The San Francisco call., 1898-03-08

visor Jenkins was indignant that he
 should have been charged with accept
 ing money.
 Something over a year ago." said
 MT. Jenkins, the property owners on
 Sutter Island appeared before the
 board and asked for assistance in building a. road around the island on top of the levee. They represented to
 us that they had been paying heavy l taxes for years; that they were badly | in need of a road, and if the county
 would bear half the expense of building such road they would pay the other half and deed the road to the county. At this time, or later-the minutes of the board will show-an agreement was
 entered into with Reclamation District
 349 whereby the Supervisors promised
 to bear half the expense of building a
 road around the island, provided the road were deeded to the county. Now,
 I want to say right here the board
 simply agreed to pay half the expense of building that road under the condi-
 tion that it was a county road, and it
 made no difference who dredged out
 the dirt necessary-that was a matter
 solely and entirely for the district to
 look after.
 Well, it seems the Golden Gate Dredging Company was employed to do the work After time it was reported to us that a certain amount-$2SS0, 1 believe-waS due. We sent County
 Surveyor Boyd to look at the work, and he reported that enough had been done
 to warrant the payment asked. Upon this report we allowed the district
 S1440, that being the county's share ac- cording to agreement. The $1440 was paid to P. H. McGrath not as an agent for the dredging company, but as agent
 for the reclamation district, and l never was more surprised in my life
 than when I heard this morning that
 he had held back that money for nearly
 year.
 ''As for McGrath's having paid me any money, he most certainly did not. When the road was said to be finished and the districts claims against the county for the remainder of the coun- tvs share were pending, the Board of | Supervisors took a trip to Sutter Is- land to view the work. We found that the levee had been raised around the island, but there was no sign of any road The result was that we told Henry Elliott president of the Board l Of Trustees, and other members of the | board that we could not allow the | claims until the road was quilt; that 1 the county could not pay for raising | levees, and that they could not get 1 their money until the road was built | according to agreement.
 "I have since learned that the dis i trict has leveled off the road and com
 pleted the work, but I want to say right here, that the Board of Super visors has never been notified that this 1 has been done, and I particularly want | to say that since that $1440 was allowed
 no one has, to my knowledge, asked
 the board for single cent on behalf of l that work.
 Unless there are legal reasons, which
 I cannot now foresee, the district can have what money is due it as soon as
 1t shows us it has done the work, and
 as soon as it presents it's claim after
 making the showing. If McGrath ap- pears before the board tomorrow l
 venture to assert that he will not make any such statement as he is charged
 with having made to the officers of the Golden Gate Dredging Company" | Notwithstanding Mr. Jenkins claim | that the charge is an absurdity the
 other members of the board are unani-
 nous upon the proposition to make a | thorough and complete investigation | At o-morrow's meeting of the board
 the case will be taken up and sifted to | the bottom.