The San Francisco call., 1897-12-15
Barefaced Attempts to
Defraud the Munich
pality.
Claims Presen ted for Street.
Sprinkling Which Was
Never Done.
Supplies Purchased at Exorbltant
Prices of a Churchman'S
Brother.
Special Dispatch to THE CALI.

SAN JOSE, Dec. 14-Three fiasrant at
temp,s 10 loot the treasury of the ctv Of
San Jose were unearthed to-day by THE
CALLS corresT Tondent among the claims
on file with the City Clerk. In each case
more or less of the guilt appears TO lie
with COun Gilman Julius Krieg. The most
bold-faced attempt must be placed to The
credit of Al Mason, who is said to be q
protege of krieg.
On April % of this year the Common
touncu by motion agreed to place twenty
A rec water wagons on the streets of San
oSe for the work of sprinkIinq for sly
months from the passage of the motion.
On Septem Der % owing TO the money in
the street fund running low, it was on mo-
non decided by the Council to dispense
with nlnteen of these carts after October l.
OF the four drivers who we're retained in
service, each Councilman was allowed to
name one Noting named Mrs. T. O'Con-
nor, krieg named Mrs. James Reedy.
Dlttus named ii. c. Schallen berger and
Fay named James a. Chitwood. The
women named did their driving of the
sprlnking wagons by proxy. All but the
tour carts thus kept in service were at this
lime taken away from their Iormer
drivers and put into the corporation yard.
On October y the following communica-
tion WAS fled with the City Clerk by
Mason:
SAN JOSE Oct IL, 1897.
To the Honorable the Mayor and Common Coun-
CT. Of the c3ty OF San Jose: On last FIiIay night
ana during my absence an individual repre-
senung himself 10 be connected with the
Street Department came 10 nv residence on
CoI1ax street and took away tnerefrom a
sprlnkuug wagon which had been assigned
10 me Tor sprlnkIGg purposes by the city OF
Sun Jose Tor six months beginning May l.
never nave taken p ace, as It understood
tnat was responsible for the safe delivery Of
Lhe wagon at h close OF the season. E.,
November l. 1897.
have since found out that the Street Com
nltttee has assumed the responsibility OF dis
charging ali drivers out four without the
p-oper authority 10 SUIT themselves. and a
ole OF the picked unfCrtunates (the sole sup
porter o. wife and SIX caIidrtn) should be
1he one 10 suffer appears un just, and l ask of
ur honorable body 10 take such steps you
may see II to recover the same that l NAV
have an oppOrtuEity to provide for those
that are near and dear 10 me. Re, pectfully
yours, AL MASON.
No action was taken on it. Ii was SIM
ply ordered filed.
Nothing daunted by the fact that it was
4 physically lmpOssib bic for him 10 have
driven a sprinkLng wagon for the city
curing the month OF October Mason put
dr.Ylng water-Cart during that month.
! ms was hle1 and sworn to by Mason on
the 1st OF Move nber. In thus swearing
10 false CAIN he has made himself
liable to prosecution for a felony. The
bill. Is still in the records of the city
Clerk, but il is not now likely that any
further action Will be taken on it. though
i would seem mat The District Attorney
or the mex, Grand Jury has a duty to per
form.
The other two claims referred to come
more nearly home TO Councilman krieg
he Is the chairman of the fire com Mite
and in that capacity has the authority 10
Ol der any supplies for the fire depari-
ment when the amount of goods ordered
Is not in excess OF 500. He has brother
w. c. Krieg, who IS brass iounder.
Among the claims on file with the City
Clerk are two IN ,avor OF ". {. Krieg
though neither has anything to do with
brass-foundrv work. One of these is dated
September %, 1897, ana is for 200 crowfoot
battery z res at 90 cents each, the total
amount o the bill being $l20. In the first
place, THIS Is an Illegal claim, the lndebt-
edness incurred being in excess OF $100,
and in the second place, the price charged
is nearly twice the regular cost of the arti-
Gle IN the open market. The zines fur
ni~hed by w. c. Krieg were for use in The
fire-alarm battery, and are not worth more,
according to the opinion OF dealers in
electrical goods and of the City Electri-
clan, than 35 cents each. Even the best
brand OF these zines has been furnished to
the city for 90 cents each. The dust will
have chance TO accumulate on this claim.
The other claim OF W. {. krieg is dated
Dece m Der 4, 1897. 1t Is for two barrels OF
battery D.ues zone, 747 pounds, at ~ cents
a pound tho tot ii amount of the oil be-
ing $50 02 The same quality OF blues tone
can be bought in the city of San Jose in
single barrel lots for 4A cents pound.