the mortgage and fixed the matter on busines principles long ago.” The fact that the land has been of-

sered for sale at S2OO since 1877 would imply that it is not worth the money. So the present appraisement is too high. The land was delinquent for taxes at the time the mortgage was executed. The fact that the patent was not issued until 1857, when LaPorte was one of the first counties on this footstool, would certainly go far toward showing that it never had a real value. The transaction is going to prove a great humiliation to Major Calkins and even if disposed, I could not help it.

JAP TURPIN.