The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1894-10-18
ANOTHER swiNpLEArTEMPrED.

State Inspector and Examiner
Gardner made report on the 10th
inst. concerning his investigation
of the books of several Magoffin
county officers. The fictitious land
assessment scheme, it will be seen,
has been worked thoroughly there,
and the officers are shown up in q
bad light. The Inspectors report,
which will likely lead to the indict-
ment of all the parties, is addressed
to the Governor, and is as follows !:
Il have the honor to further re-
port that since making my report
to you on the fraudulent assessment
and sales of so-called NONRESIDENT
lands in Magoffin county, | have
procured the affidavits of some of
the citizens of the county for the
purpose of ascertaining the real
parties to the fraud, and respect
fully submit the following state
ment:
"The facts, as far as I can ascer-
tain, will show that the scheme was
originated by Galloway Howard in
1891 or 1892, who was then the
Circuit Court Clerk of the county.
He suggested the plan and prepared
a list of fictitious lands, which we're
assessed for the year 1892 by the
Assessor at valuation of $3.50 per
acre, and followed the matter be-
fore the Board of County Supervi-
sors and succeeded in getting the
value raised to 81 per acre. The
Assessors claim for assessing these
fictitious lands was allowed. the
Sheriff sold and purchased it for
the State, the County Clerk re-
corded the sales and they were
each payed by the State for the
work, and the fraud was, therefore,
successfully accomplished for 1892
and not discovered.
"In November of the same year
(1892). Towards brother-in-law,
Noah MINK, was elected Sheriff
of the county, qualified with How
ard as his chief deputy, and col
lected the revenue for 1898, which
is, or appears to be, the secret of
the motive that prompted Howard
to set the fraud on foot. He had
the Sheriff's Office in view, and well
knew the profits that the Office
would derive from the sale of these
fraudulent lands.
SIN 1898, Howard and his BROTH
er-in-law being in full possession
of the Sheriff's Office, where they
would be beneficiaries of the fraud,
and John w. Hammond, County
Court Clerk, seeing that it was
profitable to him to have the sales
to record, joined Howard in con-
tinuing the fraud for this year
{ 1888 by preparing list of ficti-
tious lands for assessment on a
much more extensive. scale than
before, and the Assessor, knowing
it was fraudulent, declined to place
it on his books, but on completion
of the assessment of the property
of the county returned the fraud
ulent list with his books to the
County Court Clerk, and when the
Board of Supervisors of the county
con vened the County Clerk deliv-
cred the books of the Assessor to
them, as the law requires, also the
list of fictitious lands that he had
fraudulently certified to the Asses
sor, and he and Howard, in some
way unknown TO me, succeeded in
getting it entered on the Assessors
books ut valuation of - per acre.
As matter of course, County Clerk
Hammond and Deputy Sheriff
Howard knew when this land was
placed on the Assessors books that |
it would have to be sold by the
Sheriff and the sales recorded by |
the Clerk. Out of the job the
Sheriff received 1852 commission |
for making the sales, and the
County Clerk was allowed $l69.75
for recording them, the payment of
which has been very properly re-
fused by the Auditor.
"The Assessor is very illiterate,
and had to depend entirely on the