St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-11
'TWASABICPLOT
Conspiracy Now Charged in
the South Dakota EN-
bazZlement.
TAYLOR HAD HIS ALLIES,
Who, 1t Is Said, Advised a
Wholesale Looting Of the
Treasury.
INTENDS TO COMPROMISE.
Scheme Said to Be to Buy Off
by Returning Part Of the
Doodle.
WHERE THE MONEY WENT.
Into Wall Street and Wild Cat
Lots in Washington
State.
INTENDS TO COMPROMISE.
WHERE THE MONEY WENT.
Special to the Globe.

Special to the Globe
PIERRE, S. D., Jan. 10.-Today's de-
velopments indicate that there was
large-slzed conspiracy in the flight of
Treasurer Taylor and the loss to the
state of $350,000. Facts have come into
;he possession OF the state officials
which make them reasonably certain
that Taylor and certain confederates
q liberatelY went to work. after it be-
clme evident that he could not square
his accounts. to hold the state up and
Compel u Compromise
b. which he should be deprived from
penalty and his bondSmen should be
protected from loss The state was in
hard place financially. If not cent
had been lost there would have been
deficit on the first day of next July of
fully 500, 600, due to over-appropria-
tons by the last legislature, and
to the slow payment Of taxes on
account of the short crop of the year.
The limit of taxation has been reached
passed for some time. How to eXtricate
the commonwealth has been the SUBJ
iect commanding the most earnest
thought and anxiety Of the state officials
for several months past. The perma-
nent appropriations are so high that the
legislature, no matter what economy
may animate it, could hardly bring the
expenditures within the revenue. There
were due on the 5th of January 1920, 600
worth OF funding warrants held by
Eastern parties. There was due con-
siderable sum on the coupon bonds,
while the sinking fund was preparing to
take up the semi-annual interest TO the
amount of 10000. The legislature was
in session and immediate calls would
be made OH the treasury for at least
S5OO,000. OF course the
Treasurer Knew All This.
1t is believed by the authorities, on
substantial evidence, that, realizing
that he would be short 100000 when
the transfer was to be made OH the Sth.
he consulted with some of his friends
and hackers and they decided that the
best thing to do was to seize all the
money in the treasury and put it in
place OF hiding, where it could be got
ten at when desired. Then when the
default was discovered the state would
be found bankrupt. 1t could not pay
phI Nd b0N So,
limit Of debt, could not borrow. Were
it to sue on the bonds of the treasurer,
two years or more would elapSe before
any money could be recovered, and dur
ing that time the credit of South Da-
kota would sink very low. The parties
to the plan concluded that rather than
let this come to pass the state officers
would do almost anything within rea-
son. Then the plan was to come for
ward, through an agent, and propose to
pay back to the state the $780, 900 which
the treasurer had carried off on condi-
ton that the bondsmen should be re-
leased and that Taylor should be re-
ieYed from further prosecution.
Had HE Come TO Pierre
Tuesday and surrendered himself he
would have been q common felon, and
would have gone 10 the penitentiary
for ten or fifteen years, and his bonds
men would have been bankrupt, since
suit under the bonds at this time
would have driven several if not all of
them to the wall. Under the plan
adopted both Taylor and his bondSlnen
would be free from any annoyance, and
the state would be the only loser. 1t is
impossible to give the details of the
evidence on which this suppOsition IS
based, but it is regarded as conclusive.
1t is now known that several people
were aware of the condition some time
before the defalcatiOn took place, and
it is understood that Taylor has an
agent in this city watching the
progress of the inquiry. Weight
is given to this belief by
the receipt of dispatch from
eX-Gov. Mellette. The dispatch is
from Lafayette, ind, the home of Tay-
lor's father, and states that the eX-gov-
ernor is on the way here, and will
straighten matters out when he comes,
and adding request not to begin suit
on the bonds until after his arrival. No
imputation is cast on the ex-governor,
but it is believed that he comes at the
request and as the representative of the
elder Taylor, and possibly to represent
the bondsmen, of whom he is the heav-
lest. The receipt of his telegram did
not hold the hands of the state officials,
however, but they Immediately began
suit Last night ten men left on the
midnight train for various parts of the
Itate. and by this time all the property
IN the state belonging to Taylor OF any
IF his bondsmen has been attached.
Today the legislature passed the joint
resolution instructing the governor to
Offer a Reward
If 81, 600 for the arrest of the fugitive.
Every effort is being made to discover