The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-12-09
The County Surveyor Will Re.
duce His Deputies
CASE OF CORONER CAMPBELL
General Belief That the Perjury Prose.
Cu!i0n Will Prove a Farce
The Real Principle Inv olved In Hauling the
Coroner Up by q Round Turn viii
Be Lost Sight OF


Wright, makes the announcement that
| the force OF deputies in his oilico will be
| materially reduced on the list prox. This
intelligence will be quite pleasing to the
| taxpayers OF Los Angeles county. Mr..
Wright has had an extraordinarily large
force OF deputies, and the county has
regularly footed the bills eacn month.
The fact that the unnecessary force is to
be eliminated and the expense corre-
spondingly reduced IS gratifying infor-
nation. The Herald proposes to con-
tinue to exert itself until other officers
follow the example of Mr.. Wright.
1t is universally believed by all lawyers
who have bsen consulted that the coro-
nsr, DR.. George W. Camppall, cannot be
convicted on the indictment the grand
jury has presented against him for per-
jury. The reasons for this can be easily
stated. Tho basis of the indictment is
that DR.. Campbell, when no presented a
bill for $5 for each one OF sixty three
cases Of death which he investigated but
found no occasion TO hold an inquest,
and swOre that the claims were correct.
justly due and unpaid, swore falsely.
Now there is no question about the fact
that the So fee DR.. Campbell claimed and
collected in everyone Of those cases was
illegal.
But was DR.. Campbell alone to blame?
He certainly was not. The district at
torney by his deputy, George M. Holton,
endorsed every one of those claims as
loyal charge against the county. Major
Donnell now admits that there is no Sec
ton of the statute authorizing the coro-
ner to collect S. fee. Yet he continued
to permit the coroner to collect it Just
the same, and, IN fact, sanctioned its col
lection.
1t is by this system OF careless ac-
quiesence on the part of the district at
tnrney's Office that the county has in
times gone by been muicted in the sum
of thousands of dollars. Claims have
boon approved in utter defiance and vio-
latoin of the statute. This practice is
what The Herald and every taxpayer de-
sire to see rendered unpopular.
DR.. Campbell will, when the time
comes, in all probability plead that he
did not commit perjury, as he supposed
the claim he was putting in was legal.
He will point to the fact that the district
attorney 'O'K" the claim as legal and
that his predecessor in office received it.
This will probably result in the doctor
being acquitted Of the perjury allegation
ii his case ever comes to trial. Then it
will be claimed that the doctor is a very
much abused individual.
the fact remains. however, that Doctor
PbCll idb III MS pOSSoeSlOu llUuoy
that the district attorney states was
secured from the public treasury on an
illegal claim. The doctor has not raiu
the money back. He is still olinging to
it. The district attorney has taken no
steps to recover it. 1t has been suggested
that it is about time for the county law
department. to take steps to get back that
money. The amount is small but the
principle involved is an important one.
1t IS this. Is party who has secured
money from the public treasury illegally
to rest in the peaceful possession of the
unlawfully obtained coin? II The is. then
it Is virtually putting premium on dis
honesty IN public office. l
The prosecution of DR.. Campbell ON
the perjury Indictment is going 10 be
roaring farce. 1t will come to nothing,
and then when it IS knocked out the
principle which is really at stake will be
lost sight of. 1t is very clever scheme,
but it was put rather crudely by some
incompeten:s and will fall to the ground.
The main point that the people want to
see gained Is for Or. Campbell to restore
money he has collected that he is not
entitled to. and they further desire that
in the future the doctor avoid making
also that he approve no more illegal de.
mands of his stenoglapher. Nobody de-
sires to prosecute DR.. Campbell or to send
him to the penitentiary. Still the doctor
should have it in some way imp essed
upon his mind that he must do tho right
thing by the people whom he was elected
to serve.
The grand Jury In the next return made
to the court will, SO it is limited, report
some indictments which, whom the ar
rests are made upon them, cause some
further revelations as to the careless
and dishonest manner in which the
funds Of the county clerks Office were
handled during the incumb ency of Trow-
bridge Fl. Ward. There will be cthe
involved besides Frank Lowry, but lust
who tie parties are cannot be stated now.
Mr.. Wards friends have been making
for some reason or other. The grand Jury
will report Wednesday.