The Van Buren press., 1875-04-20

bonds. Regular surveys were 10 be made
and competent engineers were to decide,
after all, whether the levee should be
built In practice, one or two engineers
and half a dozen contractors made ring
and built lcvees wherever they pleased
no formal petitions were required, no
proper surveys made; logs and timber.
and even -four and beef barrels were
crammed into the bank, and meantime
the levec commissioner, Benjamin Thorn
as, issued bonds whenever anybody
whom he knew asked for them, and actu-
ally kept no books to show to whom, tor
what work, or when they were issued.
The first freshet washed most OF these
levees away, and Of those that stood,
many were so misplaced that planters
were ruined because the lcvees, intended
to keep the water cut, only kept it in
Fortunately the contractors aud swim
dlers took their pay and plumber in
bonds the swindl was too gross, and
the bonds fell in value till they sold in
the market for six or eight cents on the
dollar, and can now be bought for that
The planters resisted in the courts the
payment of interest demanded Of them,
and so careesslv had the work been done
that the courts have held them exempt,
because the most simple lorms of law had
not been complied with, and it is believed
that the levec ring failed to get rich by its
punder, but the state owes on these
bonds still.
scrIp np sIIiypI ISrrps
Next came the issue of scrip The
taxes and bonds were not enough for
these monslrous robbers They began
to issue state. county, township and even
school scrip-nOtcs Of hand Of these cor.
porations. some interest hearing. They
issued state scrip nj such rate that b,
May, 1874, 80, 100000 Of this stuff had
been taken up and destroyed, and there
is supposed to be Sl,500,OOO Of it aGoa,
now.
AMUSING MINOR FRAUDS.
But these big thcfls are not nearly as
amusing as the smaller ones One Tank
ersley, speaker of the assembly, for in
stance. got the people of Clark county to
issue 100000 in bonds to the Ouachita
Valley railroad, Of which ne was prcsi
dent. He found broker in New York
who offered him eighty per cent for these
bonds, on condition that he would get
responsible bank to guarantee the pay.
ment Of the interest for FIVE years. He
deposited with a bank $4,000, which
was the interest for five years at six per
cent ; received at once $4,000 for his
bonds, and pockctcd $4,000 by this
pretty transaction. The town Of Cam.
den, in Ouachita county, subscribed Sj0,-
600, which he also pocke,ed; and he ran
in debt for the little work he did on tn e
railroad, and when he had got his money
ran away himself to Colorado.
In 1873 Faulkner county was formed
ont of fragments Of surrounding coun-
ties This making new counties was
custom Of the reconstructors They
thus created new offices. The new Faulk.
ner county had no debt 1t had no pub
lie buildings. AMI has none yet, except
an eighty-by ten courthouse given it by
Methodist church. 1t contains 1000
people, and has q property valuation Of
about 100000. Two young New York.
ers, Benton Turner and Charles Lanlcrs,
were appointed sheriff and county clerk
by the governor. They collected the
first year about $40, 900 in taxes, and this
being insufficient for their uses, they is.
sued county scrip for $4,000 more.
They collected the taxes in grcenbacks
and turned them int6 deprecated state
scrip, some of which they bought at thir.
ty.6vc cents on dollar. They sold OF
fees, released prisoners, engaged in
fraudulent registration, and finally they
departed with their plundcr; and the
state knows them no more.
The rcconstructors were wise in their
generation. They not only robbed at
wholesale and retail. but they took care
to preserve their own supremacy. The
constitution Of 1868 gave the governor
the appointment of almost all the, local
officers, even to the justices of the peace
and registrars Of elections. The gov.
ernor, of course, selected his own adhe.
rents, and did not scruplc TO send them
from Little Rock, sometimes hundred
miles away into strange county. So
loosely was business conducted that when
the new county Of Howard was created,
in 1873, one Hawkins, an illiteratc car
pentcr of Little Rock, being appointed
county clerk, began his career by having
county scrip printed before he even went
down to take up his office, and issued the
first Of this scrip in Little Rock In ray
ment for an ambulance to take his family
to Howard county. Scrip Of this com
ty is now worth from ten to fifteen cents
and no wonder.
To return to the railroads Where
their cmbankmcnts would serve rs lcvees
they were allowed lcvce bonds in add
ton to the aid bonds, and not content
with this, in one case twenty miles Of
track having been laid on a road accept
ed and the bonds received, the iron was
taken up and removed to another road,
where it sufliced to obtain from tho treas.
ury another $500, 900 in bonds
Why did not the people turn out these
knavcss This | will try to explain to
you in my next letter,
CHARLES NsRDHoFr.
--ss)~~--------
WALL PAPER "A few weeks since
~ y a.