The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-01-17
a,FEARs THE INVESTIGATION.

The Bully from jennings Asserts His Old
Tactics In the Senate.
Although Senator Boyd was perforce not
allowed to speak at the hour set for the
hearing of his charges against the alleged
INSTRUMENTATION of Mr.. Smith, his argu-
ments may yet be heard By unwilling ears
pared by tho Senator, and so straight to
the point, with little ado about smaller
matters. In different parts of the
ocratio and Republican clerks of
the Circuit courts complaining of
the frequent visits of deputy attorneys
general for the purpose of collecting fines
and unclaimed witness fees. and many Of
them have snid that they were at a loss to
know under what law the Attorney general
collected fees every three or four months.
Mr.. Boyd quoted the law governing the
Attorney generals Office. showing that
1t was the duty of the Attorney.
the amounts paid to any public officer of
the State or county, or other person.
for unclaimed fees or moneys that
eschest to the State for want of heirs,
and In all cases where the officers fail OF re-
fuse. to recover any property belonging to
the State, and on recovery OF such property
the AttOrney.general may collect 20 per
cent on the first Thousand dollars, 10 per
cent on the second Thousand and on all
sums exceeding two thousand dollars per
cent. He said he had learned from the
clerk of Hamilton county that the AttOr-
ney-generaPs deputies had collected from
him nearly 81 900. giving Mr.. Smith and
his deputies a fee of nearly 500. The clerk
did not know what the exact meaning of
tho law was.
Another statute quoted provides that q
county clerk shall maze ont a list of all
fines and fees in his hands which have re-
,oH II, 1ol>n
pay the same to the treasurer of the county.
Now" SAID Nix. Boyd. II am not able to
understand why 1t is under the last statute
made in this State that deputies OF the At
torney general go about over the State col
Letting fines, and for that reason l intro
duced the resolution. In the Auditors re-
port for 1892 see audited the following ac-
counts:
For Encouragement deputy and
clerk, salaries :::---...-----S %, 10000
Attorney generals fees. l2,00l.30
Attorney-generars messenger. 10000
Attorney generals law-books. $500
Mr.. Tanning, the present Deputy Au-
dltor. says that since the report was made
out they have paid to Mr.. Smith his salary
of $500. This would make q total of
SIG, l4+O2 The question In my mind was
whether or not / had correctly informed
my self as to the emoiuments of this office
and the law governing the same"
The article asserted that there existed
between the Attorney general and ma
jority or the clerks of the State an arrange
ment for the juggling and piundering Of
these finds and that there was corruption
TO the point OF rottenness that had cost the
State hundreds of thousands Of dollars.
The article continues: The safeguards
have been removed. and the Attorney gen.
erals Office has resolved itself into pluck
ing machine. which operates system
that ia something short of stupendous and
legalized robbery The justices of the
peace even. it was alleged, have refused to
turn over fines and forfeitures to the county
clerks. The article declares that Mr. Smith
employed Republican deputy, through
whom he Ia able TO WELD influence with
Repu blican clerks and ma Ike his Office worth
$4,000 year.
Let me add this one word more" says
Senator Boyd In his argument. IF the
emoluments Of Office received by Mr.. Smith
are $40. 600 year and the same has boen
paid TO him as directed by law, in receiving
1t he has done no more than you or / would
do under tho same circumstances; but IL 1t
De true, as newspaper reports have 1t and
private individuals in various parts of the
state say, that the Attorney general Is
making from twenty-five thousand to
thirty five thousand dollars a year out of
his office. five or SIX tunes that of the sal
ary of the Governor OF the State. then il
would be a proper subject for this Legis-
lature to take under consideration in the
early days of this session."
Senator Boyd says he is receiving COM
munications from all over the State in re-
gard to bis resolution. Cephas L. Dipple.
justice OF the peace of Michigan City.
writes that the Attorney general sent man
that he had 81 he had not paid In. but that