The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1894-05-04

Il CARD.
During the last two years the
Town Commissioners of Bel Air have
received and disbursed five or six
thousand, and perhaps more, of dol
lars. How much of this sum is in
hand, if any, what has become of the
money and what is the present in
debtedness of the town nobody seems
to know Notwithstanding the fire.
quent enquiries by the taxpayers, who
have a right to a statement OF the
towns affairs, the Commissioners pre-
serve sphynxlike silence.
The above paragraph, from the
Hartford Democrat of April %, 1894, is
an unjustifiable, covert and malicious
attack upon the Town Commissioners
of Bel Air. No specific charges are
brought, it is true, but it is evidently
sought by innuendo, to awaken dis
trust in the minds of the taxpayers of
the town.
When the present board was elected,
in May, 1898, they found that the pre-
ceding board had prepared state
ment of the financial condition of the
town and by resolution submitted it
to two expert accountants who were
permitted access to all the books, pa
pers and accounts, with request that
they examine the statement and make
q report TO the incoming board.
That report has never been presented
to the present board and consequently
ao,,ll not 6a ,Npl,licbaI nv, than,
Furthermore, when town meeting
was called to inquire into the practi-
bility of providing electric lights for
Bel Air, a committee, consisting of
John B. Hanna, J. M. STREET. editor
of the DemocraD, J. Thos c. Hopkins,
Allen Hoffman and August Neumann,
was appointed to examine into the
finances of the town and report wheth
er or not, in their opinion, the town
was in a condition to incur the large
increase of expense. The committee
had full access to all the accounts of
the Town Commissioners and reported
advising against the outlay The
committee also, in their report, sum-
med up the various items of town ex-
penditures, and the report was signed
by the editor of the Democrat.
AS this will show, the memory of
the editor of the Democrat must be
much at fault, for am sure that if
he had recalled these things, suave
and kind as he is, he never would
have been guilty of making such an
unjustifiable attack on five gentle
men who have served the town of
Bel Air faithfully and without pay
and some of them for many years.
! have no doubt of the approval of
the taxpayers of the town of our eff
forts to secure an efficient and econo-
mical administration, and in conclu-
sion will say that at the expiration
of this boards term, May z, 1894, the
annual statement will be published as
heretofore in all the county papers.
G. G. ROUSE,
Treasurer of Town of Bel Air.
-~<
DEATH OF GEORGE W. ABELL.
Mr.. George w. Abel, President of
the A. S. Abel Company, proprietors
of the Baltimore San, died at his home
in Baltimore, on Tuesday afternoon.
He was taken sick last Friday, COM
planning of what he supposed to be a
slight attack of indigestion. Rene
dies were administered but on Monday
his physicians announced that he was
suffering with pneumonia, from which
he passed quietly away. He was in
the sd year of his age. He read law
and was admitted to the bar in 1861,
after which he became the confiden-
tial legal adviser of his father, the
late A. s. Abel, in the management of
The sam. Since the death of the lat
ter Mr.. Abel has been the manager of
the paper, directing its political and
business policy.
In the death of Mr.. Abel the news
paper press of the entire country and
especially of Maryland, has sustained
a great loss. Modest, reserved and
unassuming in manner he had yet, by
his manliness and kindness of heart,
won to himself many warm and de-
voted friends. His charities were
numerous and unostentatiously be-
slowed and few, beyond his close
friends, knew the extent of his benevo-
lence. Conservative and careful in
the direction of the DOlicy of his great
paper, he was earnest and public
spirited and under his management
The Sun, as always, was found ON the
side of the best interests of the people
of Maryland. He never abused the
power in his hands as the head of an
influential newspaper and his death,
we repeat, is a sore loss to clean. de-
cent and fearless journalism.