The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-08-06
MONEY SHORT.
And Rock Island County Wants TO
Know Who has it.
The Old Perkins.HarsOn Middle s.. A
Statement of the Case.

with Sheriff Perkins. The fact is not
disputed, not even by Perkins or Harson,
that the county is short $52565 Either
one or the other of these two gentlemen
owe the county this amount of money,
but it appears to be very difficult to as
certain the real debtor. While Mr.. Per-
kins claims that Mr. Harson has the mon,
ey, the latter is just as positive that il
lies In the pockets of the former, at least
so he AYERS. The ARGUS does not wish
TO censure any man wrongfully, but il
would like to have $525. 65 of the peoples
money placed in the county treasurel's
hands by either one of the parties mems
| toned. The people have right to de-
mand it and they should not hesitate to
exercise their authority. ,
The great trouble lies in the looseness
with which it appears that both officers
conducted their business 1t is the duty
of the circuit clerk to collect sheriff's fees,
but whenever the sheriff asks for them,
he is compelled to tnrn the money over
into his hands, of course taking receipt
therefor. Perkins says he never received
the fees under consideration, while Har-
son claims that he did, and at the same
time can show no receipt for SO doing.
The board of supervisors have been en-
deavoring to solve the matter for some,
time, but without very good success
Ex-Supervisor James Taylor, of Edging-
ton, who is well acquainted with the facts
in the case, was asked to give statement
to the board, and he made the following
report:
To the Chairman and members of the
Board of Supervisors:
GENTLEMEN: - Supervisor Heath,
chairman of the finance committee, has
requested me to make statement in re-
gard to sheriff's fees in the hands of Cir
cult Clerk Harson. For history of the
matter, | respectfully refer you to the
report made at the July term of your
board in 1888 "a printed copy of which is
attached to this statement, as follows1
FINANCE COMMITTEES REPORT.
To the Honorable, the board of Super
visors of Rock Island County, Illinois.
GENTLEMEN:-At the last May session
of your board, the question of recovering
the sum of S5256 sheriff's fees received
by Circuit Clerk Harson being under con
sideration, the following resolution was
adopted;
'Res0I0ed, That committee of pre-
vious board found that Circuit Clerk
Harson had collected 1928 .65 of sheriff's
fees which ought to have been paid to
Sheriff Perkins, and no evidence exists
that this money was ever paid to him, or
that the county ever received it"
Your board also referred the matter TO
the present finance committee.
The chairman of your present finance
committee Immediately wrote to Ex-
Supervisor Daniel Zimmerman, member
of the finance committee which had ex-
amined the accounts of ExSheriff Perkins
and of Circuit Clerk Harson, asking from
him such statement of the case as would
enable the board to get a correct under
standing of the matter. The chairman
OF your present finance committee also
wrote letter to Ex>Sheriff Perkins, ask
ing him if he had ever received from
Circuit Clerk Harson the money in ques-
ton.
And the following replies were received
viz
FROM EA-SUPERN1SORZ ZIMMERMAN
CoRDovA, H., May Is, 1898.
To James Taylor.
Your letter of the 14th inst, asking me
to make a statement in regard to the
Sheritf's fees received by Circuit Clerk
HarsOn was received, and, in reply, |
would say that, ir order to give full de-,
tails. it would be necessary for me to
have before me our Committee report on
the HarsOn balance. | will, however,
give you the outlines of what has resulted
in leaving still unpaid the balance due
from Harson.
The Sheriff.. L. Perkins) was the first
officer reported on.
Before our Committee report on PER-
kins was closed, l called a number of
times, asking him (Harson) to give me a
statement of fees paid to Perkins by him
He (HarsOn) finally found some papers
that he said covered the fees collected by
him, and credited by Perkins in gross
Harson frequently told me that he had
paid no money to Perkins except such
L.
it might be some small sums for which
Perkins had receipted to him (Harson. }
The object in making these inquiries of
Harson was to get all that had been paid
to Perkins charged to him in our report.
Harson, en- every occasion, said he had
paid Perkins no money except such
amounts as Perkins had accounted for on
his fee book, unless 1t might be some
small amounts for which he had Per-
kins's receipts.
After Perkins had been reported upon
for fees collected by him, our Committee
made up Harson's account, charging him
with fees collected by him not reported
to the Board, separating Sheriff's fees
in his hands unreported, from Clerk
fees unreported. This entire account of
Sheriff's fees IN Harson's hands unre-
ported, and Clerks fees unreported, was
then submitted to Harson and checked
over by him and myself, from his own
books; and when anything came up
about which there was any doubt it was
stricken off. so that, when we were
through, nothing remained except such
amounts as the books (Harson's own
books clearly showed TO be in his hands;
therefore there is nothing charged to
Harson. in our Committee Report, except
what he (Harson) admitted that he had
collected and had not paid over.
In our summing up, the Sheriff's fees
were separated from the Clerks fees, but
the aggregate amount included all, our
object being to show how much each
officer had collected, AND THEN. at that
time, had in has hands belonging to the
county, Chat is to say, at the date of our
report.)
Our Committee did not suppose there
would be any question about a bonded
county officer being liable to the County
for fees collected by him and belonging
to tha opl on mo ,ooIa tl,a ~