The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1886-12-15
DISCREPANCIES
Charged Against j! O. BOGeI, Ex-
Assessor and Collector, Explained
or Made Good--NO Loss to
the City.

A sensational article appeared in
our evening contemporary yesterday
afternoon. which not only startled the
people, but cr,a;cd he impression that
Mr.. Bsgel, late assessor md collector,
was short in his accounts with the
city TO tho tune Of $4,000.
II has been an open secret for sew
cral weeks that Mr.. Rowley, chairman
of an investigating committee, was
examining these accounts, rs well as
all the city records prior 10 April last,
and bad bookkeeping, and in some
cases, perhaps, worse, had been the
rule rather than the exception by no
fault Of Mr.. Bogel, however, as that
committee, SO the HERALD is informed,
would have made quick work with the
matter lad they suspected Mr.. Bogel
of criminal acts. There would
have been no occasion for
delay. The especial point
made against Mr. Bogel is in the
Kraft matter Mr.. Kraft, communi-
Gated to the city council at the last
meeting that his property was adver-
tised tor sale for taxes and that he held
a receipt from Mr.. Bogel for taxes OH
said property.
In order to discover whether there
was some mistake in the matter, or
whether Mr. Bogel had pocketcd the
money, HERALD reporter found in
substance the following facts, which
exonerates Mr.. Bogel in this charge
wholly and entirely:
The city engineer makes IN ASSESS
ment Of the cost Of a street pavement;
he turns this estimate over to the city
secretary, who enters it upon his tax
rolls and then notifies the tax payers
that such tax has been
levied against his or her
property. That, then, is the manner
in which the books appear. In some
instances the engineer is liable to
make small errors in the cost of
pavement and collections mace after
the parties have paid their tax and
they appeared OH the tax rolls, such
was the case of Mr.. Levy Kraft. The
engineer after Mr.. Kraft had paid his
taxes, corrected his estimate, and in
creased Kraft's taxes. The amount
Mr.. Kraft paid Mr.. Bogcl was on the
original estimate, and the amount for
which the property is advertised is
the amount the taxes came 10 after
the corrections were made, and which
amount Mr. Kraft now owes.
Mr.. Rowley, says there are discrep-
cncies, and it is attributed to bad
book keeping, many of which are cas-
lily explained by Mr.. Bogel, who
stands ready to make good any
amount that cannot be satisfactorily
explained. lie had confidence in his
book-keepcrs and did not question
their competency, and when they re-
ported their accounts correct he had
no reason to disbelieve them. Mr..
Rowley regrets that publication was
made of the matter as the facts did
not justify such publication.
In no case will the city be loser,
aud in no case,as Mr.. Rowley says, can
any good come out of publicity of the
matter. The object of thu examine
ton is TO straighten out the books
and get order out of chaos. A good
work has been going on for some
time, and Secretary Parry is accredit-
ed with a good deal Of responsibility
in getting the records in such condi-
ton as to be Ineligible and accurate,
and it is o matter of much pride to the
officers Of the city government to
realize that the records are in perfect
condition. Had the records in former
years been kept in such accurate cleri-
cal condition troublesome matters
would not arise, and irregularities
would be quickly and easily detected.
---~-----