The sun., 1879-01-30
FRAUDS IN AN ALMSII0USE.
a LITTLE TdMMINY RING UNEfRTHED
IN RENSSELAER, COUNTY.
Four Times More Provisions, Boots md Shoes
mud Dry Goods Charged than the Pnul,r,s
Could have Consumed-A Pastors s ppenI.

Troy, Jan. 29-FOr several years IL has
boon openly charged that the Poor Department
Of this county wns managed by a corrupt Ring.
who have missed no opportunity to enrich
| themselves ut the expense OF tho public. Boards
| Of Supervisors. although we'll aware Of these
| charges. have until the organization OF the
| present Board. done little toward breaking up
| tho Ring. Fortunately for the taxpayers Super
visor Allen. who is entitled to tho credit Of
breaking up the Tom Eagan Ring. was np-
pointed n member OF tho Committee on TIE
House OF Industry. Last month, acting upon
hint from the State Board Of Charities that there
was much room for improvement in the man
| ngemont of tho county poor. Mr. Allen deter
| mined upon rigorous examination. and the
result reveals what is thought was deliberate
scheme. by which tho county has been robbed
| OF many thousands OF dollars. Tho acting SUI
| porntendent OF the Poor. John B. Ford. Is a dea-
con in the First Baptist Church. and has always
boen known IA " Honest John Ford" Everybody
IL surprised at tho disclosures affecting Mr..
| Ford: but many believe that his son. Eli
| nkim ]. Ford. and DR.. IIegcmnn the keeper
| Of tho poorhousc. havo hecn benefited by the
| thets and that Drarnn Ford ia guilty of gross
| negligence only in alowingth frauds TO con-
| unuc When the pastor of tho church Of which
Mr. Ford Is 2nc OF the deacons heard Of the
| waited upon n member of the Committee. and
appealed To him to be as lonent as possible
to-dny the Committee presented thclr report
| IL seems that bills wore audited for pro-
greater tSsn s n ns $50 in Inmates sO@' could Tr posEy %
| has consumed. Among the articles charged
are 50. .33o pounds Of boci. 800 barrels Of, hour
| 1000 pounds OF tea, lGs tons Of Indian
meal. and pork, ham. lard. bread, potaioes
beans. cheese tc.. in correspondngy large
| amounts. While the inmates testify they have
| not on the average received ono pair of boots
or shoes during the last three years. the report
| shows that 732 pairs oi boots were charged In
| 1873 alone, about six unirs to each inmate. Tho
| quantity of dry goods alleged o. hayo been pur-
! chased aggregated nearly 10000 yards of cal
leo. jeans denims. muslins ~. Judging from
the amount OF tobacco charged. 22j bounds,
the inmates must have been invcternte chew
| ers. Blankets which were purchased at 2S
| cents per pound after they had been used AT the
| centennial celebration AZ Bennington. were
and their weight almost doubled. About 500
has boon paid for blankets alone since Dcrrm.
| to show where they had been placed Enough
| bed ticking was purchased 10 cover all the mat
| appearance and the statements OF the inmates.
very little OF the ticking. II Il was ever pur-
chnnsed. found It's way to the poorhouse.
was the best and heaviest Kind. but that actually
delivered was the poorest IN the market. The
goods throughout the year has been l9's crnts
70 70 cents per yard, and II can be bought IT
cents. The same may be said In regard to
many oi the other supplies.
The bids nude IN many Instances Tor FUR
nishing supplies had the names II articles
written out in INK. but the prices inserted with
pencil and many alterations and erasurcs We're
discovered; Many ot tho contracts Wore not
signed at all, and were not awarded t. the low
est bicders. but 10 friends Of the Ring. In scv-
eral cases no competition was allowed In
nearly every instance goods have been paid for
AZ more thaI the contrart prices. ana IN some
cHses supplies were obtained from persons
without any stipulation a. 10 price. Very many
oi the articles thus purchased were furnished
hy A. :. ford son 81 u" acting Superintendent,
incl9dinf h "a all 9e fresh sn oyssrs cgs ani
| he "a y dealer. II appears .thut one hlll
was made out in the name nj boy who worked
Committee ior the % act W was hat ihcrd werc . 80
many Fords putting In bills that they thought
they would put In another name. 'rha T. :.
Ford referred 10 is prourieior of n vegetable
market and "A large quantity ~ the vegetables
raised upon the county farm during the na-t
season were taken away by him. and some II
them. II is charged, aftcrward sold back to the
county for use at the poorhouse. Only ESQ WIS
received during tho entire season for yrccta-
hlcs, while many hundred dollars were paid for
seeds for the county farm
tendent. and emrioyed as cisrk in 6- ofilas
WIS ~ a grcni hnste 20 get rich. 4 law ug-sel
sons who have not resided sl1ty da,- IN any
county IN the state shall b" deemed state pnu-
houses one 81 whlih IL l9'dtci 90 Albany. @lN
miles from this city. and that the eNpenHc- u'-
tuallv incurred in removing these pauV"rs 90
the state "a h!mshnuses shn.l te auiit'! hy th"
state Board Of Charities IN Albany. md utid hy
the state Trrnsurcr. l. j. Ford not only pro-
sentcd bills for such expense 90 thc state
! Board Ot Charities. sOmn Oi which have been
paid. and the balance ARE awaiting audit. In
or the same an Ns expans % s' br5ra h5 1y % sa
prrintenieuis of the Poor and had them au-
dited adding four or five dollars zach time
| for his own services. In a few cnse- three a T.
| ierent members Of the Ring put in bills Tor
conveying the same .paupcrs. For conveying
babies ~ paupers 10 tho county house or other
charitable institutions in tho city J.. !. Ford has
collected ut the rate II - each. although there
! driven TO the SuperintcndDnt's oill' every day.
The total number OF weeks' board given az the
House OF Industry tor the past Year. n~ stated
the weekly reports filed In the office made tho
number only 2 s9d. or dilerence Of nearly
1000 weeks. Inc number oi weeks had heen
Increased for the double purpose of decreasing
the apparent cost per week Tor bonri. and II
accounting for the amount Ot food and other
Judging from, the hills paid for tho supplies
furnished for the larder ~ the keeper u the
poorhouse and his family they lived woll.
For instance. for the year 1877 tins small fam
ily which. including employees at tho poor
mousse. numhered eight persons only. are
charged with Q $50 pounds ol hr-t beet. of which
LILO pounds was charged ~ furnished in July.
The monthly supply for tho keru~r- family
averaged $50 pounds ~ hcci. II 900 pounds ut
ham, 2G pounds 81 smoked beef d9 hounds of
keeper and hi- family also induleed In such
uNuries n oysters gt 81 t2 81. and s3 per huu-
= drcd apples nt - per barrel antsweet poia-
The Gommiuer estimate that the county hos
h"en hrifdhdru 20 thH amount oi hl lri@t Hnuhe
the sum necessary 10 pay AL lex innate "N-
. pcnscs Of the county poor drunrtmenl. In 1868
John Arts. then Sup"rlnt"ndeut - th" Poor ~
this county. WIS removed bY GOV Hoffman. hut
his Expenses did not rrach one-thiri Of Ford :
cNpeuses Tho Board of Supervisors th.- alter
noon unanimously adopied the following:
UlesIs The report oi no Committee on ne House of
aciinf Snpinirultni oi tlic POOR of COUNTY has teen
guilty % many a,d gross violations o, Cine 9w. from
WIFI M na' +, i a, ~ y, ,r. M tr,, i a. ", ,, nor
son or person, CONNECTED WIN no management me
Re.joi TGnt IL" ,ount,t maxim such report hc IN.