The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1872-01-27
New Advertisements.
Report Of the Grand Jur
DECEMBER TERM, 1871.
GRAND jury Room,
TowsoNTowN, Jan. 25th, 1872.

of the undersigned had to travel, daily, many
miles to and from the county seat. We now
beg leave to report the result OF our proceedings,
as follows On examining our entries on the
docket book, and comparing them with the en-
tries made there by our immediate predeces-
sors, as regards both the number and character
of them.
We are happy to find they exhibit no ma
terial change in the good, moral, condition OF
the community At the August term 26 cases
were considered and 46 true bills found. AT
the present one but 9S cases are on the docket,
and only 81 presentments or indictments made.
The usual examination of accounts, including
the Treasurer's, County Commissioners, School
Commissioners, Register of Wills, &C., were
made by Committees appointed for the pur-
pose, and with the usual results-the parties
employed to keep them, affording the commit
tees every facility in their power and indicat-
ing by their frankEess and intelligence both
efficiency and integrity in the discharge OF
their duties. When it is remembered, however,
that the members are not always learned IN
the law, mostly taken from the body OF the
people engaged iii agricultural pursuits, and
have assigned to them the investigation OF ac-
counts involving the conduct of officials and
the welfare of the public, the question whether
they are the proper persons to make said in
vestigations, becomes a serious one. To judge
o. "public wrong" has been done and to be able
TO apply the legal remedy Tor it, they, the
examiners must have, besides fair knowledg &c
of the mode of keeping accounts. knowledge,
also, Of what the particular laws controlling
them are. It's not, therefore, the face OF every
account book which gives credit to the authori
ty keeping it, but the results bf its entries. and
the orders and motives giving rise to them,
before they are placed there,
In this connection the undersigned would re
spectfuly call attention to the manner of con-
Quoting business in the department Of the
| County Commissioners.
Frst-With regard to their neglect in omit
ting to collect from other countie4 and the city
of Baltimore, costs in criminal cases, tried
| for them at our Court, which being by law first
| paid to the Sheriff and others serving at the
trial, out of the treasury of the county, Is made
| returnable to it, by simply drawing upon the
county or city from whence the case ca me- The
| larger portion of these costs, embracing Court
fees. Clerks fees, Sheri's fees, and for Jury at
| tendance are certified to and sent up in dupli-
| cate as fast as they occur, well to county OF
city from whence the case was removed, as the
Commissioners here. The other portion, con
| sisting entirely of Sherilfs charges, for main
tenance of prisoners and conveying them tC
| and from prison which are brought into the
Commissioners office. for payment, direct, by
| the Sheriff but which, like the first class o
them, is only to be drawn for to be returned tC
unccllected- of them standing for years
we find remaining respectively, Sl,24S.4(
| and So ,199.4S, equal to 50, 446l4. AS showing
what more of these sort OF uncOllected costs may
| be, probably, vet standing on the books Of the
| Office and is illustrative of the negligence re-
| ferred to, on the first of June, 1866, the BoarC
| of Commissioners passed an order authorizing
| VIM. NJ Isaac Esq to collect from other coun
| ties and the city of Baltimore all costs in re-
| poVa1 paS tried n court which has no
been paid or settled for at that date. The order
| remained in force until December 18th, 1870
| over eighteen months, when it was rescInded
| and there appears as paid by him. on the book
| of the Treasurer, the sum of $679G.40. Now i
appears this large sum paid by checks OF
the bank. accompanied by no detailed state
ment Of by whom paid to him, or in wha
particular cases so, if the evidence Of thu
claims was derived from the bill-book in tn,
office, and there was no credit given for it il
the same when the collected money was re
| turned to the treasury, the book must still SHOW
an apparent claim upon some county or cit
| of over S9,06l.S6) nine thousand sixty
dollars and eighty-six cents-the gross amour
of his collections But this is not all. Mr.
