The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-10-02
eliver a pauper more than half-ton

On Feb. Il Geddes gave pauper or
der No. 175 for zone ton" of Castle
Gate coal TO be delivered to j. J. Giles
$50 North Third West street. which
was delivered the next day. James j.
Giles is. and was at the time, one of
the janitors in the joint building.
| On Feb. zs q. firm delivered five tons
! of slack coal to the infrmary. for
which they charged $2.75, while the
| same slack costs So per ton delivered
at the joint building. This must come
under the long and short haul clause
! of intermunicipa1 arrangements. But
this dream will be dispelled when it is
stated that down in one corner, al
most obscured, was a notation lover
/ haul, s1.25," which evened up the SIS
price all right, but shows that Attor-
ney Whittemore who said ''the county
team does nothing to earn their oats
could have done all this hauling for
| the infirmary had the horses not been
in use by the selectmeu piling up mile
age
Among H. P. Mason's coal bills is
one for 1.-TWO tons'of coal delivered
to George Norris. on pauper order No.
80, dated March 8, 1895, issued by Ged-
des. Morris is we'll known in this city
and had a team working ON the joint
building grounds doing construction
work at the time he got this order
Norris lives near the joint building.
Pauper order No. 10, dated March 1,
and issued by Geddes, was first made
out for ''one-haIf" and then changed
to read lone TOM of coal. By nota-
ton on the order it is shown that Mr..
! Geddes ordered the coal from H. P.
Mason "by telephone" and then the
order was sent by mail ito save the
recipient the walk ito the yards. To
this same batch of coal bills is at
tached a slip notation by one of the
selectmen, perhaps, or Expert Ac-
countant Anderson, which reads: RE
ceipts for the coal delivered should ac-
company these ORDERS" as There was
nothing to show that the coal was ever
delivered. However. the bills were O.
KID by Geddes and paid.
Perhaps the most .'glaring" irregu~
larity among the pauper orders is one
that is turned in by a leading coal firm.
1t may be all right, and The Herald
doesn't say that it isn't all right, but
if it is, it hasn't q. very strong SEM
blance of being straight On a soiled
scrap of paper, without any printed
! heading. is noted sixteen one-half tons
and one full ton of coal purported to
have been delivered TO paupers. At
| tached to this scrap of paper are seven
teen crisp, new, clean pauper orders
signed by Mr.. Geddes, which do not
show the least bit of soiling by paul
per or other hands. The first one is
dated March ?, and the last one March
16. They are numbered %, 90, 81, s.,
81, % and Al. There is nothing on them
or about them ITO show that the coal
was ever delivered. Expert Anderson
wrote to some of those supposed to
have received the coal. and heard
nothing positive as to whether amy OF
this coal was delivered. In kindly
disposed notation he puts ON Slip
with the bills after they were paid, he
says, at is supposed the coal was de-
lvered." However. on every order is
printed the statement that the pauper
must state whether he or she got the
goods or not. The whole transaction
shows a gross carelessness and the eX-
ample stands on record for what it Is
worth. MI. Geddes 40. KID these
bills, delivered up to the middle of
March, they were filed as a claim
April 70 and paid June 10.
Another case of "glare" on the face
is a bill from another coal company
for coal alleged TO have been delivered
at the county Infirmary. The amount
Is $685.. There is nothing to show
that the coal was ever delivered or
received by anybody. Expert II. R.
Anderson probed into the matter until
he broke his clerical probe and then
gave it up by his kindly notation after
/ the bill was paid, by saying, on a. slip
and enclosing it in the claim, some
evidence of delivery" However. he
can't show any. There are no orders
/ for the coal, and no evidence that it
was ever ordered; no evidence that it
was hauled even toward the Infirmary
no evidence of anybody in town, or out
Oh IDWUp VI ally NulCI =, tNCl ileLN4IiS IL
ceived it. Tho coal is purported to
have been delivered in April, the claim
filed May "a Gan unusual time) and
paid June 10. It was 20. KID" a short
time ago by Selectman Roberts. If it
IS straight it has a most serpentine
awl1wardness about it.
The Herald has neither time nor
space to enter into the entire coal bust
ness, but in all candor, and with nc
malice, the truth is that if the coal
bills were contracted and paid as
I specifically required by law, dollars
would be returned to the county or
: new claims would be filed. The fact
Is that the selectmen claim they con-
tract nothing without a written order
and the dealers claim they deliver
nothing without an order, and always
attach their orders to their claims,
which cannot be true. That is all there
Is to lit. At all events the coal bust
! ness as conducted by the county select
men is open to investigation.
ANDERSON'S ARTISANS.