The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-01-31

been paid into the county treasury by
said officer, and further, to proceed
by suit or otherwise to collect any
funds improperly paid out Of the
funds of the county, and for the pur-
pose of enabling said Robinson to
make all requisite examination of the
books and records of the county off,
GERS. He Is further authorized hereby
to have access at all times to the
records of all the county officers. in
Guiding the records and papers Of this
Board"
The Communication made to the
Board by Captain Willard and my
self, published by you on yesterday
to refute that assertion, bears date
March 18th, 1869, three months after
my appointment had been made.
Captain Willard had become familiar
with the facts of the case against Mr..
/ Bisch. while acting as Deputy Prose
cutting Attorney, and while the in
dictments against Bisch we're pend
ing in the Circuit Court. We were so
confident of the justice of the case,
that we offered to prosecute the case
against him, and to charge the County
nothing for oar services If Ue aCere not
successful IN the case, But the Board
refused to take any action upon our
liberal offer, so there was no appoint
ment on that request.
The duties imposed upon me by
the Board under that appointment
were arduous. and required a good
deal of labor. They included an ex-
animation Of the accounts and records
of the Clerk of the County, of the
Sheriff of the county, and also of the
County AUDITOR and Treasurer. l
began the in, lstigatior Immediately
after [ was appointed, and continued
it, as other duties would permit,
through the Winter, and until April.
1869. | was compelled to turn quite
a number of large record books, leaf
by leaf, as the indexes being deficient,
failed to show the pages which con-
tanned the required Information.
The records showed that four diff
ferent persons had public money In
|, their hands, to which they were not
entitled, enc of those persons was
then and still is in Office. The official
terms of the other three had then re-
t Gently expired. As soon as | ascer-
: tanned the amount due from each, [
E made demands of payment.
One, who had ($2,2 96 45) two thou
sand two hundred and ninety-six dol
: lars and forty-fve cents, promised
speedy payment, and hence no suit was
: brought against him, and on the Sd
. day of June last he paid that amount
, into the County Treasury. Another
! who had ($330) three hundred and
: thirty dollars, promised payment, and
in July last he paid in $210, leaving
a balance still in his hands. This
morning ($2,496 45) two thousand,
four hundred and ninety six dollars
and 10 LOO has been paid into the
County Treasury on my demand and
without suit. Col. Rheinlander, <
Treasurer, who has about 2,500)
!, twenty FIVE hundred dollars, and Mr..
! Biseh, who has about $4,000 nine
| teen thousand dollars refused pay
? ment, and | sued them In the Court of
Common Pleas. These are the suits
which the Board of Commissioners
I have ordered to be dismissed without
: a trial.
3 As soon as | had learned the con-
: dition of affairs in those Offices, [
made out a correct statement of the
facts, and took them to the JOURNAL
Office and requested one of the editors
t (Mr. Thayer) to publish it in his
, paper. a1hicb he refused, unless |
would pay for it as an advertisement
He did not pretend that the state
: ment was incorrect, in fact, except
t as to one item, and that only IN part,
and that item is not In this cOntro-
versy. He did not deny any one fact
stated by me as to the large sums of
money received from the County
Treasury by Mr.. Bisoh. Finding
that l could not reach the public
through the press, a public meet
ing was called and the facts
5 our citizens at the Court House.
This was about one year ago. a few
words in reference to the sum of
($1. 500 fifteen hundred dollars which
! you allege has been expended on my
!, solicitation. Your statement IS not
correct. The facts are briefly as fol-
;, lows: During my examination of the
records of the Board of Commission
ers, / found that large sums Of money
: of the Bounty Fund and the fund for
the relief of soldiers families, during
the war and In the year 1865 and pre-
viously, had been paid into the hands
of Mr.. Bisch, and that he had aeUe1'
: made ana report of the former and
{ only partial reports of the latter,
although nearly four years had passed
since he had received those funds.
7 Believing that he should be required
to make a fullreport of that money, |
recommended, and the Board of Com
missioners ordered, him to makessuch
reports, which he did. At the last
December session Of the Board. Mr..
r Bisch presented an account for max
ing those two reports, and also for as.
, suing snndry orders, ($1,323 20.) thir-
teen hundred twenty.three dollars
: 20-100, which was allowed. But his
account contained no specification as
to the amount due for each report
+ separately, nor as to the number of
orders issued, nor for what purpose,
nor the date of their issue. [ made an
:. estimate of the cost Of the Report of
the Bounty Fund, and counting, ac-
7 cording to the statute, ten cents for
. each one hundred words, and count
2 ing three figures for q word, that
amounted to ($78) seventy eight dol
lars, all told.
/ did not make an estimate of the
cost of the other report, but one of
r the young men who was appointed to
examine both reports, with all the
vouchers connected with them. in
formed me that he would be glad to
get the job of making out both reports
at four hundred dollars. So much for
the 81 500 item.
You state, in your article of yester-
day, that you have all the time in
sisted that if Bisch has got money