The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-15

1.-THE several counties shall be held La
pie for the preservation of so much of
the said fund (the common school fund.-
as may be intrusted to them and for the
payment of the annual interest there
on. Section lS7, Constitution of Indiana.
In the story Of the school fund loan made.
to Victor NJ. Backus while e. M. Johnson,
candidate for county auditor was deputy
auditor, told yesterday, it was shown how
one lot had been covered by two MORTGAGES
A case has been discovered now where
loan was made upon a mortgage purport-
ing to cover lands owned by Sarah A. Tolin
and William Tolin. But the description was
incorrect, and after the mortgage was fore
closed and the land sold to Joshua thinner
man. he discovered that the deed given him
by Auditor Smith was for property that the
Tolins had never owned, and refused to
accept it. This mortgage was drawn by
Il. M. Johnson, in whose handwriting it is
written. 1t secures a loan OF 5000. The
number of acres even is not stated
1t was made Sept. "a. 1890, ami was re-
corded in Mortgage Record 200, Page &c.
William Tolin is a Democratic ward poll
tician. For several years he was employed
as a collector in the county treasurar's Of
flee. Later he was a constable Now he
devotes a good deal 4of time to ward poljt-
ical work. AS was the custom, the first
years installment of interest, 6 per cent.
of the face of the mortgage, 1886, was taken
out in advance. The interest was paid to
Sept. "a, 1898. 1t is since delinquent March
p. 1897, Auditor Smith sold the property
on the mortgage to Joshua Zimmerman,
after the usual legal advertisement When
he came to look over the deed, Mr.. zim-
norman discovered that it did not convey
the property he thought he was getting
The description in the deed was identical
with that of the mortgage. The plats and
the abstract furnished when the mort
gage was made shows that all of the Tolin
land is in the southeast quarter of Section
20. excepting 4.6S acres just below it in Sec
ton %. Part of the land described in the
Tolin mortgage was twenty acres in the
northeast quarter, land quarter of a mile
away from what they owned and which
was held by another party. The amount
due on the mortgage when the land was
bought by Mr.. Zimmerman was $742.s5.
TOLINS REFUSE TO REMEDY IT
When the error was discovered il was
suggested TO Mr.. Zimmerman that he talk
with A. r. Hovey, who was then county
attorney. Mr.. Hovey looked into the case.
He found that after making the mortgage
to the school fund Mrs. Tolin and her hus-
band had conveyed the property to their
son. to hold it in trust for his father, VIII
liam Tolin, the Democratic politician, dur
ing his lifetime. Mr.. Hovey had CONVEX
sation with the son, urging him to quiet
title in it to the county without litigation.
This he could not get the other heirs to
consent to. They are even talking about
bringing SUIT to quiet title as against the
school fund. w. T. Brown. the present
county attorney, says that the county
would have the right to bring a suit to have
the defect in the mortgage cured, as it
would be able to show that it was the in
tention of the parties to mortgage their
land to the fund, whether they did or not
They could not hope to profit by the error
made in drawing the mortgage. But all
this will require great deal of troublesome
litigation. If the mortgage had been prop
erly drawn this would have been avoided
The property having changed hands and
one of the original mortgageors having died,
much litigation will be necessary before the
tangle is Strengthened out if it ever will
be. The attorneys have hoped to induce
the parties to voluntarily make the neces-
sary quit claim deeds and conveyances for
the benefit of the school fund, but recent
come of this. and a suit will most likely
have to be brought by the county.
One day after Mr.. Hovey retired from
the office of county attorney Tolin's son
met him on the street and minated he
wanted to have the suit brought to quiet the
title in favor of himself as trustee under
the trust deed in his fathers favor After
the death OF the latter. the property is to
be divided, according to the deed, among
the heirs. of whom there are quite num-
her,
1t is said that there will be no loss if the
courts decree that the Tolin's intended
TO mortgage their property whether they
did or not, but that there will be much ex-
pense and litigation involved. The land it
is SAID, Is worth more than the amount of
the mortgage and accrued interest and ex-
$742.S5.
1t does not appear how Mr.. johnson made
the error In drawing the mortgage. An ex-
animation of the abstract yesterday shows
that. the description given i'm it is correct
with the original papers.
JOHNSON ADMITS STORY NO 2.
In an interview in the News yesterday
Mr. Johnson said that he could not account
for the mistake by which Lot 10 was in
cluded in the Backus mortgage, when it
had already been previously nortgaged to
the school fund by Mrs. Minturn. There
was an effort to lay the blame on W. A.
Hughes, who was clerk under Deputy
Auditor johnson when the loan was made.
Mr. Hughes was equally unable to explain
how the same lot was covered by two
mortgages. when the law provides that no
property shall be accepted as security for
school fund loan that has any prior in
cumbrance on it,
Mr. Johnson takes refuge behind the as
sertion that there will be no losses declar-
ing that the lots covered by the mortgages
IRON LanderS, Freeman, Larkin and Back
us can be sold for enough to pay the loans
NO one wanted them when they were of
Tered tor sale. Mr. Johnson said IL was I'M
FAIR TO charge him with the responsibility
for loss to the school fund of over $40 600
while the county still has the property He
said that, in any event. the loss could not
be more than the amount they brought
was lower than is due on the MORTGAGES.
He made a grandstand play remarking: II
am willing to say that If the state has to
make a loss through my fault, l will make
the loss good
1t is impossible for the state to lose a
cent. The county has TO account for every
dollar of the school fund received from the
state. with per cent. interest annually 1t
must pay the interest, even If ii has not
invested the money. The purpose of the law
was to require the county to keep the school
fund invested in good securities-real estate
worth twice the money loaned, on which
there We're no prior liens. Whether this was
done when Mr.. Johnson was the deputy
auditor and ran the office for Thomas Tag