The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-03-14

ITuilE-lueSed dTt luc CuoerSs-t ohohO
an order to A. O. Jones. I. H.
Charles Reade, Messenger.
John B. Turner, Clerk.
Amos Barns, Clerk. +.-0
David D. Cooper, Messenger.
Andrew Smith, Messenger.
Elias Woodrow, Clerk.
Jones says the handwriting on the
above seems to be that of Mr.. Hurley.
Dea, Oceola-Plsase make me out a
certificate for my Pet. Sincerely yours,
FL. NJ.
We also find an crderYhich, Mr.. Jones
says, appears to be in the handwriting OF
Mr.. Briggs, member from York County,
for the following: VIM. Riley, clerk of
committee; r. Finnegan, clerk; Giles
Foxworth, messenger; Jonas Wilson,
messenger.
We especially refer you to the testi-
mony of MIR. R. Finnegan, a resident of
Columbia, where he says that B. F.
Briggs, whilst member of the House,
endeavored to induce him to endorse GER
tifcates, which he refused to do. After
wards he insisted OIL the certificates being
destroyed in his presence, and Briggs in.
formed him that he had already de-
stroyed them. After this he saw them
published in list Of claims brought be-
fore the Senate, 'Hhereupon he wrote
Clerk Woodruff a letter, which is at
tached to his evidence. In said letter he
stated that he denounced the certificates
as fraud, as he had not rendered the
State any service, again demanding that
they be destroyed in his presence, and
that his name should not be used for the
benefit of those who desired to steal.
We also refer you to the letter of B. T.
Briggs, annexed to the evidence address
ed to Senator White, in which he says,
"the certificates were for Reuben Finne-
gan and not Robt. Finnegan; forbade
White delivering the certificates, claim.
ing that he had paid q valuable conside-
ration for them" We only cite this as
one of many hundreds of like nature.
We call attention to others of similar
kind referred to in evidence of A. O.
Jones, especially that payable to w. H..
Gardner, member from Sumter County !;
ALSO to certificate collected by T. Hur-
ley, made payable to Z. Harlingford, q
fictitious name, the initials of which rep
resent It. Hurley. z" ).
Jones, continuing, says: ''The joint
certificates exhibited amounting to $780,
1850, and fhe House certificates
amounting 60 S131 ,O9430, L have exam
ined, and in my. opinion not one of the
Joint certificates would stand good upon
close scrutiny. eOfthe House certificates,
lido not regard as valid any that were
not issued to some known person. This
would throw cut about thirty thousand
dollars as invalid. OF those issued in
the names of known persons fifty thou
sand dollars at least would not bear too
much light"
Sergeant Williams, of The House, in
bis evidence says, "out of one hundred
and fifty certificates issued to persons
STYLED as clerks of the House, not one
such person served, and every dollar paid
on their certificates was a direct fraud
upon the State" They called for
amounts ranging from $500 to $642 each,
'aggregating $4,000. Williams says that
"there were onlyeight porters employed" i"
yet,we find that in one session alone GER
tifcates were issued to two hundred and
thirty-6ve porters. '
We gave this witness over seventy cer-
tifcates for inspection, made out in the
name of persons styled porters, in refer
ence to which he testifes that ."not one OF
them ,erved," adding that "the House
only Employed about ten messengers" !"
Notwithstanding this, we find that, du.
ring one session, certificates were issued
to one hundred and forty, and at another
for two hundred and twelve messengers.
Williams testiies that "the House ac-
tually employed eight laborers and from
five to ten pages" yet we have certificates
from the Treasurer's Office showing that
as many as 159 laborers and 124 pages
were paid during one session. For sew
eral sessions certificates were issued for
about 80 pages, many of whom were
children of the members. We submitted
to the inspection of the same witness
twenty-five certificates, drawn for the
payment of supplies made under the head
Of "Sundries," aggregating about sos, 900.
On a'close examination he said that "the
State received no consideration for them,
no such persons ever performed any SER
vice or furnished any supplies to the
Srate-I have examined a large number
OF certificates drawn in my name, and
pronounce nine out Of ten fraudulent"
PATTERSON AND MOSES.
From the testimony before us, we find
that the largest transaction of this kind
al any one time was between John j.
Patterson, who never made two bites at
q cherry, and Speaker F. J. Moses. The
latter testifes as follows: Sometime
during the session of 1S71-72, John j.
Patterson came 10 me and proposed that
if l would turn over to him blank pay
certificates, he would have them filled up
with fictitious names to the amount OF
$4,000, and if 1 would sign them as
Speaker and have Jones attest them as
clerk, he would pay me $4,000, he to
keep the certificates. i accepted the
proposition, delivered to him batch Of
blank pay certificates, and he returned
them to me filled out, l think, in the
handwriting of F. S. Jacobs, cashier oil
the South Carolina Bank and Trust Com
pany, to the amount above stated" The
evidence further shows that they were
duly signed, aud that Patterson paid
Moses in cash $1,000 at one time and
$4,000 at another Moses was recalled
and says:
Certificates shown. me recognize as
some of those to which 1 have just allu-
ded. The names are all fictitious, and ]
do not know chat such persons ever ex.
isted."
The number, date, amount, &C., are as
follows:
No. Date. Amount. 10 aohom Payable
r. Dec. 16, 1871 81 ,53747 Joseph Myer.
c. Dec. 90, 1871. Si3.19 Peter Emninger.
s. Dec. IS, 1871. 973.23 John Schuze.
d. Dec. 10, lS7l... 1,i9i.3l Joseph Richards.
q. Dec q, 1871. 1,962.50 Robert Matthews.
II. Dec. 81, lS7l.. 1,726.50 P. Iaggertr.
q. Dec. 20, 1871. 223476 Robert Keppe.
Q. Dec. 90, 1S7l. 1,462.5s Samuel Barnes.
j. Dec. Is, lS7l.- I8i.72 j. A. Hoffman,
A Dec. Is, 1871. S93.o6 George Howell
n. May 7, 1871. $4,000 w. Tippct.
Z. Jan. Is, 1871. i40.33 George Single.
is EVERYTHING LOVELY?