Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1897-07-28

bondsmen of this officer were pro-
tected and the county sustained no
loss. And in the case of the Wick
ersham matter the county NEVER
LOST ONE DOLLAR, but on the con-
trary received 81, 900 Of bail bond,
given for his appearance at the dis
trict court. With credit to the bal
ance of the Wickersham family,
they came forward and paid up all
the shortage as we'll as the bail
bond, saving some of our citizens
who had gone on his bond.
AS to my silence during this in
vestigation Citizens" assertion is
false. Neither l nor the other mem=
bers of the board ever kept this mat
ter concealed. Should we SO desired
we could not have done so, because
every one Mt or near the county seat
knew of the shortage of Wicker.
sham. The commissioners knew it,
Wickersham' wife knew it, men,
bers of the honorable order to which
he then belonged knew it, in fact
everybody around the town of
Mountain Home, knew that w. G.
Wickersham had been drawing il
legal warrants.
When the board met in October
we became satisfied that Wicker
sham had been using juror and wit
ness certificates that had been once
paid, and had raised money upon
them. Being satified that he had
been doing this work and violating
every pledge made to his friends, we
at once proceeded to consult an at
torney in the matter and he advised
as to what was the proper course to
pursue.
We sought attorney e. M. Wolfe
and after presenting our case to him
his advice to US was to report the
matter to the district attorney. he
being the proper person to begin an
action. He then dictated a letter
to the district attorney, which each
of the commissioners signed. The
board then entered into a contract
with Mr.. Wolfe to assist the district
attorney in the prosecution of the
case, of which the following is
copy:
Min Home, Ida, Oct. Is, 1894.
1t is hereby agreed by and be-
tween Gilmore county, Of the State
of Idaho, and e. M. Wolfe, an at
torney at law, that the said e. M.
Wolfe shall assist the district at
torney in the prosecution of Grim
inal case about to be brought against
w. c. W ickersham for fraudulently
issuing warrants of said county and
other misconduct in office, and to
conduct the preliminary examina-
ton, and that he shall have one
hundred dollars for appearing in
the district court in the case and
fifty dollars for conducting the pre-
liminary examination in the case.
[Signed] w. H. MANIoN,
JOHN VAN ScHAIcK,
T. r. STEVENSON,
f. M. WOLFE.
W hen the district court convened
shortly after the above contract was
entered into, Mr.. Stevenson and
myself came to Mountain Home ex-
pecting the district attorney would
take some action, as we had in
structed him to do. When we ar
rived the district attorney had gone
home. | went to Mr.. Wolfe and
asked him what the district attor-
ney had to say about the matter.
Mr.. Wolfe said that he asked him
if he had received letter from the
commissioners, and no stated that
he had. Mr.. Wolfe then informed
him that he had been employed to
assist in the prosecution of the case
and asked him what he would do
in the matter. He replied that he
would look into it and decide what
action to take. This seems to have
ended here, as he never begun suit
as he was instructed to do by the
letter referred to above.
1t seems that | am held Iespon-
sible by "Citizeno for all the acts of
six men with whom | was associa-
ted during the four years that l was
commissioner. | am willing to
bear my share of mistakes but am
not willing to take the blame for
all mistakes made by the boards of
which | was only one of six.
In conclusion, | will briefly state
to what extent l might be held re-
sponsible for the Indebtedness of
Gilmore county. OF the $4,000
referred to by "Citizen" in his ar
ticle in the Republican, $1OS,00O
were inherited from Alturas county
(this includes accrued interest)
about $4,000 of this Indebtedness
was incurred during Elmore's first
two years of existence, making a
total of $12S,000, and the balance
of said Indebtedness must be di-
vided or apportioned to the six
years following.
There has never been year since
my connection with county affairs
in which the levy was sufficient to
meet the county expenditures. Ny
| action I a ION in tho IViclarc n a N, q T.