Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Alliance-independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1892-1894 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1892)
THE ALLIANCE -INDEPENDENT. 1 f S. i r : r. ii V:' 1 i If iV i1 (I u ME THEVCUILTY ? Crooked Dealings at the State House The Property of the State Myster iously Disappears. HOW THE G. 0. P. HEADQUARTERS ABE PUENISHED. Children and Fools Will Tell the Truth The State Officers Should Be In. vestigated Crookedness at Norfolk. The exposures of corruption in the in the management of the Lincoln in sane asylum have c . ated a sensation in political circles, and have compelled recognition from the republican state officers. They have at last become convinced that an assumption of supremo dignity and perfection are not sufficient to shield them from criticism. It is very doubtful if they would have taken any official notice of the charges, had not Governor Boyd made it abso lutely unavoidable by the following communication: Lincoln, Neb., Sept. 29, 1892 Hon. A. R Humphrey, Chairman State Board of Public Lands and Buildings My Dear Sir: I would respectfully call you attention to the statement made at a public.meeting in this city and dis cussed in the press of dishonest man agement of the hospital for the insane at Lincoln, and state that I feel it my duty as chief executive of the common wealth to respectfully urge your board ,to make a thorough investigation of the charges made for the purpose of bringing the parties, if proven guilty, to justice and the recovery, so far as possiblo from their bondsmen, of amounts stolen from the state, if such theft shall be established, j am moved to this course in the discharge of my duties by certain facts having come to my knowledge through official channels which would seem to lend corroboration to some of the published charges. I am, very respectfully, jours. James E. Boyd, 4 Governor." Acting on this suggestion the board decided to investigate and appointed Wednesday afternoon October 5th, for that purpose, The exposures made by Mr. Re wick were so damaging, and so definite, that with the exception of the State Journal (one of whose proprietors is implicated by the charges) all the republican papers and leaders have acknowledged that there is something wrong. But they have consoled themselves with the claim that none of the republican state officers were guilty. The blame must be placed on the men holding positions at the asylum. Independents are excusab'e for look ing upon the proposed investigation as a farce, inasmuch as it is to be conducted by the very men who ought to be in vestigated. It looks too much like a judge proposing to try his own case. The best that can be expected is that an employee will be made a 6cape-goat to carry the sins of the state officers into the wilderness. But they will not escape so easily. I, for one, propose that the members of the board of public lands and buildings shall not escape on the plea that nothing has been charged against them. For years there has been a general rumor afloat to the effect that furni ture purchased by the legislature reg ularly and mysteriously disappears from the state house during the inter val between the sessions of that body. It is believed by many that this furni- turo finds its way not only into tho homes of tho employees but of state officers. Knw t.liA law niflVpa It ihn dntv of tho . . ; . ... .1 secretary oi state "to taicecnargcanno close of er.ch session of the legislature of all tables, desks, chairs atd ether furnituro of the two houses thereof, and not permit the same to be traded or used for other than public purposes during the recess of the legisla lure" Now I have succeeded in reducing the general rumor already spoken of to a specific form as follows: When Capt. Crawford, who was head janitor at the state house under Thayer went out last spring I am told that a herge amount of furnituro disappeared from the state houe, particulaily tho following articles: Half a dozen fine chairs, ona leather covered settee, one antique oak writing desk, one black onyx clock worth about $25. I am further reliably informed that Secretary Allen was informed in writ ing where this furniture could bo found, much if not all of it being at the house of Capt. Crawford. Did Secretary Allen invest'gate this matter? If ho did the public has not hoird of it. Again I have positive information to tho effect that the republican state central committee have furnished their headquarters in the Lansing building with furniture from the state house, and there can be found at this writing in their committee rooms some dozen chairs, two desks and two tables be longing to the state. Does Secretary Allen consider that this property -is being used for a "public purpose?" And now I want to bring this matter a little closer home to Mr. Allen. At the time of the silver celebration about May 25, 1892, two men went up into what is callled the Grand Army room of the s'ate house to get some chairs to use in the senate chamber. Mr. Allen's son, a boy some t ight years old, accompanied the men. Now it is an old saying that "children and fools tell the truth." There wore some half dozen chairs not exactly like tho rest. When some of these were approached the boy said "don't take them. They are our chairs." Asked what he meant he said: " Why we brought them from McCook, and my pa changed them and got some better ones." This is substan tially the language used. The gentle men smiled at each other, and Prof. T. remarked that "children sometimes tell tales out of school." Not long after that these chairs disappeared from the state house and rumor says they went back to Mr. Allen's house. Whether the "better ones" were re turned or not, rumor saith not. There is another well founded rumor to the effect that the carpet which was on the floor of the attorney-general's room now graces the floor of a janitor's private residence, and that the carpet from the Lieutenant Governor's room was transferred to the attorney gene ral's room." At the close of the session there were large quantities of House and Senate bills stored in the bill rooms. It is re ported that the janitors sold these to the Lincoln paper mill and pocketed the money. The beard of public lands and build ings is required by law to pay every expense out of its "proper fund." But an examination will show that the en gineer at the state house is paid out of the appropriation for "fuel