People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1895-09-26
LoOting the County Treasury.

Daily Mail.
There has been considerable discus
sion since the acQuittal of Jim Tai
bot over the expenses incurred in
that case which the county will have
to pay. And inaSmuCh as this case
furnishes very fair examples of sever
al practices which have grown up in
this county and are now prevalent
which we believe to be wholly illegal
and utterly vicious in their tenden-
cieS and results. we have concluded
to say a few words on the subject.
What we may say here and hereafter
upon this subject may be the cause OF
more or less blame being laid upon
the shoulders of our very best person
al friends. But we believe the peo-
pie OF this county are entitled to
know how their public servants, the
officers of the county, are conducting
their business, no matter what the
politics or friendships Of these officers
may be.
Let US take this Talbot case as a
text. 1t will do as well as any other
and dozens of others would do as well
as it possibly, but it is fresh in the
public mind. If Talbot committed a
crime, (which the jury said he did
mott, it was in 1881. In 1894, the
Caldwell street fight of December Il,
1881, had passed into tie Legendary
history of the county. Only a small
portion of the COunty's population at
that time had ever heard of the &C.
currenCe; very few, if any of them,
cared anything about it. Originally
the conflict was between two differ
emit sets or classes of tOughS and law
breakers with very little moral differ
ence between them.
In the late fall or summer OF 1894
Jim Talbot was to be released from
custody at Ukia, California. 1nfOr-
nation had reached the officers Of the
law there that Talbot was wanted
in this county for murder and that re-
wards amounting to several hundreds
of dollars were offered for his appre-
henSiOn. Accordingly a letter Of in
quiry on this subject was written to
Caldwell. This letter was turned
over to E, f. Henderson, deputy sher-
if. The result was a requsitiOn was
procured and Sheriff S. S. WOOdcock
went to California, received Talbot
from the hands of the sheriff there
and brought him to Wellington.
This trip of Sheriff WO0dcOck'S cost
Sumner county $427.3O. Would Tai
bot ever have been brought back here,
if it had not been for the money the
officers hoped to make out Of it?
In the preliminary examination
held before Squire W, E. Cox the at
tendance of Tell W, Walton as a wit
ness for the state was desired. Mr.,
Walton lived in Lincoln county. A
subpoena was issued for him, which
was all right, Anybody could have
served this subpoena. 1t could have
been sent by mail to Lincoln Center for
service by any officer or individual
there. But this would not have cost
Sumner county anything. COnSe-
quently, this subpoena was delivered
to Sheriff WOOdCOCk and be charged
up 374 miles of mileage on it, or
s37,40. If this were a solitary in
stance of its kind, it might not be
worthy of special mention. But it is
only one of hundreds and thousands
OF other cases of its kind in which
the legal machinery is run for the ex-
press purpose of creating fees for the
officers Of the county and in total dis
regard of the interests of the people
who elected them and have to pay
the bills.
When it came to the first trial of
the case, by direction of individual
members of the board of county COM
missiOnerS, County Treasurer Ezra
Spencer furnished County Attorney
Il. L. Woods s9l.29 in cash with
which to secure witnesses who lived
outside OF the state by paying them
mileage and per diem in advance and
at the second trial, under similar cir
cumstanceS, furnished him sl3O35
And these directions or orders are
only examples of hundreds of Others
that have taken money out Of the
county treasury in the same irregular
and unlawful manner. A very super.
tcial examination of the laws of Kan
sas relating to the cOunty's finances
Will convince any man of the correct
ness OF the following propositions:
l. Neither the individual members
OF the board of county commissioners.
nor the board when in session, had
any authority of law whatever to give
any such directions or to issue apy
such orders, but specifically violated
the laws OF the state in doing so.
2. The purposes for which if was
NrOOOSpd IN cpand tl;