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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 6, 1905)
The Frontier. 1 VOLUME XXVI. O’NEILL, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1905 NUMBER 2. lEiD Three Township Officers of Grattan Reported Short. TO SETTLE THROUGH COMMITTEE ► - Transactions at Meeting Held to Re ceive Report of Handley Shortage. Another Meeting in Sept. The adjourned annual meeting of Grattan township was held at the court house Saturday afternoon. The meeting was called to order by John Kelley, who stated that the object of the meeting was the hearing of the report of T. C. Cannon, the expert em ployed to check up the books of the township. Ed F. Gallagher was elect ed secretary of the meeting and read the report of Cannon. After the read ing of the report,discussion was started as to how best to recover the defalca tion of the township treasurer. O. F. Biglin, one of the bondsmen of Pat Handley, reported that when he learned of the shortage of Handley lie went to Spencer and secured from Pat Handley $700 and that J. F. Handley had deeded to him (Biglin) 160 acres of land which he thought was worth $20 per acre. Mr. Biglin stated that he had signed a note of $100 with Pat Handley and out of the $700 had paid the note of $100 and had $600 left and indicated that he would turn over the $600 and the 160 acres of land in settle ment of the shortage of Pat Handley. A motion was made to appoint a com mittee of five to act for the township in suits to recover the shortage. S. J. Weekes moved an amendment that the committee consist of I). A. Doyle, Dr. J. P. Gilligan, T. V. Golden, Frank Campbell and Peter Kelley. The amendment carried with but one dis senting vote. The committee were authorized to prosecute Handley both civily and criminally. Pat Hughes sarcastically suggested that the word “criminally” be stricken out until the bank wrtekers had been prosecuted by the otlicers whose duty it is to do so. The words of fire in the speech of Mr. Doyle furnished the pyroacetic display of the meetiug. He said that he musnea wruvsname at the disgrace and humiliation that had been brought upon this commun ity by the culpability of the township officers. He said that Handley had been a tool for others who had been lying and deceiving the people for the past ten years, and he predicted that others would yet be shown to be more culpable than Handley, ile was in favor of bringing Handley to the bar of justice and prosecuting him to the full extent. Mr. Doyle’s remarks were greeted with applause and it was evident that he voiced the senti ment of a very large ma jority of those present. A committee consisting of Mr. Cof fee, S. J. Weekes and O. F. Biglin was appointed to confer with the township board of Shields township with refer ence to dividing and transfering the Center precinct bond fund to the gen eral fund. George Gaughenbaugh moved that $350 be appropriated to build grade to bridge on line south of Mr. Ilershiser’s. On motion action was deferred until the September meeting. On motion of E. II. Whelan the meeting ad journed until the first Saturday in September when the committee on settlement are to report. Mr. Cannon’s bill for experting the books amounted to *159. Following is the summary of the re port of Expert T. C. Cannon: Summary of Report. Sioux City, Iowa, May 25,1905.—The Electors, Grattan Township, Holt County, Nebraska.—Gentlemen: As per the instructions given me by com mittee selected by you, of which Mr. John Coffey is chairman, I have made anexaminatio i of the books, accounts and vouchers of the township from January 1, 1897 to May 22,1905, during the incumbency of the following treas urers: J. C. Carney for the years 1897, 1898 and 1899. P. J. Handley for the years 1900,1901> . 1902 and 1903. J. F. Handley for 1904 and 1905, and herewith hand you statement com. prising the following schedules: Statement of receipts and disburse ments for 1897, 1898 and 1899. Statement of receipts and disburse ments for 1900 to May 22, 1905. Statement of general fund per books of P. J. Handley. Statement of general fund per books of J. F. Handley. Statement of shortages, P. J. Hand ley, treasurer. Statement of shortages, J. F. Hand ley, treasurer. Receipts from county treasurer: I’. J. Handley andl.J. F. Handley. Warrants paid by P. J. Handley and J. F. Handley. Warrants used by I’. J. Handley and thrown out on account of having been previously paid. Warrant^ raised from original amount and used by P. J. Ilandley and J. F. Handley. Warrants paid by J. C. Carney and used by P. J. Handley and J. F. Hand ley. Outstanding warrants with interest figured Lb J unc 30, 1905. From a perusal of the above state ments you will observe that the finan cial condition of the township is as follows: Outstanding warrants and interest to Juno SO, 1905, 90,631.15 Cash on hand by books of J. F. Handley. $ 80 04 Shortage due from J. C. Carney, General Fund... 3.30 Shortage due from ,J. C. Carney, Labor Fund. 0.00 Shortago due from P. J. Handley. 