Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-07-25
BETTER PROTECTION NEEDED.

Columbus Dispatch.
1t seems plain to the people that there
was not proper supervision of the public
funds in Warren county, else Auditor
Graham would not have been able to
check money out of the county treasury,
seemingly, at will.
1t should be one of the early official
duties, at the meeting of the next Gen
erA Assembly, of the member from
Warren county, to present to that body
sIlch information as will enable it, by
Legislation, to reduce to the minimum
the opportunities of county auditors to
perpetrate frauds upon county treasu-
ries.
Public attention is again recalled,
with emphasis, to the fact that a "bum-
mer" is not a safe person to trust with
public money. 1t is true that many de-
| falcations are not the result of "bum-
ming, of high living and association
with improper characters when it
is generally known among a certain set
| of public officials that one of their num-
Der is not able to exercise reasonable
control over his appetite for intoxicating
liquor or is in the habit of going with
improper characters, the other officials
of the set who do not take sufficient cog
niZance of the improperly to protect the
people are sufficiently responsible to
them to deserve, at least, being swept
from Office on account of supreme neg
| ligenee.
The showing, up to the present time,
in the case of Graham is that he was not
only an excessive drinker of intoxicating
liquor, but a spendthrift and very
reckless person in the making of un-
necessary financial obligations which he
could not and did not attempt to pay,
except as he saw fit during some of his
hilarious moods at the bar. There were
signs in all that he did CT his being a
wholly irresponsible person, yet he was
permitted to go through three or more
terms of Office without, 50 far as the
| public can see, the least attempt on
the part of the county officials to learn
whether not the public money was being
made use of in his remarkable way of
living.
The officials of Warren county who
were close to Graham had absolute con-
fidence in his honesty, but they were as
much in charge of the public funds as
he and it was part of their duty to see
that not a cent was paid out of the
treasury except in such manner and
form as would exert the maximum pro-
lection against fraud.
THE MARTINS FERRY BRIDGE.
From the Hartford COurant, July 20.
Colonel George p. BiSsell, who recently
returned to Hartford after sOjOurn of
two months at Wheeling, W. Va, is de-
lighted with the success of the venture at
that city in which he and certain New
York and Boston capitalists are embark
ed. The piers for the big bridge which
these gentlemen are building across the
Ohio River rest on the solid bed rock and
the success of the venture is now assured.
In the first place, they dredged to the dis
tance of fifteen feet below the bottom of
the river, until they struck solid rock;
they then drove piles into the cavity and
filled the interSticeS with cement and rip
rap, making a solid foundation for the
piers to rest on.
The enterprise is private one and no
bonds have been issued to meet cOntin-
gent expenses. The party of capitalists
saw lots of money in the scheme. and
made Colonel Bissell President with the
understanding that he should personally
superintend the work. Accordingly, he
has spent the greater portion of his time
there since last October The money is
forthcoming as fast as wanted. and all the
President has to do to meet expenses is to
draw his check The stock is already sell
ing at 10, although no income can posi-
bly, be received for eight months yet
Ohio County has subscribed 100000 in
cash for the enterprise, and the citizens
of Wheeling are greatly interested in the
success of the project.
The structure is to be the third largest
railroad bridge in the country. The cen
ter span is 524 feet long and the piers will
be 80 feet above high water mark. The
bridge proper will be 2,10O feet long, with
four miles of approaches, and all double
tracked. Included in the approaches are
three tunnels aggregating 1900 feet, one
third of which has now been completed.
A double gang is at work. electric lights
being used at night. The total cost of
the bridge and approaches will be $1,000
900, and trains will be running over the |
bridge by January l. 1t will take longer |
than that, however. to complete the ter |
minal facilities. Five different railroads |
have expressed their intention of using |
the bridge, and this assures a large income. |
Col Bissell expects to return to Wheeling |
about August l.