The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-06-13

ty after having drawn their checks fo
the payment of the same, which they ar
required by law to do.
9TH. That they have approved claims
for the Sheriff for services rendered othel
counties in criminal matters, when th'
law provides that all such claims "shal
be paid by the county wherein the offenc'
shall have been committed"
The law requires that before they shall
audit or allow any claim against th'
County, such claim shall be made out II
items with an affidavit attached that tht
same is correct, and that the services ane
and disbursements for which pay i.
claimed have been done, made, rendered
or are due in fact, and that no part of The
same has been paid, &c. And the Clerk
Sheriff and Trial Justices shall declare
further on oath that the costs in such
cases have not been paid by the defend
ants and that the defendants are unable tc
pay costs-also that said officers have
paid over to the County Treasurer al
fines and penalties heretofore collected by
them.
Notwithstanding this, it is facI
that in scarcely single instance have
they required persons having claims
against the County to comply with tho
law in these particulars. Had they
done So, and especially had they re-
quired the Clerk, Sheriff and Trial JUS
tices to make out and swear to their
accounts as the law directs-and had they
required Trial Justices in every in
stance to exhibit the original papers in
which costs accrued, as the law also d.
rects-we are satisfied there would have
been great saving to the County, as it is
an admitted fact on the part of some oi
said Trial Justices that they have been
paid for services which they never rem
dered.
BY Section 624 Of the General Statutes
the County Commissioners are required,
as soon as they draw check for the pay
ment Of any claim, to cancel such claim
and file the same as voucher for their
draft.
Although such is the law it is fact that
there are now In their Office jury and wit
ness tickets representing thousands OF
dollars, for which drafts have been given
to the County Treasurer, that have never
been cancelled.
> AS all such claims are payable to the
bearer it is possible for any one, having
access to the County Commissioners Of
flee, and who might be so disposed, to alb
stract one or more of such claims; collect
the money thereon from the Treasurer
and he in turn surrender the same again
to the Commissioners and get check
covering the amouht-without either the
Treasurer or County Commissioners be-
ing aware of the fraud. Thus the same
claims might be made to do duty several
times.
AS a fact tending to create the i'm
preston that the like has been done,
we would state that among batch OF
such claims for which check was given
to the Treasurer, and which puTports to
be on account of the Court expenses OF
1882, we found number of jury and wit
ness tickets for the years 1850 and 81.
1t is of infinitely more Importance to
the County that such claims as these be
cancelled than in the case of ordinary
claims, for the reason that they are pay
able to the holder on presentation, where
as an ordinary claim is payable only on
the check of the Commissioners and
therefore would be worthless to any one
who might purloin the same.
Section 626 General Statutes, prohibits
the Commissioners from drawing any
check on the County Treasurer until af-
tor he shall have made his monthly re-
ports to them.
AS matter of fact the Treasurer has
never made any such reports in the man
ner prescribed by law.
In our investigation of the books OF
this Office we discovered under the head
of Court expenses, that since 1881 there
has been drawn from the county treas
ury, in the aggregate, the sum of $36s.5O
in the names of Tony Hamilton, Tom
Brown, Henry Adams, Tom McKinny
and Henry Chalmers, all colored persons
for serving as constables in attendance
upon the Court. From the testimony OF
certain habitues of the Court we learned
that these persons had meyer acted in the
capacity claimed. We then examined
said colored persons in regard to the af-
fair, and to our utter astonishment they
claimed to have no knowledge of the
matter whatever; that they had never
acted as constable and were never paid a
cent on account of any such service.
On further enquiry we gathered from
them that while in the employ Of Sheriff
DuPre, as farm hands, they had OCCASION
ally, during the sessions of the Court,
carried water up into the Court room in
the mornings before Court was called,
but for which they were never paid any
thing more than their regular wages as
farm hands.
The County Treasurer's Of
flee.
We find that the County Treasurer
has not made the reports to the County
Commissioners on the lst and 18th of
each month, as he is required to do by
Sec. 273 of the Revised Statutes;
That he has not made a report on the
18th of each month to the School Com
missioner of the amount Of collections