Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-03-04
sOIJTH CAROLINA LEGISLATURE.

Once a week, on an average, tor several
weeks past, the House has adopted resolu-
tion to adjourn sine die but in each case the
Senate has laid the resolution on the table, or
refpsed to concur. As to when adjournment
will be reached is matter Of conjecture.
Quite stir has been produced in the leg.
islature during the past week, ny the report
of the special Joint investigating committee on
the matter of the bond and coupon funding.
The report is long document, and censures
the State treasurer for AL alleged fraudulent
funding of coupons. The committee report
that s2,473, 1884 in bonds, and sS64,O3O in
coupons have been funded to date. Of the
bonds 1918, 800 were of that class reported
by the committee to have been illegally hy-
pothecated, and the committee say these were
illegally funded. Of the coupons, the com.
mittee say that large amount was funded
bv Owens, ex.chairman of the Senate finance
committee. s241,000 were coupons which
matured in July, 1871, a time when the State
was paving interest on its debt, and $19e. <46
were detached from the bonds which we're .he
property of the State at the time when they
matured. These, the report says, were not
valid claims against the State, and the fund.
ing of them was fraud on the State. The
committee also report that the treasurer has
not kept the interest fund separate and apart
from the other funds, and censure him for his
action in borrowing $4,000 of that fund for
paying of the Legislature. They denounce
it as fragrant violation of the funding law.
The report makes no recommendation, but is
accompanied by voluminous mass Of testi-
mony.
The next day after the reading of the re-
port, communication was received by the
House from the Treasurer, giving statement
of his disbursements of the legislative appro-
priatious of the last session. He says that
the full amount of the appropriation, $112,-
900, was paid out, and that there was an over
issue of pay certificates amounting to $780,
900 that of the $4,000 certificates present.
ed to him he paid $4,000, and he is informed
that there are full $4,000 now outstanding
He denounces the over.ssue of the certificates
as fraud and says that it was kept secret
from him until he found it out by the fact
that the appropriation had been exhausted.
The reading of this communication, and the
tabular statement accompanying it, excited
the House very much, but when another COM
munication was read from the same officer, in
which he stated that, in his opinion, the con-
clusions of the bond investigating committee
we're unjust and unwarranted, perfect storm
of indignation swept over. the House. Speaker
Elliott ruled the terms out Of order, and re-
fused to allow the clerk to proceed any further
with the reading of the letter. A vote was
taken, and amid perfect pandemonium the
House sustained the speaker by vote Of 81
to 49, In the tsbooed communication, Treas.
urer Cardozo stated that he has other impor-
tant evidence necessary to the consideration
of the question involved in the report Of the
investigating committee, which evidence he
refrained from giving the committee, for fear
of the injury it might do to other persons.
He also stated that he would have this evil
dence before the House on Monday last to
which time he asked the consideration Of the
report be postponed.
The Columbia correspondent of the Ne,os
and Courier, writing on Friday last, says:
II am not prepared to hazard the assertion
that the would-be impeachers of the State
treasurer were frightened by the threat con-
tained in the tabooed communication of that
officer in which he announces his intention of
giving certain information which would Gin.
juriously affect others )" but I am compelled
to chronicle the fact that they were the least
bit tanner this morning, and that their atti-
tude was not half as bold and defiant as it
was on the previous day. In fact, motion
in the House to reconsider the vote whereby
the House refused to allow the Objectionable
communication to be read was carried, with
out debate, by vote of ffty-fve to forty,
and the latter was accordingly read Of the
precise nature of the additional evidence
which the treasurer has to offer, am not in
position to know, but there are vague hints
and rumors in circulation that somebody will
be hurt, and when people talk about it they
mutter something about the Pententiary, in
way that makes the hearer, if he was a
member of the last General Assembly, shud-
der and feel uncomfortable. Perhaps it is
the intention of the treasurer to explain how
it came about that the names of over two
hundred persons appear on the list of those to
whom pay certificates were issued last session,
in the face of the fact that the number Of at
taches was limited by law to something less.
than thirty. I am confident that the treas
urer can throw considerable light upon some
of those dark transactions and am at loss
to understand why he should have allowed
consideration for others to have prevented
him from giving the evidence before the COM
mittee The information is promised on
Tuesday, until which day the consideration of
the report of the committee has been post
poned by both houses"
The Act to incorporate Gafney City, in
Spartanburg county, was enrolled for rati-
fcation.