Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-09-06
A ROTTEN BOROUGH.

| Wholesale Indictments of New Orlean,
| Councilmen Charged with Selling Their
Sotes-Many Others Believed to be Guilty
Against Whom the Necessary Evidences
Could Not be Secured-A Scathing De.
nunciation.
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 1.-After in
dieting eleven members of the city
council, including its president, and,
besides, the city engineer, the term OF
the grand jury expired yesterday and
IL was discharged by Judge Noise after
presenting report which is most
scathlng denunciation of the crooked
ness rampant in the city hall and ex-
plains why several indictments which
were expected could not be found, ov-
ing to the inability to get evidence on
which conviction in the court would
be certain to follow.
| The first subject treated of is the sale
of railroad franchises by the city coun-
Gil for ridiculously low prices. An in
vestigation of the books of the New
| Orleans Traction Co., which now owns
nearly all the street car lines of the
city, shows remarkable discrepancies.
| For instance, there is the sale of the
| extension of the franchise of the
New Orleans City & Lake railroad,
| for which the city received $780,
900. The Traction company's books
show that 100000 was paid to Henry
Bier. the broker, for it, besides COM
mission of $4,000. The books of Mr.
Bier do not show where the 500, 900
went to, and he could not produce his
| ledger, as he said it had been lost
The traction company's books show
| the disappearance of S65, 900, which was
paid to Maurice j. Hart, who is the
manager of the Rosetta Gravel Co.. and
who is generally supposed to have en-
gineered the railroad deal through the
council.
The gravel company's books do not
show any entries of these checks. AS
to contracts, the report refers to the
jail contract and recites all the crook
edness connected with it.
A deal, which failed to go through,
in connection with this contract was
to have netted this official and the
members of the special committee of
the council 5000.
Favored legislation in the interest of
| certain paving contractor is strongly
commented on, but there was no posi-
bility of getting at sufficient evidence
to indict for bribery. The fact that
not one member of the city council re-
sponded to the request of the grand
jury to assist in exposing the crooked
ness among their colleagues is cited,
and then the new garbage scheme is
treated to severe roast. Franchises
granted to the Illinois Central road are
shown to have been given regardless of
the public interests.
Two indictments for bribery accom-
panied the report. One was against
Councilman Dan A. Mayer and the
other against Alderman John M.
Clark. The former was charged with
feloniously and corruptly proposing to
receive bride from Narcesse Lucas,
for steam boiler privilege in the saw
mill at the corner of Marais and ST.
Ferdinand on December 6, 1892. The
consideration was $500.
The indictment against Clark was
for receiving a bride of S25 from w. M.
B. Vardell, clerk of the National Rice
Mill Engine Co., September II, 1892,
for favoring an ordinance giving the
company permission to lay pipe from
it's mill to the river. Mayer has been
indicted before, but this is the first in
dictment against Clark. He is the rep
resentative of the Ninth ward.