The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1873-06-07
A CARD.

myself and the gentlemen who are Sc
curities upon my official bond, that
an explanation should be made Of the
causes and motives which combined
to procure my Indictment by the
Grand Jury Of this parish upon the
charge Of "embezzlement" in my ca
pacity as Tax Collector of Ascension.
The specific charge made against
me in the information" filed by the
District Attorney is, in effect, an al
legation that collected $947 in cash
for State licenses and entered the
amount upon my books as having
been collected in State warrants Of
the class until recently receivable in
payment of licenses, the market value
of which ranged from eighty to ninety
cents on the dollar.
To begin with, the reader will per-
ceive that even if / have been guilty
of the misdemeanor with which [ am
charged, there is no actual deficit in
the funds collected, and no loss to the
State has OF can result from the irreg
ularity. But 1 do not wish to be I'M
derstood as advancing these facts in
palliation Of the alleged offense that
offensc, when committed, is a direct
violation Of law, and no valid excuse
for its commission can be given.
Secondly, the very amount, S947,
shows flaw in the Indictment, as the
State licenses are all Of denominations
divisible by So; this mistake may
have been the result Of Il blunder on
the part of the brilliant mathematician
who footed up the various amounts
which are assumed to have been I'M
lawfully converted into warrants, or
it may be that $947 was guessed at as
being about such sum as might have
been so converted, or, again, perhaps
the odd digit was added to give the
indictment an air of truthfulness.
Thirdly, l have never held in my
own right a single warrant of the class
that were receivable for licenses, nor
have I been interested, directly or in
directly, in the purchase, sale or any
manner of speculation in those securi-
ties. I am prepared to establish by
the most positive evidence that every
collection made by myself is entered
correctly upon my books, and that
every warrant | received came direct
ly from the hands Of the license or tax
payers or their agents authorized to
settle their dues to to the State. If
any speculation in public securities
has been carried or in the Collectors
0f6ce-if warrants have been substi-
tuted for cash cOllections-then my
former deputy was guilty Of the irreg-
ularity, but do not believe he has
committed such misdemeanor and l
am confident Of his ability to vindi-
cate himself from even the suspicion
Of having done so. The only State
warrants l have held OF possessed
personal interest in since | have been
Tax Collector were issued to me by
the State Auditor on Friday, May g,
for my services as Supervisor of Reg
istration during the elections of No
vember, 1872, and February, 1873, and
these l disposed of to New Orleans
brokers at discount of forty six per
cent. If | had been in the habit of
appropfiating to myself portions of
the public money paid me by tax pay
ers and replacing the amounts with
warrants, l should most naturally
AINC CdSIltu GlltSC warrants issued
to me instead Of selling them at such
a heavy rate of depreciation from face
value.
The grounds upon which the indict-
ment against me is based are simply
these:
Several persons, whom it is not
essential to name here-a couple of
whom are merchants in Donaldson
ville-have acted as agents for the
payment Of licenses for a number of
the business men of the parish, receiv-
ing cash with which to discharge these
license dues but giving State warrants
therefor to the Collector. The Grand
Jury summoned a portion of the bus
mess men referred to before them for
the ostensiblc purpose of ascertaining