, 1877-10-14

During the last ten days, tue t14H!ua
Court of this county has been occupied witt
the trial of several of the persons who ar
now or have been County Commissioners
The technical charge against these persons Il
that Of u conspiracy to defraud Cook County
The substance of the charge is TINT during
number of years the firm of JAMES FORSYTH
j. Co., through one Of its members, CLEMEN
F. PER1o1Ar, held contracts, obtained by vot
Of tue County Board, for the supply O
the Aims House, Insane Asylum, Count,
Hospital, and other public charities
PER1oLAr was able, if there were an,
competition, to underbid all others. Tht
contracts included all descriptions. of groce
ries, provisions Except meats and bread)
dry goods, clothing, furniture, flour, ant
other things needed for the support Of per
hnps 1000 to $500 persons. Leaving out o.
view the Commissioners, it was essential thai
pER1oLAT to succeed should have control o1
tile subordinate officers, and hence he began
ut once to name them. Kimberly was elect
cd Warden Of the Allns-Ho,lse and Asylum,
and was unquestionably appointed in the
| first instance because of his personal charac-
ter for Integrity. After serving year, he
was dismissed, and ycar later he
was reelected. by this time PEE1oLAT
! had become master of the County Board, and
| no person could retain office under the coun-
| ty without his consent. Then began the
| corruption and dishonesty. In due time
I KIMBERLY and PEE1oLAT had an agreement,
/ by which KIMBERLY Was to certify to the re-
ceipt of all the goods charged III PEn1oLAr's
bills on this certificate the County Board
voted the payment. This agreement was for
q dishonest purpose. KIMBERLY was to re-
ceiyo proportion of the money, and actu-
ally did receive $500 cash from PER1o1Ar,
It was shown that number Of County COM
missioners obtained goods from PER1oLAT's
store, which goods were charged to profit and
loss, and PEE1oLArs books reveal thepayment
Of cash to Commissioners, which payments
were also charged to profit and loss How
much the county was plundered during the
continuance Of this robbery is not known;
nor can it be shown in what proportions the
plunder WAS distributed, except in the cases
of K1MEEnLY, who received $500, and Il
y
for meat never delivered. The only direct
evidence tending to show the extent Of the
robbery was record kept during part of
one year of the items OF groceries charged
in the monthly bills and paid by the county,
which were not delivered. A comparison of
the record Of goods not delivered with the
bills paid may serve to show tue operation
~, e..
July, 1874, footed up $1.71093; the record
of goods not sent showed that arti-
cles to the sum of :@:5J9.77 charged
in tho bill were not delivered. Therefore
the county paid 81. 710.93 for goods amount
ing to $1.11l.1G. Here was m overchargo
of over 80 per cent. The bill for groceries
delivered at the Insane Asylum, September,
1874, amounted to 81, ,335.t;7, of which goods
there were withheld articles amounting to
5000. The ynlue of the goods actually
delivered was SGSj.S;', for which the county
paid 81, ,335, an overchargc exceeding 100 per
cent. Actual and direct proof Of these
frauds exist of record in the bills for groce-
ries covering period Of eight months; but
the same contractor, the same Warden, and
substantially the same Commissioners, con-
trolled the business during several years, and
the public have the right to assume TINT |
during the other months there wns no differ !
ence in the way tho goods were delivered aud |
charged for An estimate of the value of |
the groceries delivered by PEn1oLAr to the |
County Agent during the year 1S75-'7G !
shows that for goods worth S13,473 the !
county paid ::222.ooS7, an overcharge Of about |
GO per cent; aud that for groceries furnished |
tho Al1ns-House aud Insane Asylum during |
the same year, worth Sl3,7o1, tho county |
paid 50 $3.50, an oyercharge of nearly 100 !
per cent. When it is remembered that
PEE1oLAT's contracts embraced practically all
the things purchased by the county, amount
ing annually to about $3.50, 900, the public
may estimate the extent OF the whole rob- |
berry On the assumption that the shortages
averaged only % per cent of the goods
paid for, we have the county paying
IN single year to PER1oLAr nnd his
confederates 100000 in excess of the
honest value Of the supplies furnished.
Now, what Was done with this money? 3?
There were PER1oLAT and his business part~
ners, KIMBERLY, the Warden, the County
Agent, the Warden of the Hospital fifteen
County Commissioners, the minor and SUBJ
contractors for bread, flour, medicines,
meats, boots and shoes, coal and wood, hard
ware. dry goods, and furniture. Who of these
were participants in the plumber? Two of
them have confessed their share, but they
were not Commissioners. Does any one
suppose that PEn1oLAT kept the whole, year
after year, and that fifteen Commissioners who
year after year voted him nil the money he
asked, and who were present time aud again
when goods were delivered, permitted all
This wholesale robbery to go on without lift
ing voice in protest, or without requiring
the boss to divide? The County Board has
been in existence six years. II is not extrav-
,gant to assume that during three years at
east of TINT time its control has been essen
tally rotten and corrupt. It is i'm
possible to make my close estimate |
u the extent to which this corruption
las robbed the county. It's operations have
lot been confined to dealings with PEE1o1Ar
n the matter of county supplies. The same
nan figured extensively as . go-between in
he purchase of hospi pital-site, fraud that :