Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1872-03-16
ASTOUNDING ROBBERY.
LITTLE YORK VS.. NEW YORK.
Tweed Nowhere.
THE AUDIT COMMITTEE OUT
FLANKED.
THIEVES IN THE ASCENDANT.


Vouchers for The Past Sic Years Stolen.
THIEVES IN THE ASCENDANT.
1t is q well-known fact that Y ork county
| is cursed with heavy debt amounting, ac-
cording to the last statement of the County
Commissioners, to the immense sum of
S3l0,000. How, when, or for what pur-
pose this heavy debt was contracted, is a
mystery. and again investigations
have been made, but the over-burdened
taxpayer received no satisfaction. That
one-half the amount, S1500O0, went into
the pockets of private individuals, is the
settled conviction of two-thirds of the citi-
zens Of York, and the facts related below,
prove that this conviction is right The
ring of Little York rivaled the "'ring''
of New York in stealing the peoples mo-
ney, the difference being only in the amount
stolen.
At recent session of the court, the
Grand Jury recommended that bill be
presented to the Legislature, providing that
an audit committee of three, consisting of
Thos. L. Cochrane, G. b. Wallace and Col.
Levi Maish, to re-audit and examine into
the monetary affairs of the county, from
1850 down to the present time, be appoint
cd.
The bill was prepared and presented to
the Legislature and, notwithstanding the
opposition of certain parties, it was, owing
in a great degree to the vigorous support of
the Republican, passed by the Senate. This
alarmed the 'ringites," " end conclavc of
the members Of the ring was called, to
devise ways and means to avoid the thrca-
tened exposure. Various plans were sug-
gested, but the plan adopted was to steal
from the County Commissioners and Ircd
Surer'S offices all documents that lrould aid
the Audit Committee, or iRculpute dHy mem.
Jef Of tie "ring."
The plan was well laid, COPIED from New
York, aud fully carried out between Sat
urday evening and Tuesday morning. The
door of the Commissioners Office is locked
with an ordinary door lock, and five or six
parties carry a key for the same.
Early on Tuesday afternoon "G ours Tru
ly" learned, how, when or whore, is for us
to know, that desk in the Commissioners
Office had been broken open ana the stubs
of an important blanl. book had been torn
out and destroyed. Eager to furnish the
public with all that was transpiring. we
made frequent inquiries of parties supposed
to belong TO the Court House clique, but
they were us silent as the columns in front
of our court Of Justice. Finally, by pcrsis-
tent efforts, we learned that the "stubsn
torn out, were Of no account; the book they
belonged to was an old note book the pco-
Pile of York county would not lose any
thing; the Commissioner had full record
of the lost document so had the Trcasu-
Ter, Nc. With this we had to be satisfied
but why were these stubs torn out and
destroyed, if they were Of no account
Here comes the sequel: On Wednesday
the Clerk Of the Commissioners was called
on for certain voucher. Going to the clO-
set where the vouchers trCrC kept, he disco
vered that all Of these important papers,
from the year 1865 down to date, icCrC Sto-
len! OF course it was impossible to keep
the robbery quiet the matter became
bruited about, and in short time the rob
berry of the Court House was the town talk.
Early on Thursday morning we ''inter-
viewed Clerk Zicgler. lie showed us the
desk and explained how it was broken open;
showed us a note book said to be similar to
the one from which the ''stubs' were torn,
but did not show us the mutilated book.
He also showed to the closet where the
vouchers lad been kept, and there we saw
a series Of empty pigeon holes. These pi-
gcon holes, six in number, are about ten
inches square, and Mr.. L. assures us they
were al ijHi Cf rOUchcrS.
Now, why were these papers stolen The
intrinsic Nitut Oi lHtill WIS uDlIillle buL
on their face they told a story of robbery
and theft that would not bear the ordeal of
an examination by an honest audit com
mittec.
We do not charge this robbery on the de-
mocratic party, but we do charge it upon
certain leaders of that party we charge it
upon men, who, like Tweed, Connolly, ct.
al. of New y ork, run the machine in Little
York. And though they may stand on
their dignity and, in the language Of Boss
Tweed, ask in scornful accents, "Well,
what are you going to do about it p they
ray rest assured that the finger Of public
scorn will point them out, and, in due sea-
son, they will be in the same predcament
as their fellow thieves in New York.
Since the above was written, we have
been informed that Israel Beck, a lme-bur-
ner at the kilns of Herman lloke, found on
Monday lot Of hallconsumed paper in
one Of the kills, supposed to have been the
remains of the stolen vouchers.
On Thursday afternoon Il number of ci-
tizens assembled in the Court House by in
vtation of Commissioner Strickhouscr and
| Clerk Zeigler. Philip a Small, Esq, was
called to the chair, and Geo. w. lIcighes
appointed Secretary. Mr.. Zeigler made
( the following statement:
"On Thursday afternoon, March 9TH.
/ 1872, | discovered that the desk in which
/ the blank note book is contained, was forci-
/ bly, opened and the note book considerably
mutilatod. On The following, having occa-
/ sion to refer to bill of the year 1871, for
/ the purpose Of imparting information, !
( found that the bills Of the years 1865, 'G6,
! '67, 90, 20 and II were missing from the
/ Commissioners Office
\ resolution was passed iusuiying the
| Commissioners in Offering a reward of $1,000
for the detection of the robbers. (All dust
in the eyes of the public Speeches were
made by number Of persons, among 9th
ers John Gibson, Esq, counsel for the Com
missioners, who said that "the abstraction
OF the papers would not affect creditors o.
the county, or the investigation Of its in
dcbtedness.n
If Mr. Gibson is correct, the question
arises, why was the theft committed
The meeting adjourned to assemble a
the ringing Of the Court House bell, wher
it was expected that Mr., Beck would ap
pear and tell his little piece. Early in tho
evening the bell issued forth its summons
the public assembled and Mr., Beck said hi