Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-14

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this act, the several counties of the Com
monwealth were required to pay into tn
State Treasury the entire amount of tn
personal property tax and were not entitled
to receive any portion of it until after th'
whole amount had been paid in. Mr.. Nc
Camant, Auditor General, testified that a
the time he drew and remitted the warrant
for the before mentioned S150,000 to Johr
Bardsley there was then owing from hin
to the Commonwealth 32,O13 II for taI
| on personal property and S627, ,604 18 OF
| account of licenses, a total of. 81, ,259, ,677 %
| all of which facts appear upon the books O
the auditing and fiscal departments of the
| Common wealth.
BOYER GAVE BARDSLEY S420, 900.
AT the same session of the Legislative In
vestigation Committee it was admitted by
Henry X. Boyer, State Treasurer, and it ap
pears by the records of the Auditor Gen
erals, the State Treasurer's and School De
partments-that on December 80, 1890, in
accordance with the agreement and confed.
Grafton OF himself and the cashier of his
office, William Livsey, without any solici.
tation on the part of the municipal or school
authorities of Philadelphia, or of anyone
connected with the school department of the
State, he instructed and procured the Super
intendent of Public Instruction to
draw warrants on the State Treas
urer on account of the schools ap-
preparation for Philadelphia county, amount
ing to $420, 900; that he had these warrants
drawn five months in advance of the end
ing of the school year, seven months before
the warrants for anyone of the other 2, 800
school districts were drawn, for the express
purpose of reducing the balance of money
in the general fund below the limit of
nrJa fn axyo
tion of the law, which required him on the
1st day of January, 1891, to apply all sums
in the general fund exceeding that amount
to the sinking fund for investment in inter-
est-bearing securities.
He further testified that he carried these
warrants himself to Philadelphia and de-
livered them to John Bardsley; before he
left Harrisburg, however, he charged them
up as cash paid out of the State Treasury
before January 1, 1891, in order to prevent
the money from being paid into the sinking
fund. John Bardsley, in his statement in
court, testified that he received the warrants
on January or 4. 1t thus appears that
State Treasurer Boyer, himself a commits
sioner of the sinking fund, sworn to obey and
charged with the execution of the law regu-
lating the sinking fund, deliberately, and
for the express purpose of defeating the
law, diverted s42O, 900 into the hands of
John Bardsley.
EvADING THE STATUTES
He further testified that when William
Livsey, Cashier of the Treasury, wrote to
John Bardsley, under date of December %,
1890, that this was done to reduce the gen.
eral fund, and under date of December %,
that ''the warrants must be charged not
later than the 31st; also checks drawn to
get our account down." that such letters
were written to John Bsrdsley by the au-
thority of and in pursuance of an agreement
made between Henry X. Boyer, State
Treasurer, and his cashier, William Livsey,
to evade and to defeat the operations of the
law regulating the management of the State
funds.
1t also appears that no portion of this
S420, 900. thus improperly and unlawfully
paid to John Bardsley by the State Treas
urer, was ever paid into the school fund of
the city of Philadelphia; but that the whole
of it has been stolen and lost; and that no
portion of this loss would have been incurred
had the warrant been drawn at the regular
time, in accordance with the law, and al the
same date that the school appropriation be-
came effective for the other districts of the
State.
l submit this summary of the facts touch
ing the administration of these two depart
ments, admitted and testified to by their
chief officers before a joint committee of the
in order that the Senate may
determine the action appropriate in the
premises.
regret the necessity which has arisen to
you from your homes and accus-
toned avocations to this extraordinary ses-
sion. have awaited the resort to and the
exhaustion of the processes of criminal
laws. Their Illustration has only intensi-
fed the righteous demand of the people that
their servants, sworn to obey and enforce
the laws and to protect and defend the in
terests of the Commonwealth, shall answer
for neglect of duty or completely in crime.
The responsibility of determining whether
reasonable cause exists for the removal of
Them rests with you. The public expects
hat it will be met and discharged without
regard to partisan advantage or detriment,
,nd with single concern for the good name
and honor of the Commonwealth. invoke |
or your session that deliberation of coun-
'el, Joined with prompt dispatch of public
business which every requirement of the oc-
,asion demands. RoBERT E. PATTIsoN.