5,474.57 Shortage duo from J. F. Ilandley . 66.83 85,631.81 Deficit. 8 899.81 Against tliis will be the amount of taxes collected by County Treasurer since April 1, 1905. There is alsoa judgment against ttie township held by J. L. Hershiser, and amounting with interest to June 30, 1905, to $1,009.70 and which will have to be paid by a judgment levy. Tlie amount of school money in the hands of J. F. Handley is $42.99 as per statement herewith. I have also verified all warrants issued with the bills and other vouch ers and find that most of the bills for 1897, and some for 1898, are missing. Warrant No. 37 was issued to B. Mc Greevey on August 29, 1899, for the sum of $50. 1 find no bill for this amount and neither is it mentioned in the proceedings of the town board, the stub for same has also been torn out of the stub book. 1 find that the record of proceedings of tlie township prior to April, 1897, is missing and also that pages No 29 and 30 have been torn out of the book now in use. I also find that tlie pages 1,11, 21, 31,32, 33 and 40 to 60, inclusive, have been torn out of the Register of war rants and that tlie writing oil pages 40 to 60 has been re-copied, all of said re-copying being in the same hand, writing. I also find numerous changes in the cancellation stamps, erasures ^in the amount of interest paid, and in some cases raises of $100 have been made and afterwards erased, and the follow ing in the list of warrants paid will bear out the above: Paid in year 1900: No. 230, 21. Paid in year 1901: 44, 71,15. Paid in year 1902:196, 36, 8, 53, 18, 5, 33,169, 59. Paid in year 1903: All of the war rants paid except 43, 44,11, 58, 2, 4, 34, 37. xaiu 111 DUG JGO/i XOVJ-T. ACXA, (X*X, 71, .XI, 1, 2, 3, 49, 10, 20(5, 195, 25, 70, 12, 202, 6, 15, 11, 31, 5, 50, 184, 213. All the warran ts marked paid in the Eegister of Warrants seem to be accounted for, with the exception of $24 issued July 23,1898 and registered No. 454 the same day, amount of same being $97. Eegister page 70 gives the amount paid as being $129.82, the in terest being $32.82, which would indi cate that it was paid about May 23, 1903. If payment of this warrant can be proved, P. J. Handley would be en titled to a credit of $129.82 on the shortage for 1903. Most of the bills and cancelled war rants prior to 1897 appear to be miss ing and have evidently been destroyed. All the stub warrant books prior to No. 36 of 1899 are missing and have evidently been destroyed to prevent verification of the raised warrants which were all before, that date with one exception. The only ledger kept by the town ship is one that appears to have been written up very recently and only dates from January 1, 1900. In view of the loss of books, parts of books, bills and vouchers, I trust you will consider this report to be as complete as is possible under the cir cumstances and will give you a fairly correct condition of the finances of the township up to May 22,1905. □ Yours Eespectl'uily, T. C Cannon. Wanted Men and women in this and adjoin ing counties for home or traveling work, representing and advertis ing tlie Wholesale and Educational Departments of an old established Manufacturing House. Salary $3.50 per day with expenses advanced. Rig furnished when necessary; position permanent. Address, Blew Brothers & Co., Dept. II., Chicago, 111. 48-0 Tlie local markets yesterday were: Stock steers, $3.00; fat steers, $4.00; Hog $4.00; corn — shelled, 37tc, ear, 301c; oats, 221c; wheat, 87c; rye, 58c; potatoes, 25c(«'30c; eggs. 10c; but lie. Foil Rent—Six room cottage in good condition. 52-tf Belle Ryan. £ M. DOWLING. President JAS. F. O’DONNELL. Cashier ^ I SURPLUS. ? $55,000.00 | 1 O’NEILL NAT L BANK I 5 Per Cent Pa.id on Time Certificates of Deposit 10 This Bank carries no indebtedness of Officers or Stockholders . —J1 LOCAL MATTERS. For farm loans see Lyman Water man, O’Neill. 45-tf George Krotter of Stuart were in town Sunday. Supervisor Keyes was up from man yesterday. John Melvin pulled up from Page to spend the 4t h. W. S. Jackson of Valentine was an O’Neill visitor Monday. L. W. Latta of Tckamah, Neb., had business in the city Monday. To Lease or for Sale—Five room house. Enquire George Weingartner. 