The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1861-01-17

sureties, conditioned to pay the State
Treasurer of the State of Michigan, on
the first day of July, 1859, at the said
Artisans Bank, the full amount of said
one hundred thousand dollars and pre-
MUM, upon receiving the bonds con-
templated by said act, and in default
of such payment, that the obligors
therein named would pay the State of
Michigan, as liquidate damages the
sum Of FIVE thousand dollars. Subse-
quently, and in the latter part of June,
1859. these bonds, to the amount of
one hundred thousand dollars, were
prepared and executed in the City of
Detroit, and received by the State
Treasurer, to be by him taken to the
City of New York and delivered to E.
Fl. Heazelton & Co., upon receiving
the one hundred thousand dollars and
premium, as provided for in the said
bond executed by E. III. Heazelton and
his sureties. did not accompany the
Treasurer to the City of New York
after the bonds were delivered to him,
for the reason that the contract for the
loan had already been made, and the
only remaining duty to be performed
was to deliver the bonds on receiving
the money, and by the law, no other
officer but the State Treasurer was au-
thorized to receive it.
On or about the goth of December,
1859, / learned that the State Treasur-
er had deposited with said HeaZelton &
Co., fifty thousand dollars of the said
loan.. This was the first information
that had received upon the subject,
Except that heard rumor to that
effect in the latter part of November
previous). On the 25th of December,
1859, was officially informed by the
Board of State Auditors (who had then
just closed their annual settlement with
the Treasurer) that in their settlement
that officer had presented to them a
receipt or certificate of deposit made
by E. III. Heazelton & Co., for fifty thou
sand dollars, dated July lst, 1859,
which they deemed insecure, and which
they could not regard as cash in the
State Treasury" Upon receiving this
information, the Attorney General and
| Immediately went to the city of New
York for the purpose of obtaining from
E. n. Hazleton d Co., security for the
payment of fifty thousand dollars. We
obtaineed from them, as security,
mortgage upon their real estate situated
in Michigan, describing it in general
terms, as it was impracticable at the
time to describe it otherwise. This
mortgage as am advised by the At
torney- General, (who has obtained an
abstract from the different Registers
offices in the counties where these lands
are situated,) covers over ten thousand
acres of land. In addition to the mort
gage, we received transfer of the
notes of the Flint and Pere Marquette
Railway company to the amount of fif-
teen thousand dollars. Also two notes
executed by J. Pratt, amounting to FIVE
thousand eight hundred and eighteen
dollars and sixty nine cents. do not
consider these two last mentioned notes
of much value. The foregoing are the
only securities we could obtain, and /
have never entertained doubt since
they were received, that they were am
| ply sufficient to secure the State against
ultimate loss. They are all due and
unpaid, and ] am advised by the At
torney General that he has commenced
a foreclosure of the mortgage.
AT the opening of navigation in the
spring of 1859, the Board of Control of
the St Mary's Falls Ship Canal (com-
posed of the Governor, State Treasur-
er and Auditor GeneraD visited that
work for the purpose of examining into
its condition and determining the ex-
tent Of the expenditures necessary to
be made in order to put it beyoud risk
of accident Before leaving Detroit
the Board employed three competent
Engineers to accompany them, each of
whom was requested to examine the
work and furnish plan and specifca-
tions of the improvements necessary to
be made, together with an estimate of
the probable expense. We found the
Canal in an unsafe condition, so much
so that there was imminent danger of
the works being washed away during
the season, and the entire commerce of
Lake Superior thereby jeopardized.
The plans and specifications of Joseph
B. Walton, Esq, one of the Engineers
who accompanied u.s. for the improve
ment of the Canal, met the approval of
the Board and were by us adopted,
and he was subsequently employed as
the Engineer to take charge Of the i'm
provements.
Upon the 7th day of June, 1859, the
Board, on behalf of the State, entered
into contract with Silas M. Holmes
and Nelson w. Clark, for furnishing
the materials and doing the necessary
work under the direction of, and accord
ing to the. .splans and specifications of
the said Engineer "a duplicate of the
contract ent red into, with the plans
and specifications, is on file in the office
of the Secretary of State, to which you
are respectfully referred) The con-
tract price, as agreed upon with Holmes
and Clark, was seventy-two thousand
dollars, and by the terms of the con-
tract they were to have possession of
the Canal from and after the 18th of
September, and if necessary during the
remainder of the year.
| By the law the entire responsibility