Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1897-10-14
THE EXPERTS REPORT.
What has Become of That Important
Document, and What is the Court
Going to do About itp

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In the August term of the coun-
ty court the following order was
made: "In the matter of the report
of Geo. R. Mckenzie: 1t is ordered
that the journal and ledger thereof
be placed on file; that all other pa
pers and vouchers received IN con-
nection Herewith be continued in
the custody of the court pending a
further settlement of accounts"
Accordingly the ledger and journal
were filed and the other papers
were still retained inthe possession
of some of the members of the
county court. A careful search of
the records of the meeting of the
court for the October term entirely
fails to disclose any reference to this
important matter. Whether the
court forgot that this matter was
pending, or what they concluded to
do about it must be only matter
of conjecture.
There is this much certain. The
court is taking very peculiar and
unusual method of handling this
matter. According to the report
of the expert which came into the
hands of the court some time last
July, about three months ago,
there was owing to the county from
the clerk and the sheriff over ST.
900. So far the court has absolute
ly, so far as the records show, taken
no steps for the safety of the coun-
ty in this matter. They Rave not
even made demand upon the Off
GERS for the money which they al
lege to be due and owing to the
county. The only thing they have
done so far as we can ascertain, has
been to threaten and harass tie
bondsmen OF the clerk and sheriff
with the threat of a lawsuit if they
do not come in and make a blind
settlement with the court upon a
report which they have to acknowl-
edge themselves to be incorrect and
unjust. The court expects these
bondsmen to settle on the report of
Mckenzie, when at the same time
/ they withhold from the interested
parties the vital part of the report,
and keep in their possession, con-
trary to law, and thus prevent the
officers and their bondsmen from
even checking up the report to see
as to its correctness. The court
must think that these officers and
their bondsmen are fools. When set
tlement time comes the court must
surrender the papers and vouch-
ers illegally in its possession, and
the accounts will be checked up by
some competent person other than
Geo. r. Mckenzie. We can assure
the court that a large majority OF
the people of the county are getting
grave suspicion in their heads
that there is something rotten
some place, and that it is not very
far from the experts report. If the
report is all right and reliable, why
don't the court take some steps to
protect the interests of the county,
The fact is, the court knows that
when a suit is started, if one ever
is, on the report of the expert, that
the report wont amount to any
thing, and the people will speedily
see Just how bad they have been
buncoed out of nearly 5000 in order
that a shadow might be cast upon
the clerk and sheriff of this county.
The fact of the matter is,. the
court is in very much the same po-
sition of the Irishman who had the
bear by the tail as it was coming
around the tree towards him. He