St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-28
GREAT SUITS ENDED.
Sioux City Begins to Emerge
From It's Maelstpom
OF Debt.
A SETTLEMENT REACHED.
Agreement Between Farm
ers' Loan Company and
Citizens Committee.
A SETTLEMENT REACHED.
AN IOWA COUNTY's SHAME.
Supervisors Who Misappro-
priated County Money
Right and Left.

SIOUX CITY, To-, Jan. 27.-The settle
ment that the county board of Iper>
visors of this (W oodbury) county have
just effected with the Woodbury. county
citizens and taxpayers committee and
others of number of suits that have
been pending in the local courts marks
the end of some of the most bitterly con-
tested litigation ever Instituted in Iowa.
About year agO newspapers succeed
ed in getting an abstract of county
warrants issued to members OF
the board of supervisors and to
divers persons, but all of which were
receipted for by some one or another OF
the members of the board. and it was
published. 1t showed that members of
the board in three years time had
drawn something like 100000 Of funds
from the county road, bridge, insane
and poor funds. and that there was lite
tie to show for it IN tho way of work
done on county roads. The upshot of it
was that the committee referred TO was
organized and experts were engaged to
20 over the county books. The revela-
tons were startling in the extreme. 1t
was alleged that the county had been
Systematically robbed Of thousands of
dollars and that fictitious and forged
bills for labor and material that the
county had never received
Filled the Files
of the county auditors Office. Afiidavits
were prepared showing the extent of
the irregularities and presented to the
court in support of an application for
q temporary Injunction to restrain the
supervisors from placing the debt be-
You'd reputation by the sale of bond
issue to fund 1928, 900 of the warrants,
among which were those in question.
AS soon as this injunction was Sc
cured, some of the county officers
became frightened. Deputy Auditor
Roberts suddenly left the county. and
was finally located in Virginia. He was
promised immunity if lie would come
back. and did so. He was put on the
stand in support of the application of
the committee TO make the Injunction
permanent. and told startling tale.
He recited the particulars Of the sys-
TEN by which, it is claimed, the padded
bills were got through the board, and
suits were instituted against the MEM
bers of the board to Impeach and re-
move them from office. Supervisor
Strange was found guilty and re-
moved. Supervisor Huntington, when
he heard the result of the Strange trial,
resigned. Supervisors Adams and Epps
were also made defendants, but weak
encd and gave the attorneys for the
prosecution valuable information, to be
used in pushing the other cases and in
recovering the stolen money. Or the
warrants enjoined nearly 5000. 900 wor I'll
! were bought by the Farmers Loan and
Trust company, OF this city, which had
an arrangement with the board 10 carry
them at time when the county treas
urer had no funds to pay them. FL
nally
A Sitting Committee
went over the warrants. and by consent
all but about 100000 of them were re-
leased, for the reason that the county
had no defense against them. The
rest of the warrants were held by the
| sitting committee, and the trust COM
panv commenced two suits against the