Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-04-28
SEEKING THE FACTS.
Heartn. Of the Charges Preferred by
the County Commissioners In Fro
srcss Before the Governor.

The matter of the charges preferred by
Charles W. Dudrow, chairman of The
board of county commissioners, against
William P. Cunningham, sheriff of Santa
Fe county, came up before Gov. Thorn
ton for hearing at 10 o'clock this morn
Jog. The sheriff appeared in person
with his counsel, Judge A. B. Fall and
Mr.. A. 3. Renehan, and Mr.. Dndrow also
appeared with Mr.. Charles A. Spiesa, at
torney for the county commissioners
Solicitor General Victory and Mr.. W. Fl.
Pope were also present in the interest OF
the territory and to advise with the gov
ernor as to the law in tho premises.
The charges, already printed in these
columns, we're first read by Mr.. Spiess.
Then Judge Fall read Sheriff Cunning
hams answer, which consisted of gen
eral and specific denial Of all the material
charges and specifications preferred
against him. The New MEXICAN was un-
able to procure copy of this answer in
time for publication to-day, but will print
the full text thereof tomorrow.
Mr.. Spiess announced that he was only
prepared to deal with the questions Of
fact involved and would rely upon Mr..
Pope to present the law.
A question at once arose between
Judge Fall and Mr.. Pope as to whether
the burden of proof rested upon the COM
missioners or upon the sheriff, the for
mer strenuously maintaining that his
client was not obliged TO prove his limo.
cence, and the latter holding that the
question was not whether the sheriff was
an embezzler but whether he was eligible
and cited authorities to show that the
burden Of proof was on the sheriff.
Judge Fall rejoned that if the burden
of proof was placed on his client he
would have nothing further to do with the
case.
The governor said that charges similar
to those pending had repeatedly been pre-
sented to him, that finally they had taken
a form demanding Investigation, and that
he now desired to know all the facts.
AS to the charges that Mr.. Cunning
ham was short in his accounts ns col
lector his settlement in full with the
county commissioners in January, 1895,
and his stub books were presented to
prove the contrary.
Marcelino Garcia, who acted as deputy
collector under Cunningham, and A. Z.
Hill, county clerk, both of whom served
on the committee that examined the &C.
counts of the sheriff and collector, were
examined and each gave testimony favor.
able to the accused. Mr.. Garcia said
that, as to the item of $3l551, collected
as penalty of the A., T. &. S. T. railroad,
! 1t was not put into the settlement be-
cause it was doubtful to which fund it be-
longed, bnt that he gave Chairman Dud-
row memorandum of it. He did not
know whether the item had since been
: settled, but said that after deducting dis
J allowed accounts and the disputed $3l5.51
there was balance of 1897 due the
sheriff at the time of the January, 1895,
settlement.
As to the question whether the amount
alleged to be due from the sheriff to the
} territory for the keep of certain prison.
ers at the penitentiary is private or a
public debt the governor heard argument
, of counsel at the continuation of the
hearing this afternoon.