The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-05-31

General Mt the time. and woutd know uf tfiis
order. There were other war; ants issued tiil-
Brainard for the Plaquemines 81 HtsHet, under
the same act Warrants 384s to 38tW are OF the
same class, but do not appear so in The war
rant stub book.
regard these as issued regularly a fter the
injunction had been raised. 1t Is not to my
knowledge that any were issued without that
| would know II any were issued without Ill
appropriation
70 Mr.. Aldige-1f the Auditor had occas ION
10 refuse any he would consult
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL p1BB1E,
and on some occasions the Attorney General.
To Mr.. Keeting-ln my capacity, / checked
through the accounts every day; was In the
Office In Jafilary 1876.
Mr.. Keeting here explained question that
he was about 10 ask the witness, stating that
he thought 1t had been the custom in making
purchases for the Adjutant General or others
10 consolidate tho items and have one war
rant issued for the whole amount, making
that payable to one Of the clerks in the
Auditors ci1iee He referred TO the Wills mi
litia warrant claim az coming under that
head, and then asked Witness ii such was the
custom.
Witness continued. Think the Wells claim
Item was issued upon @ raised injunction.
Don't know that any of those warrants were
returned cancelled; knew q Mr.. Wills, who
was employed in the Office: don't know
whether he had anything else to do or had
money OF his own or not: don't know that he
was In other business aud do not know that
he Is the same to whom the warrants were
issued. The vouchers for the warrants should
be on file in the Auditors office; never saw
them.
Mr.. johnson, to my knowledge never col
leGted money directly from the tax collector.
Mr.. Clinton did at one time make such settle
ments
AID ELIMINATED ORDERS.
in 1876 with tax collectors. Am unable to re-
call one now There was q compromise settle
ment made under article 17s, Revised Statutes,
with George A. King, Of Red River parish.
Think It was IL October or the early part Of
November, and think it was for between $1,000
and $4,000. That can be traced by the gen
eral ledger of 1876. When left tho office that
book was in there, as far as / know.
To Mr.. Kseting Have seen where bills were
made for small amounts. and warrants were
made for the whole bulk, the warrants being
drawn in favor of some one. in the Auditors
office That has been done In some instances.
Mr.. W. A. Brainard recalled.
To Mr.. Aldige- Cannot recall an Instance
whore Mr.. Herwig could have warrants is
sued except In the general way. There
WAS BAD BLOOD
between him and Clinton. II was the general
impression about the office, and it was said
that Herwig was personally active, though
do not know only from what was spoken in u
general way,
Since last testified I have examined the
books in the. Auditors office, and find quite
number OF the books are missing. More par
ticularly the most important books among
those not to be found are the tax ledgers for
~, the appropriation book for 1873 "a
rs, the outstanding warrant fedgers for 1874
10 76, the consolidated bond books Nos /
and 2. These are the
MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS MISSING.
[ find tho appropriation book for 1876, the
journal OF receipts and expenses for 1876 and
the outstanding warrant ledger for 1873 and
previous years. and the tax ledgers for 1873
In regard TO Storms testimony, | will say
that the warrants. amounting to $lgt7, ptir-
porting to be Of the series of 1874, were TO my
knowledge OF the series Of 1873. Those issued
to the Plaquemines Sentinel, per w. A. Brain
ard, Nos. 1860 to 1864, were actually Of the
series of 1874, apd were issued against an Tin
exhausted approximation.
The word series" means, as used in the
Auditors office, the year that claims were
payable in or the receipts OF revenues of the
year which they were drawn againrt, and the
claim for $t9l7, referred to in my former tes-
tinlony is q false entry. The warrant drew
was as agent of the owner
Don't know of any custom i'm the office
where claims were made out in the name Of
any OF the clerks Mr.. Wills owned to me
that in his case the whole thing was fraudu
lent Know of one instance where the appro-
prlatlOn Tor the GnIBt clerk WIS drawn In
bulk for the entire year, and was distributed
among tho other clerks.
The witness was shown the order Of the Su-
perior District Court in the Wills militia
claim case published in Wednesday morn
ing's DEMoCRAT), and continued: ] know
nothing about that 1T may or may not be q
genuine order.
/ desire to state that in my testimony re-
garding Mr.. Herwig that his attempts to
compel the issuance of warrants did not, as |
Il
issued vouchers, or those which had NO legal
ity In law.
TO Mr.. Aldige-Mr. Folger's account was not
had not filed his delinquent lists, though he
settled up to October /, 1876, at which time he
may have done so afterwards TO the best OF
my recollection the amount due from him
then was over 100000. The collections were
charged with the assessment rolls and credit
sd with payments and the delinquent lists
when they are filed, II the returns are prop
erly made.
Carey, the tax collector for the Third Dis
brict, settled with the Auditor, but to my
knowledge he never paid into the Treasury.
No legal steps were taken in that case. He
may have had his quietus.
Mr.. Aldige stated that he would with the
consent of the committee, engage Mr.. Brain
ard as an expert to examine the books Of the
Auditor and Treasurer
On motion it was agreed to summon Messrs,
Henry Street, Dibble and Clinton to appear
to-day, and the committee adjourned until 1
, clock p. IN.
FROGMOOR.