and lights," instead of the appropriation for "em ployees wages." Tho only possible reason for this is that there are six janitors employed to do what two active able-bodied men could easily perform, and tho employees fund is thus exhausted. Another employee, J. II. Naden is( drawing two salaries, one of $500 as bailiff of tho supremo court and an other of $200 or there abouta as janitor. Is there any law for this? If tho hoard of public lands and buildings set such an example of disregard for law, hew can we expect anything but rottenness in our state institutions? CEOOKEONESS AT NORFOLK. Now let us look in a different di rection and see if the members of the board have been in such blissful ignor ance of existing crookedoess. One John T. Leo who was a super visor in tho hospital for the insane at Norfolk from Dec. 10, 1887 to Juno 1892, not long ago sent mo a written state ment which was published in tho Alliance-Independent of Sept. 15, in which he states eight specific and very damaging charges against tho manage ment of that institution. He also affirms that ho laid theso charges be fore the hoard of public lands and buildings and demanded an investi gation, but tho board absolutely re fused to investigate. This statement was published three weeks ago and yet the board has utterly ignorod it. Considering tho facts herein set forth and the other facts set forth in Mr. Rewick's exposure, is there not just and ample ground for suspecting that the members of tho board have been guilty of complicity in tho crimes committed by men who handls the state money? The only investigation that will satisfy the people of the state is an investigation of the board of public lands and buildings by the state legis lature. Let every man who wans to see the truth laid bare no matter who-c reputation suffers vote for members of the legislature who will make such an investigation. Yours for truth, S. Edwin Thornton. In Old Richardson. Stella, Neb., Ocf. 3, '92. Editor Alliance-Ihdependent: Hon. J. H. Powers and Hon. Logan Mclleynolds addressed a good audience in city park at Auburn, Nemaha county, last Saturday. The people were highly pleased with Mr. Powers' very forcible and convinc ing presentation of the people's party principles. , His plea for the people to unite and wrest the reins of govern ment from tho trickster politicians met with general approval. And his glow ing tribute to Gen. J. G. Field put many a man to shame for having tried to prevent people voting for him be cause of his having been enlisted on the wrong side thir y years ago. Mc lleynolds also spoke well and made many friends and the meeting was a decided succe? s. T. G. F. Hall County Safe. Not long ago tho independents, of Hall county met in county convention and nominated the following ticket: For representatives, Henry Schlot feldt, and John L. Johnson; for county attorneVi the present incumbent, Chas. D. Kyan. Mr. Schlotfeldt was a mem ber of the last house, and made an ex cellent record. The democrats met October 1st, and endorsed the whole ticket. la Oregon. Governor Pensoyer of Oregon is on the stump for tho people's party. He addressed a zreat meeting at RDssberfir. Oregon, October 1. Independent Swedes. The Swedes of South Omaha organ ized an independent club September 29th. They propose to make their in fluence felt where it will do the most good. At Franklin. About 4,000 people attended the grand rally at Franklin, S?pt. 30. Hen. W, S Prickett of r airfield was tho princi pal speaker In Colfax. Tho independents met at Schuvler October, 1st, and re-noralnated Francis Dunn for the legislature. Frank Sucha and C. Funk were nominated for rep resentatlves. J. A. Grimeson was chairman of tho convention. Gale's Successor Named. The independent convention of the rcprescnta'ive district comprising Brown and Rock counties met at lias sett October 1. An excellent speech was made by Robert Wilbert. 11. Ford a substantial and popular farmer was nominated for tho legislature. Van Wyck at Columbu. When tho time came for the third joint debate between Van Wyck and Crounse at Columbus, Judge Crounso failed to appear; but chairman Cady appeared to say that tho Judge was suffering from a sore eyo and couldn't bi tere. So he tok tho Judgt's place and tho debato went on At Stromsburg. Rosewa'.er went out to Stromsburg, Polk county, Sept. 28, and delivered a t poech somo three hours long to a small tired looking crowd of republicans. Tho principal features of his speech were the advocacy of tho sugar bounty, and a piece of doggerel about the peo ple's party written by himself. : Weaver in No. th Carolina. General Weaver and Mrs. Lease ad dressed a large crowd at Greensboro, N. C, September 28. Dr. Exum, candi date for governor, alsa spoke. They were courteously treated. They spoke on the 29th at Raleigh, the capital of the state, to a very lare and enthusiastic audience. Wayne Wakened Up. Wayne, Oct. 1. September 20th, was tho date of the bi blow out here. J. M. Devine spoke to a fair-sized audienca in tho opera house. In tho evening we bad a torch light procession, and Hon. W. A. Poyn ter addressed a lare audience. All are well pleased with his speech. It looks like the indepenpents will carry this county. L. R. liusinesg Men Awakened. Louisville, Oct,, 1st, 1892. Hon. Jerome Shamp spoke here to-night and was well received and enthusiastically applauded. " His speech though short was well re ceived, and made a decided impression, Mr. Cundiff of Lincoln also spoke and made an especial appeal to the business well received and to-day many business men are conceding there is much truth in what he said. In Valley County. Edgerton and Mr. Howard w KSVSU here. They had a good audience on the fair grounds. But few TT1AI1 nan" - - ,. vsv &4 spjak successfully at a county fair 1 X. L'. T t i out our joo can ana did. Then at tho night meeting at the court house Howard fil ed us full of thrilling mnofe- The vast audience was delighted and enthused. Our home vocalist Mr Cronk sang one of his own songs. J. W. Edgerton was introduced and delighted, instructed and convinced his audience that the people's party had a j ust cause,a sound platform and a rapidlv increasing following. One family came twenty-five m:les to hear the speech The wife said "it wa3 such a grand talk somo of it seemed like a sermon and all of it gospel." In short the speech was one of the best over made in thiscountv mar.y pronounce it tho best they ever heard. H AfrrT uru, uui., isi.
