Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1871-08-24
A Small Swinlle Unraveled.

From the Albany Evrning .Iou nal.
The Assembly Of 1868 was a l'cmo
cratic body--thc first in many years.
a correspondent Of the Mohawk VAL
ley Drm"cr"t explains how the art OF
plundr" was then developed unl thr
public treasury used to enrich private
pockets. Toward the CLOSE Of the :c:;>-
ion 4 committee, of which Angel
Matthcwson, the Democratic represent
;ative from Montgomery, Was member.
WIS appointed to examine the prisons Of
the State. 1t was provi,lrd in the rcs'.
| luton that the service should be rcn-
dcred without compensation. After
the 1t Stature adjourned: Matthrw:>nn
appointed one Fox, clerk Of the com.
mttcc assuring him that there WIS 10
work to do. aud that he would obtain
500 for the use Of hi, name. Fox,
having asscntcd, heard 10 nlo,c Of the
matter Or the 500 for many months.
But when the session laws Of 1870 were
printed he found therein appropriations
ll'luC W tIlC CDlliHlltISC 40 4'l'Oh'' VI
clerk, 81 .273 for attorney, S3.lGC; for
Scryant-at-.Arms, ST. lS; for stationary
and printing, s32l-total, $1,000.
Without stopping to comment upon
this large payment which has been made
to u committee whose service was to b"
without compensation. We accompany
the correspondent in his pursuit of Fox
Wien thut individual made the Dissolve
ry, he de handed his 500 Of Matthew
son, in whose employ lie was. Put of
with the prctenSc that the bill never
passed and that the committee had rccc-
wed nothing. Fox Came to Albany to
make furthc: inquiri's $.
II r. lie foun,l tic T. cord upon thc
Conrr, llcr'> L,"ks y, abovc given. vrri-
Fl d by an ,flil,vt purporting to have
been N dc BY hin:s If: lie had never
made ny ntlidavt a, all, but he had
once Si4,l d blank order on the Con-
tr"llvr at the request Of Natthews"n-
an order when was found in the Con-
trollcrs "nicc indorscd 10y Matthewson,
who hid thus drawn the 81, 29l and
never handed cent Of it the clerk Tor
whom it WAS nominal'y appropriated.
When Matthew. on aSccrtalncd that
Fox had learn, the truth, he offered
$500 as a scttlrulcnt But Fox dcclin-
ed. believing that he could obtain the
whole for which he brought suit in the
Supreme Court. Natlhcws"n made an
swcr by IN affidavit in which he sw"Ec
that the clerk had rendered ~ service
-an excellent reason why the State
should not have paid the 1921 ut all,
but no rcas III why Matthcwson should
have withheld it from Fox. After
various proceedings in court. the defense
proving unavaili' 2. the matter was COM
promised and settled.
It will be observed that s3,.!GG ap-
pears in the account for the services OF
a attorney. The gentleman whose name
wa, US, d in this connection is T..
William d. Murphy. otherwise known
rs Ovcrcoat Murphy, Of this county.
Beside the amount Of So, 4GG, another
aspiration WAS made for the same scr-
vice in 1871 Whether Mr.. Murphy
received the Who'll, docs not appear
though from his wc,l-known skill and
cxpcrt,css as an ''attornry," the infer
cnco is that he was not deceived as Fox
was. The correspondent who d:Scl"*cs
the facts, says that no ''attornry. ac-
compancl the committee airy more than
the clerk did. Perhaps Mr.. Murphy
will crafty the public with an explains
ton.