2-tf Mr. and Mrs. It. Bitney and M. It. Sullivan of Atkinson were in the city Sunday. John McNichols of Atkinson cele brated in O’Neill, remaining over yesterday. $2,000 given for kodak pictures. Ask for catalogue.—W. M. Lockard, O’Neili, Neb. 52-3 The sheriff went to Lincoln Friday last with Mrs. Body of Atkinson who was placed in the asylum. A steer strayed at my place three miles south and one mile west of Scottville Albert Eppenbaugh. T. T. Wald, who recently returned from the south, has bought a farm five miles north of O’Neill and will remain in the land of plenty of rain hence forth. Pat Biglin started this morning for Middlebranch and Venus with a four horse team hitched to the Standard Oil wagon. Maylon Price accompan ied him. “The Lord Reigneth” is the special piece by the Presbyterian choir for next Sunday evening. The pastor will speak on “Following Jesus in the Distance.” O’Neill oratorical talent was some- 't what in demand for the 4th. Judge Kinkaid spoke at Spencer, E. II. Whelan at Ewing and M. F. Harring ton at Elgin. William Lawless, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Lawless who reside just east , of town, died at the state hospital at Hastings, the remains being shipped here and buried Tuesday. September 14 is the date of the re- i publican state convention, theapor tionment providing for 1201 delegates, one delegate at large for each county and one for each 125 votes or a major i fraction thereof cast for H. H. Wilson, i tlie head of the republican electorial ticket in 1904. The aportionment for Ilolt county is fifteen delegates. Gene McBride is winning some mer ited notoriety as a cartoonist. IBs artistic work has been admired much here at home, where his services are continually in demand. lie has sub mi ted several pictures in a cartoon contest conducted by the Omaha World-Herald and his pictures have been published as ranking among the best. Marriages are falling off in Ilolt county to an extent that it is incum bent on the county judge to offer a frame with each marriage certificate to induce the bashful young man to enter matrimony. But six licenses were issued,during the month of June, and two of these were obtained by grooms who came here from other states to secure beautiful and accom plished brides. The regular monthly meeting of the city council was held Monday evening. The reports of the city treasurer, mar shal and street commissioner and weigh master were received and placed on record. Bills for salaries of city employees, one or two items of mer chandise, a bill for lumber bought by the administration last year, the reg ular gasoline account and a bill for the publication of the notice of esti mate of expenses were allowed, all claims amounting to #101.20. An ad journed meeting of the council will be held this evening for the adoption of some important ordinances. POP BOSSES TAKE HAND Midnight Maneuvering to Perpetrate Last Grand Hold-Up. DELINQUENT TAX LIST CASE bounty Attorney and County Treasur er Conive to Override Authority and Purpose of Supervisors. “Upon motion the printing of the icavanger delinquent tax list was iwarded to the O’Neill Frontier.” Tile above order was made and tdopted by the board of supervisors of Holt county on April 21, 1006. Tiie county treasurer caused to be tiled in the office of the clerk of the Jistrict court of Iiolt county, between the hours of 0 and 10 o'clock p. m. on June 30, 1905, the petition of Holt jounty vs. the various land owners ind tracts of land upon which taxes were delinquent for more than three years. This was the notice which the tsounty board designated The Frontier is the newspaper in which the county treasurer should have the same pub lished. At about 2 o’clock a. in. on June 30, 1905, the deputy county treasurer, upon the order—as he testi fied on the witness stand—of the county attorney, delivered the copy to George A. Miles, editor of the Holt bounty Independent. Prior to this dine the deputy county treasurer nformed the editor of The Frontier that he would deliver part of the copy ’or this notice to The Frontier on or ibout June 20,1905. Upon learning that the treasurer lad designated the Independent as ihc paper to publish the notice and tiiat he had delivered the copy to him it the unusual hour of 2 o’clock in the norning, we went to the court-house ind ascertained at the office of the ;lerk of the district court that the lotice was not yet tiled, nor was it iled until between 9 and 10 