Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1900 — Short in Their Accounts. [ARTICLE]

Short in Their Accounts.

The expert? employed to investigate the accounts of the various county offices of Decatur ccunty, made their final report this week. For many years the county has been under the control of a republican ring, which controlled the offices and run matters as would best subserve the pocket-books of the ringsters. So notorious had become its methods that during the last campaign tho better element of the republicans voted the democratic ticket to defeat the ring. The charges of mismanagement were not mere political buncombe, as the repoit of the experts discloses thousands of dollars in shortages, distributed among fourteen ex-county officers. Among the amounts illegally collected and paid out, as reported by the experts, is $450 to Coleman T. Pleak, auditor, for “making assessors’ books;” John J. Putt man, auditor, “making assessors’ books and services as a member of the Board of Review,” several hundred dollars; J. W. Nation, treasurer, $162 for “services as member of Board of Review.” In this connection, if these experts are correct, we wish to call attention to a few of the same sort of allowances made in Jasper county daring the past year, which are clearly illegal, and in the event of an investsgation these same charges or allowances would no doubt be found to have been made for a number of years baek. Under the fee and salary law all extra allowances of whatever

nature are absolutely cut off, and every dollar allowed contrary to the provisions of said act is illegal and can be rcovered by the oounty. Hundreds of dollars have been paid to ex-Auditor Murray and exTreasurer Gwin in the way of special allowances, snoh as are noted above. Only last Jade the former was allowed $186.42 for “making assessors’ books, ’’ while at the August session of comtnissioners’ court, each were allowed $75 for “services on board of review.” In March, 1899, J. I. Gwin was allowed $30.25 for “making delinquent tax lists,” and in September, 1899, he was allowed S3O for “making delinquent tax lists.” If these allowances are illegal in Decatur and other conn ties of Indiana, we think that we are not presuming too much when we say that they are illegal in Jasper oounty. The above are mere instances of what would be disclosed by an investigation.