Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1858-01-19
WHOLE NUMBER 5l4.

own ueparJlnoDL, except 80 lif ab JD0 luber-
vention of the latter may be sanctioned by
express enactment. The only act proyi-
ding for any Intervention Of the Governor
with the action of the Treasurer, previous
to Mr.. Gibson's resignation, was that of
April 8, 1856. That act authorized the
Governor, upon request of the Auditor of
State, to appoint suitable person to aid
that officer in examining the Treasury, and
required him to direct the Auditor totmake
such an examination under certain circum-
stances. At the proper time directed
the attention of the Auditor 10 this law.
and he made the examination required by
it, and reported that the funds of the State
were safe in the Treasury. He made no
request for the appointment Of any as
sistant, and in the absence of that request
there was no authority to appoint ONE
His report, and those of the Legislative
Committees, furnished 10 ground for any
further direction to him, and none was
otherwise made known to me. .t ,7
A further duty was imposed upon the
Governor by the act of March 80, 1867,
which required him to appoint, once in
three months, an Examiner of the Treas
ury. The first three months had not ex-
pired when Mr.. Gibson resigned; but be-
lieving myself warranted in making the
appointment at any time in the course of
that period, and regarding the disclosures
which had been made as demanding an
immediate and thorough investigation,
appointed Thomas Sparrow, of Franklin
county, to that Office. The results of the
examination made by Mr. Sparrow are set
forth in his report, which is herewith trans
mitted. The nature and extent of the de-
falcation, the devices by which it was con-
cealed from the Legislative committees,
and the Auditor of State, at the time of
their several examinations, and the re-
spective parts in the criminal transaction,
of the two State Treasurers implicated in
it, are clearly stated in this document
No candid person, l think, can withhold
his assent from the conclusion to which
he arrives, '.that John G.. Breslin abb
stracted the money from the Treasury,
and that VIM. Fl. Gibson, by concealing
the defalcation and denying its existence.
disregarded truth and his sworn official
duty" 'Ht.Hi
AS soon as this official investigation had
been provided for, the facts which had
been made known to me were communi-
Gated to the Prosecuting Attorney of Frank
lin county, who is charged by law with the
prosecution of all offences committed within
its limits; aud to the Judge of this judi
cial subdivision, whose duty it is to charge
the Grand Jury in regard to such offenses.
The Prosecuting Attorney was assured of
whatever aid the Executive could afford to
him in the discharge of his functions, and
he, accordingly, received the assistance of
the Attorney General, in the Investigations
which took place before the Grand Jury.
These investigations resulted in indict-
ments against both the ex-Treasurel g.
Mr.. Gibson gave bail, but Mr. Breslin fled
to Canada. Every effort, deemed fit and
expedientby the Prosecuting Attorney and
Attorney General, was made for his appre-
hension, and the charges were betrayed
from my contingent fund. A correspon-
dence was also instituted with the Federal
Government at Washington, in the hopes
of engaging it's intervention with the Brit
ish Government, by which means alone
the surrender of the fugitive defaulter
could be obtained. The Federal authori-
ties, however, declined to interfere, on the
ground that the surrender of fugitive,
charged with embezzlement, was not stip-
ulated in the treaty between the United
States and Great Britain, and therefore
could not with propriety be asked for.
Civil suits have been instituted by the
Attorney General, against the two ex-
Treasurers and their sureties, upon their
official bonds. In the course of the in
vestigations required by these actions, as
we'll as by the criminal prosecutions upon
the indictments found by the grand jury.
it is hoped that some further light may be
thrown upon the uses made of the money
abstraoted from the treasury, and that a
considerable portion of it, at least, may be
recovered.
Up to the time of the disclosure of the
deficit, Mr.. Gibson had obtained means for
meeting the current damands against the
State Treasury, and deceiving the legisla-
tive committees and the Auditor, when
examining its condition, by temporary
loans from banks and bankers, and other
devices described in the report of the
Special Examiner. Whether the with
drawal of the moneys thus obtained and
represented to belong to the State consti-
tutes a ,defalcation and renders him liable
as defaulter, notwithstanding he May not
have participated in the original abstrac-
ton, is question for the courts. The
practical effect of that withdraw was to
leave the State unprovided with sufficient
funds for the payment of the interest on
the State debt, becoming due on the lst of
July, or for the ordinary expenses. of the
government. -t af s.tir ..isd
To obtain these funds was indispensable,
and there were but two means of accom-
plishing the object. One was, to call the
Legislature together, in ewtra session, and
await lis action; the other TO make az i'm
mediate arrangement, and invoke for it the
sanction of the General Assembly at its
next regular meeting. Only eighteen days
would elapse after the resignation of Mr.
Gibson before the interest was payable,
and that time would hardly suffice Tor the
assembling of the Legislature and the pro-
vision of tho nacaSsarv funds Lhrouish it6