o’clock tiiat night, the clerk’s office being cept open till an unusual hour on tiiis particular night. On July 1, the ;ounty treasurer was served with a lotice that at 10 a. m. on July 3, 1905, die editor of The Frontier would ap ily to the district court of Holt :ounty, Nebraska, fora pre-emptory vrit of mandamus to compel the said treasurer to comply w'itli the order of die county board and deliver copy for laid notice to him. Court did not ;onvene until 3:15 on July 3, fudge J. J. Harrington, presiding,and attorney it. It. Dickson appearing for die editor of The Frontier called up the iase, the petiLiou in same having been iled about 9:30 a. m. of said day. The lounty attorney, appearing for the ;rersurer, asked time in which to pre pare an answer and he was given until ) o’clock a. m. on July 5, in which to ;ile same, shortly thereafter court ad journed until 10 o’clock a. m., July 5. On July 5, the case was called and ifter a few motions had been tiled Lime was given attorneys to prepare petitions, court adjourning until 2 i’clock p. m. Upon the convening of court the tide of the editor, I). II. Cronin, was presented by Attorney Dickson and the records of the county board show ing the designa ion of The Frontier is the paper for the publication of said notice was introduced in evidence is was also the evidence of the editor if The Frontier that he was ready md willing to publish said notice and couId do so within the time required by law, ten days from the date of said petition. The county treasurer, being called, testified that he had designa ted the Holt County Independent as the paper for publishing the said no tice upon the advice of the county attorney whom he consulted in his official capacity as county treasurer. He questioned the legality of the designation of the county board and was informed by the county attorney that it was not legal. He could not tell much about the list, it having been in charge of II. E. Gallagher, his deputy, who turned same over to the Independent. R. E. Gallagher, deputy treasurer, test!tied as to preparing the copy and turning same over to the editor of the Independent. When the county at torney asked him who ordered him to deli ersame to the Independent, the witness seemed surprised and replied, “Why, you did.” He testified as to the number of cases and the time re quired to prepare copy. On cross ex amination he stated that the treas urer had never instructed him to turn copy over to the Independent, but that it was done by the county attor ney. Ho also admitted having told the editor of The Frontier that he would deliver some copy to him before July 1, some copy of the same notice that he delivered to the editor of the Independent at the early hour of 2 o’clock a. m. Attorney Dickson In arguing the case to tile court contended that the designation made by the county board was a legal one and that prior to June JO, the county treasurer intended giv ing said notice to The Frontier as in structed by the county board, accord ing to the evidence of the deputy treasurer, until the county attorney thought he discovered a loop hole through which the county treasurer might evade performing the duty re quired of hltn by.the supervisors. He contended that the law is commonly known as the seavanger law and is so called by the county treas urer and other oincials of the county. He also cited the fact that it was the third Or fourth case he had brought against the county treasurer to compel liim to perform his duty ac cording to law. The county attorney in replying al leged there was no designation by the county board, no legal designation, he said, and therefore the treasurer ex ercised the right conferred upon him by law and designated the paper. One of the points which his great (?) brain tried to bring prominently before the court, and upon which he apparently relied to have the writ denied, was the fact that the treasurer could not now prepare a notice in time for The Frontier to have it printed before July ll or witin the ten days required by law. But he overlooked the fact it was by the wilful disregard of the order of the county board that pre vented him fromdeliverying the copy. The court held that an honest con struction of ihe resolution of the board by one person would mean that the printing of the notice was award ed to The Frontier; or that an honest construction of the resolution by another person would mean that they did not intend to have the notice published therein. In other words, the resolution could be construed either for or against The Frontier. The