Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-04-24
7,EgE EvpEsTFG.ITFO.E.
Wnc Is ReSP5asibIef
The E0asnee.
HOBERT NJ. CLARK

ROBERT NJ. CLARK
Being first duly sworn according
law testified Is follows:
! Q. You were Auditor Of Belmor
County for four years, l Oelieve?
a. A little more than four year.
four years and eight months.
! c. When did your terll expire?
A. cannot tell exsc;ly the date,
4 WAS in Noveu Der, 1871.
@. There 2ppea:- 10 be diserer3n
icy between the bonds ;,aid and out
standing, and the bonds isSned AZ ap
pears from your bond register, OF ssHne
thing OVER twelve Thousand dolia's
as near rs we are able to ascerta in il
On tho Sonerton and Warnoek pixies
can you give US any explanation rs Il
how that discrepancy occurred:
y. 1 have not examined the books IL
the Auditors Office; | only had tn
books OF the Committee, and find tn,
same deficiency in the books that III,
Committce did; have made no furth
er examination su0 consequently
would not attempt to make any ex
plana,ior about it until | could q
| through the whole thing.
@. Assuming the books of the Com
mittee which yOu have examined, Il
be correct, apd to have bSen taker
from the books of the Auditors offics
of your term; can you Offer aay ex
pianatioD as to how snch discrepancy
may have taken place?
A. [ would not undertake 10 offsl
any explanation Unless / know what
was talking shout, and rs [ presume
Mt least when l know the discrepsncs
is on the books of the Committee,
went on that suppUsition at least at the
time, and knowing the persons who
bad been scrutinizing the matter;
cannot offer any explanation Of it
taking their books / como to the same
result that the Committee did.
@. Who made the Bond Register
now in the Auditors Office, purportina
to be list of the bonds Issued upou
the several roads in the County?
A. 1t was made by several of us,
part oft, probably the greater portion
of it by Adams and Darrah; l think
probably that Adams, Darrah and
myself made all of it.
Q. Can yCu now say whether that
bond register is correct:
a. It is rs far as I know; there may
be some errors Ia carrying oat the
amount of interest.
@. 1t WAS intended by you to be a
correct statement of all the bonds 10.
sued upon the bond register
A. Yes sir, it was to the best of my
knowledge. } F. -:s-'..s. -. -.
@. Was there any bonds ever issued
from this Off, e, during your term, that
didn't go on that Register?
\. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Were all the bonds issued from
this Office during your administration
issued upon the certificates of the en-
giDeers? &
A. Yes, either on them or by order
of the Commissioners OF the County ?
@. Did the Commissioners ever issue
any bonds without the certificate of
the engineer? could they do that?
A. They did in payment of fees or
miscellaneous expenses on the roads,
or often for damages to parties by
opening roads through their lands;
sometimes the Commissioners ordered
me to issue bonds for damages.
@. Do the estimates of the engineers
correspond with the bonds issued upon
tho different roads?
4. [ can say for two Of them. have
not examined all Of them. 81
q. Did you ever compare the ensi-i
neer's estimates upon the Warnnrk
road with the number OF ponds issued
upon that road:
A. Yes sir. -.-.,.,
@. How do they compare? ~
A. They do not compare.
Q. Why do they not?
A. There was some six or seven
hundred dollars difference between the
of bonds issued and the
of engineers certificates.
@. More bonds Issued than there are
a. Just there I want to explain that
IA far / can; Mr.. Picker
ing, VINO was the rartner of Falcon,
known as J. II. Falcon & Co, GOMEZ
here to settle up the concern, f,.r F'al-
loon had left, and he and DIR. Mitchell
came here together, he (Pickering)
that there WAS due to him
81 eco, and wanted ire to give him one
thousand dollars in bonds; refused to
do that, told him / was not going to
give Falcon any more tonds till heI
had q settlement; that / believed hel
had every dollar that was. duo him;
claimed after looking at the
that [ was sornelsix or seven
hundred dollars-if recollcct right
that I hai paid him some seven ftind-
red dollars more than his estimates
covered; tried repeatedly after that
time TO get Falcon to come here and
settle; wrote to him but never could
get him here, and the thing rested that
way, and suppose it is resting that
way yet; don't know anything more
about it; there was never any settle
ment between the Commissioners and
Falcon & Co; at the time WIS leav-
ing the Office, on the Saturday before,
I believe, while cleaning ont the office
l found the estimate of Mitchell, signed
with his name, / got it among the
on the WarnOck Road; Ad-
ans was here, and when I got hold of
the voucher, said 1, "Jim! there's the
very thing 1 want, that is the voucher
that is missing" that explained the
difference between Mitchell's settle
ment and my account.
@. That voucher being put in among
the Engineers certificates OF the War
mock Road would make it all right?
A. 1t would cover this deficiency in
my accounts at the time that Picker
ing was here.
@. Mr.. Irwin states in his testimony
that there WAS small amount paid to
you that yo1 gave him credit for, on
road fees, about hundred dollars, that
you would not give him an order for,
but give him credit, and that it was at
the time Mr.. Wilkinson was after you
on account of fees; which was the
reason you would not give him an
order for it; was there anything OF
that? did you refuse him an order?
A. don't know whether l received
any money from Irwin for road fees,
that he never yecpiye.t an order fnr