Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1909 — CHARGED WITH BRIDGE GRAFT [ARTICLE]

CHARGED WITH BRIDGE GRAFT

C. L Bader of Winamac Bridge Co. Indicted By Grand Jury ON CHARGES BY MR. MARSHALL Of Lafayette Bridge Co., for Alleged Graft In Construction of a New Bridge In Jasper County, Over Howe Ditch In Milroy. Tp.—Arrested Monday and Bond Fixed at <SOO.

The sixth and last indictment returned by the recent grand jury was against C. L. Bader, superintendent, we believe, of the Winamac Bridge Co., and charges the filing of a false claim for S3OO in the matter of the construction of a new bridge in Milroy tp., last spring. It will be remembered that Wallace Marshall —a brother of Henry W. Marshall, former republican chairman of this congressional district —who is president of the Lafayette Bridge Co., openingly charged fraud in the construction of this bridge at the regular meeting of the county commissioners last July, as reported by The Democrat at the time. Marshall then stated that he would swear to an affidavit embracing his charges or would go before a grand jury and testify if the proper officers desired to prosecute. A claim for $1,400, the amount of the contract price of this bridge, was duly filed and $l,lOO was allowed on same at the June meeting of the board, and at the meeting last month the S3OO balance was allowed at S2OO. After Marshall had made his charges the commissioners sent the county surveyor out to investigate, and he is said to have reported that some of the iron was smaller than the specifications called for and some larger. It is that on this showing the claim was cut SIOO, although there is nothing of record to show this. IThe indictment charges the filing of a false claim June 19, 1909, of S3OO for the erection and construction of a certain bridge over the “Horn” ditch, instead of the “Howe” ditch, but this may be immaterial. Mr. Bader put up a county warrant for temporary bond, which he expects to take up later and give a personal bond. The Democrat knows nothing whatever as to the merits of this case. Mr. Marshall, who made the charges and who testified before the grand jury, is a reputable man and ought to know what he is charging. If his charges are not true it should not be hard for the defendant to prove himself innocent. The charges were of a character that should be investigated, and the prosecutor and grand jury but did their duty in going into the matter.