Isaac does not pretend to have collected al
| dues OF the kind outstanding, and unquestiona
bly, there is standing to our credit at this time
on the books of the Office but so imperfect.
entered and posted in them as to be very diff
cult to make out correctly, large sum to b.
| added to the S3,446.44 first stated. 1t is prope
for us to observe here. in justice to those forme
officers in this branch of our public service
whose fidelity to the trustreposed in them ma,
seem by the above statement to be questioned
that so far as we can make out to be the fact
the neglect TO collect these claims and to credi
the annual lew with them, commenced in tn
early part of 1868 Although the law is mos
ample on this subject, we believe that sine
that date except the SO .06l.S6 collected by Nj
Isaac under the order of June 1869, not on
cent of costs in removed criminal cases ha
been collected by the Commissioners of Balti
more county.
In addition the Grand Jury feel it to be thei
duty to call public attention to the practice 0
these past Commissioners of the county of pay
ing to the two last Sneriffs, Baldwin and Burke
excessive, and as we believe, (see Articl
SO, Sec. of the Code of Public General Laws,
illegal fees, amounting in the aggregate, re
spectively, to the sums of $242 and $3,997.4S, o
to both inclusive, 81 ,239.4S. There being n
law limiting the charge for taking prisone
to the State Prison or Jail, the above amount
do not include any estimate for such services
We mention, however, for whom it may con
Germ, that the extraordinary price of $50 70
the former and $40 for the latter, seems not 4
have been unusQali even when, as we make out
they had several tn take in the same conveyance
And here we would call public attention t.
the large amount Of taxes, which by the book
in this office, seem to be uncollected. 1t is tru
that OF the entire sum of $lj7, 7SS.4S-(see APP
pended table --about $l03, 1920 belongs to tn
present tax-year and may be forthcoming in tn
regular way; but to have left outstanding .he2
the large balance of $j4 ,46S-some Of It due a
far back as lS65-WithQpt proper steps bein!
taken for lis recovery, shows want OF atten
ton to business for which there can be n,
reasonable excuse. If our tax-laws are defec
tive. if the security taken by the Commissioner
for the return of the taxes collected to tn,
| Treasury is not sufficiently ample, by law, O
| there is no legal means of compelling them t
their duty in the matter, surely the Legi9la
ture ought to set about making The correction
Our opinion is, the ha6it Of partisan indul
gence, to wAiGh these ministerial officers of thu
public service are not urirequently given
ought to be further restrained by legislation
and is, even now. producing much injustio'
and wrong to the honest shaFeEs CT the public
| expense,
BY an aot Of last General Assembly, tn,
Commissioners of the county were clothed will
the power of appointing and revising the worl
| of three Commissioners, styled 'Street Commits
| sioners," whose duties are described in the ac
| to lay out, with the assistance of surveyor
| to be appointed with the concurrence of the
County Commissioners, certain streets or high
ways bordering on the city Of Baltimore, anC
also sitter prescribing the manner of doing the
work in the field, the laying out and ling
| with durable landmarks all streets, avenue:
and alleys, proceed to require the said Stree
Commiss toner's to file plaIs OF the same in the
| Office of the Commissioners Of the county, ana
| of the County Commissioners to give notice
| through the public prints of the existence q
said plats, in order that objections may bC
| taken to them if desired. Now the fact appear
i
| the law in these important respects have
not been complied with that it has been
source of large expenditure of the public
| money without any corresponding benefit
| and that considering the object to be OBJ
| tanned, the improvement of private property
| at the expense of the public, in advance ofany
industrial or other demand for the same. the of
| ficers in their administration are nothing less
| than sinecures. They feel it incumbent upop
them to recommend that the law falating to
Street Commissioners be co amended that the
| Office of the Styaet Commissioners be abolish
| ed that the County Commissioners DO empower
| ed to employ q competent engineer or surveyor
| to complete the work as directed under law
and return map of the district or districts
| surveyed by him 10 the County Commissioners
| every three months, for the final adoption oil
that section by the citizens Of that section, as
| to where and how the street shall be located
and that decision shall be anal. The cost OF
this work in tbs year 1871 was the large sum
of $l2,a4f.5n,
The subjeetof the Sherill's fees, to which pull
lie opinion has recently been called by the last
| Grand Jury, and to which illusions, in this re
port, has already been made, deserves at our
| hands some special consideration. BY their
| 1.-THE last Jurys) report the reason for not find
ing an indictment against the late Sheriff
| Burke, for charging and receiving excessive