Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1860 — TESTIMONY OF EZRA WRIGHT. [ARTICLE]

TESTIMONY OF EZRA WRIGHT.

[From the Swamp Land Report.

treasurer oc jasper count y. During the full of 1856, the Swamp Land Commissioner and Engineer ot Jasper county —having been so instructed by the Audit--I °r State—advertised a large letting of j Swamp Land "ditching, to be jiaid for ir* Swamp Lunds. On the 2*th ol November I think this letting vva S made; the advertisement for which was published in the 'jasper Runner, a paper published in Rensselaer, but not the proper length of time as required by law, before the letting should be made; (on this point I refer you to the Commissioner and Engineer, and also to the Editor oi the Jasper Banner.) The Legislature declared this wlio.e transaction illegal at the session ol 1857, and passed a supplementary act in March amending the Swamp IW Act, gn mg the Commissioner power lo confirm the previous lettings in accordance withthat act, and lie gave to a number ot indi viduate certificates that they were contract! ors for certain amounts of ditchim* and were authorized by the act of March? 1857; to hie tor certain lands, a list of which were i attached to the certifiica»es. These lists j wit 11 tiie certificates, were presented durinn- | 'be early part of March, and filed a: the A‘u° | dilor's office, and marked filed by me as deputy auditor during the fore part of Summer. was it lorined that these contractors intonat'd to deposit the mun< v in the Tr asj urer’s Office, and take out their lands before | they done their ditching, which they couid j have done under the act oi ’57, I';. e reason 1 assigned for this was, that they were uffhiid to trust me when I should take charge of the 1 treasurer’s office, lo which L had beenelected They entered some lands in April and May I During the last of May or first of Jone.'l ! booked into the treasurer’s sale book, and’up to that time there had not been more than S-0,000 worth of land taken out. I went into the office several tinws-afterward during 'be months of June and July, but could nev? er fir.d tnc tract or sale book in tiie office nor were they there on the I-SLi of August! when I took the books out of the hand’s of the ex-treasurer, Jacob Markle, on a writ of replevin. About the 20th of July the contractors met in Rensselaer tor t'-e avowed purpose of making a division of their lands, and each one enter for himself his share! Quite a number got together at this time I (W .ight) told Cnpt. Blake, who was one of tbe party, that I understood that they wore about to enter their lands. IJ e replied that I need nut give myself any troubleabout it, as 1 should never have anything to do with it. The party that came to "this pmee, a ' above referred tit, remained two days waiting for the presence of P. M K -nt Judge T. Smith, Jacob Markle, the hate treasurer of Jasper, and G. \V. Spitler. On the evening ol the second day, Mr. Spitler arrived in Rensselaer, and told the party 5, waiting that P. M. Kent and A. J. K. nl j, a ,l f. tin Icd some ten or twelve thousand acres of tiie lands Claimed by the Company, and that the Messrs. Kents 'and Mr. J. Markle were at Indianapolis getting their patents for the sfun'e. Upon the reception ol this ink rniation, Mr. Blake immediately started b ,r ’he seat ot government to arrest thhir action ill this in tiler, and as I was informed, more arrangements * , enjoin the State officers ! com issuing the patents, and that ait agreement was then made between the parties to meet at Greencastle, Putnam county, about the middle of August. Said meeting took place, as I was informed, ami was called to a fleet a permanent division of the lauds claimed by the contractors. Mr. Markle refused to surrender the office and books of the treasurer to me in Adjust, (although as treasurer eject, 1 was entitled .hereto.) but held on to the same until the first .Monday of November, and when lie gave up the office to his legal successor, the sale book ot Swamp Lands showedj.bat all these lands claimed by these contractors hud been entered from the 29th ol June to the 11th ol August, most ol them prior to the 20th of July- At the time of the first mentioned meeting ol the contractors, Mr. \V. D. Howell, who was crie of them, told me that W. C. Larrihee him that he hid got the certificates for .part ol the lands he was interested first of September, yet the sale book shows that he bought ti em in July. When Mr. Markle went out of office, he refused to settle and pay over to me anything that was in his hands as Swamp Ljnd Treasurer and belonging to that fund, and which he ought to have done under the act ol March, 1857. Tnc amount he sold under that act to ditching contractors, from March up to the time he surrendered the office, was not fai Horn 18116,600 —-the whole amount was $117,000 in round numbers. 1 informed the State officers of that fart, whereupon they .promised tint they w ould call the late treasurer to a set! lenient, having obtained which, t.oey would certify to the amount he was in arrears, informing me thereof, and that, ought tube paid into° the county treasury under the provisions, of the act ot AI arch 1857, whiclu they have never done. Some six months afterward, Mr. 'J'. J. Palmer informed me that Mr. Markle had paid over $25,000 in ditching certificates, and that tlie balance charged against him was about $91,000. I desired the State officers to bring suit for this defalcation, but they answered me by saying that it wjs not worth while, as his bond is only SIO,OOO. I replied that I was of the opinion that evidence cnuld be obtained to prove that the lands had been taketl'fraudult'ntlv, and that an injunction could he obtained against those lidding lands, in the hands of the first purchasers; but tfffiy have done nothing in the premises, and the whole matter, 11s it relates to Markle, is open and unsettled.

[Signed]

EZRA WRIGHT.

Treasurer Jasper County.

Couldn't Stand it — The proprietors of the St. Chnrles Hotel in New Orleans, contly imported a special officer from New York, to stay about the hotel and keep things -straight, but on the 13th inst. he “caved,” and packed His baggage, left for home, terribly frightened. The superfluity of flying bullets thereabouts was enough, he said to “alarm the devil.” Great Feat on Skates. — During the week before New Year's a remarkable feat was performed on the Central Park skating pond—a person on skates turned a summersault on the iee. He was said to be attached to the Brondw»\ theaters, and was rv superior skater.