court also found from the evidence that it would be impossible to prepare another copy of the notice in time to have The Frontier print same in the time required bylaw, as the original copy furnished the Independent was outside of the state, therefore the writ was denied and the case dis missed. A motion fora new trial will be filed and if denied the case will be taken to the supreme court. Minor Mention Henry Howard was a Page visitor last week. Lyman Waterman had business at Ewing yesterday. The two baseball teams which played a fast and interesting game here the 4th will play again Saturday on the home grounds. O. F. Biglin went to Inman today to take charge of the remains of Mrs John Autin, who died at Norfolk and will be buried today at Inman. The prospects for corn throughout county arc not tile most llattering. Some spots have been hailed out, while the whole country has suffered from almost incessant lain. The officials at the county treasur er’s office say the new law relative to the collection of taxes is having the. effect to bring in thousands of dollanJ of back taxes, some paying taxes wlA never before thought of doing so. X; Jolm McOafferty begins to look l^H himself again. Some weeks ago H submitted to a tonsoiial opcrat'B| that removed a luxurant growth whiskers of twenty years standinH with the result that the oldest iH habitant would scarcely know hnS The familiar beard covers J. J.’s classic features againg and he is in no further danger of being mistaken for a twentieth century politician. Lyman Waterman NOTARY PUBLIC Mortgages, Deeds, and Contracts Carefully Drawn » ~ ■-~.--.7--—~ :- -1 » BIG CROWD THE FODRTH independence Day Celebration Not Up to Expectations. BALL GAME PRINCIPAL FEATURE Rain and Hall Toward Evening Starts Crowd for Shelter.—Address by Omaha Man. The celebration in O’Neill was not all that was expected by the great crowds which came to see something from every direction. To begin with, the desperate weather had rendered tiie streets and roads in bad condition and no one knew when it would begin raining again. However, the streets and race track were not in such con dition but what the greater, portion of tiie program of sports could have been pulled oil. The absence of tiie main attractions was a great disappointment to many and sets the town off in rather a bad light when it was not the town’s fault, as liberal contributions had been made for the celebration. The absence of a leader, some one to take charge and carry out tiie program, was a mistake that should not occur again. The biggest crowd that has been in O’Neill for many a day was here the 4th but a good many feel that they did not get their money’s worth. The program began late in the day by an able and timely address by Paul Martin of Omaha, a recent graduate of Yale. Mr. Martin is an able speak er, a man of letters and a deep thinker. He dealt with subjects of vital im portance to all and expressed himself in strong terms against the public and private corruptions that are every, where coming to light. A ball game drew an immense crowd to tiie fair grounds in the afternoon where it was expected also that there would be horse races. A violent downpour of rain and hail after the ball game prevented the races from coming off and also prevented the baloon ascension just as the great bag was being filled for the aerial flight. In fact the storm precluded any further possibility of sports and the crowd made the best of it by depart ing for their homes or Joining In the crash and tumult on the streets. Baseball Score The following Is the score of the game the 4th between the Peelers and the local team: Peelers.000000400 — 4 O’Neill.0 00800000 — 8 Batteries—O’Neill, Boyle and Ma. girl; Peelers, C. Richter and F. Rich ter. Umpire, Jack Thomas. An exchange rises to remark: “Once I was young, but uow I am old, and I have never seen a girl that was un faithful to her mother that ever came to be worth a one-eyed button to her husband. It is the law of God; it isn’t exactly in the Bible, but it is written large and awful in the miserable lives of many unfit homes. I’m speaking for the boys this time. If one of you chaps comes across a girl face full of roses, says to, comes to the door, ‘I can’t go thirty minutes, for the dishes are washed yet,’ you wait for that You sit right down and wait because some other fellow along ana carry her off, there you lose an angel, that girl and stick to to a wooly dog.” The South Omaha, Market Letter F Co.-We ha Monday at advance ot many “Glorious cattle, am run at all Monday better mi