Omaha daily bee., 1889-10-05
Murncrcr wells Arrested.

GANpY, Neb., Oct 4.-[Special to THE
BEE. William Wells, who shot and killed
James Gilkeson ut Dunning, Blaine county,
was arrested Dy Constable Stockham and
number of settlers in the sand hills several
mi es from the scene Of the murder, where
he had fed with the hope of escaping, He is
said 70 be a desperate man by those who
know him.
Wells was arraigned before County Judge
Hoagland and the preliminary hearing was
had at 2 .. IN. yesterday.
There was strong talk of lynching, but the
calmer minds overcome the notion.
'.he funeral of tho dead man took place
Wednesday and that, together with the ex-
citement of the trial created much bitter
talk. The sheriff is away, having taken
. woman to the insane asylum at Norfolk, aud
fou.' specia! constables have been appointed.
Investigating Cass County Officials
prATlsMoUrh, Neb, Oct. 4-lSpecial to
THE BEE. Considerable excitement and
sur. rise prevailed, especially in political cir
cles, yesterday when an evening paper ap-
pcared On the streets announcing that Regis
ter of Deeds W. II. Pool was defaulter by
several hundred dollars Two years ago w.
II. Pool, of the west end of tho county, was
elected register of deeds on the republican
ticket. HIS salary was fixed at 81 500 year
ard he was allowed one deputy at q salary of
500, provided that the income of the office
was sufficient to cover the expense. During
Mr. POOLS term the Office has more than paid
expenses and all the extra money was duly
turned over to the county treasurer, for
which Mr.. Pool now holds receipts. Recently
GoIneone hinted to the county commissioners
That MIR. Pool was short in his accounts, and
upon the suggestion Mr.. b. q. Adams an
expert accountant from tho Midland Guar
antee and Trust company, of Omaha, was
engaged to check up the books and discover
the source of the trouble. The work, as
completed by Mr.. Adams, shows that up TO
July |, 1850, there was balance
Of , sSsoo whuo due the county from pmn,
made the following statement: "Eor all in
struments filed in my Office fee is charged,
and this Should be cash. My predecessors
had adopted custom of charging the amount
to the individuals filing the Instruments
when they were not accompanied by the
cash aud through this custom have fallen a
victim of suspicion. In about SO per
cent of the cases the fee is not paid at the
time Ct fling, ond why am accused of being
defaulter is that only the money collected
appears on the feo book, while L hold unCol-
lected accounts for which am responsible
against principally real estate dealers of this
county and which covers the entire amount
for which my accounts are deficient. think
the investigation was started by political en-
emies just on the eve OF election to cause my
defeat" Since Mr.. POOLS accounts were
foun1 short the county commissioners awoKe
from their years of slumbering and put Mr.
Adams to work checking up the books of eX-
County Clerk J. Nj. Robinson, who retired
from office two years ago, and it is thought
that the shortage in his case will amount to
between $500 and 81, 900. This system seems
to have been ignorantly but not fraudulently
practiced since the county was organized
and at the time OF settlement with the com
missioners all that was required was that the
amount of cash balanced the amount credited
on the fee book. Ii. the Investigation con-
tmues 1t is feared that several officials ana
prominent citizens will suffer the same en-
barr aSsment.