The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1874-02-26
OFFICE OF THE SHAWNEE COUNTY BANK
Capital 500, 0O0.) TorEKA, KAsAs,
December. 3rd. 1873.

OFFICE OF THE SHAWNEE COUNTY BANK0
Capital $500, 900 ToPEKA, KAsAs,
December, 3rd, 1873.
]. E. HAYES, TREAsURER-Dedr Si1;
The exchange you gave Us for collection has
been forwarded and $50, 600 fity thousand
dollars is subject to your order, at the hank
Of the New York Loan and Indemnity Com
psny. New York.
Respectfully,
JIM. PARxELEE, Cashier,
The writer OF the letter.
Mr.. Parmelee. makes the follow
ing statement in regard to the same: III
wrote the letter, and the circumstances are
these: Oar president said to me that he had
received some exchange from Mr.. Collins,
and that he had agreed to place some fifty
or sixty thousand dollars to the credit of
the State Treasurer, Mr.. Hayes, in the bank
mentioned in the letter, and before had
time to hesr from the hank, or from our
president, wrote the letter based upon the
statement of our president. The converse
ton With the president was, think, between
Il e 10th and 25:h of December, 1878. This
letter was simply sdvice that there was 81
mnch money subject to his the Treasurer'ss
order. think 1t vas also to cover some Of
my ca .hier's checks, that he might have had
at the time"
Question by the chairman: "Was the
money deposited in the Loan and Indem-
nifty Company's bark in New York, to the
credit of ]. f Hayes, to your knowledge"
Answer: NO, sir. When our president
got to New FORK he found that the Loan ami
Indemnity Company was not safe company
to do business with, and he did not make
the arrangement with them; and the eH-
change that this letter vas to cover was paid,
think, in currency"
This method of keeping accounts and de
posits is. to us, inexplicable. The testimony
in regard to the receiving Of checks, certiti-
Gates of deposit and bills Of exchange from
banks and other parties at the Treasures
office, and the financial transactions in the
office, is indsfiaite. conflicting snd painfully
embarrassing. Ii is claimed by the Treas
urer and his clerk, tina: the receiving of
checks, bills Of exchange, and certificates OF
deposits, are matters of necessity in the bus
iness of the office; and admitting that such
action is unavoidable, and the necessity
therefor fully justifes the failure to comply
with the Law on the statute books in that re-
spect, your Committee are still of the opin-
ion that there is no reason whatever for the
Treasurer to permit his office to be used as Il
'broker's shop" tor the accommodation Of
banks and private individuals, and of re-
tanning in his Possession evidences of indebi-
edness for an unlimited period thus releasing
the drawers thereof for want Of diligence.
In conclusion, your committee state, that
believing all officers should be held to a
strict accountability fer the discharge of their
duties, and especially that the custodian of
the peoples money should be prohibited
from acting: in palpable violation Of law,
they refuse to be parties. by official or other
sanction, in establishing or continuing pre-
cedent that may bring ruin upon the finance
of the State, and is evidently fraught with
eminent danger, and as a measure demanded
by justice ard the convictions of public
duty, report the following resolution, and
recommend its adoption:
Rcsoired, That Josiah f. Hayes, treasurer
of the State of Kansas, be and is hereby i'm
peached for high crimes and misdeneanors
in office.
albert ii. HORTON, Chairman
T. +. RoBLEY.
$. N. LAT1A.
f.. h. TOWNSEND.