Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1898-06-15
Suspected and $1,000 Reward
offered for Discovery.
POLK CoUNTYS LOSS is LARGE,
The Court House Fire Is More Dis
astrous Than Supposed.

The burning of the court house at
Dallas will probably prove very seri-
Gus loss to the people of Polk county,
AS was stated in The JOURNAL OF the
afternoon following the disaster, most
Of the records and papers belonging to
the courts were In the vault and were
saved. This will prevent an almost
endless amount of litigation that
would have been the natural sequence
bad the deed books and count records
been destroyed.
Many valuable papers however were
burned. All the assessment rolls and
blanks, all Of the assessors paper, all
the sheriff's papers, books, accounts,
delinquent rolls, stubs and in fact.
everything pertaining to the
offices of the assessor and sheriff,
were consumed In the fire.
This loss may prove very serious one
to the county as 1t leaves, the sheriff IS
Office especially in badly mixed-up
condition. The present incumbent
had succeeded himself and has conse-
quenty been In Office four years. Dur
ing that time it is claimed there had
never been complete settlement be-
tween the county court and the sher-
lff. 1t will be a difficult matter to
make settlement now.
In addition to the loss Of the sher.
iff's..and assessors documents, the
papers that we're In use at the last
term of the circuit court were also
destroyed. The loss of these will
prove to be serious annoyance to say
the least.
A reward of 81 900 has been offered
for the apprehension of the party OF
parties who set fire to the court house,
but so far no arrests have been made,
and no clue to the arson obtained
There is general belief that the fire
was the work of an incendiary as
burning kerosene oil could be easily
smelled when the fire was discovered
An adjustment was made yesterday
at Dallas by the county court and the
insurance agents of the losses from
the fire The full amount of the in
surance, $1,000 will be paid. Two
thousand dollars of this amount was
on the building and $1,000 on furni-
ture maps etc.
Regarding a revival Of the old con.
test for the county seat, between
Dallas and Independence, it is believed
that the present county, court will
very soon contract for the erection Of
a permanent structure on the old site
and thus settle the county seat squab'
BILE for all time. However this is only
conjecture as neither judge Wells nor
the commissioners have committed
themselves.
In THE JOURNALS account of the
fire published at the time of the oc'
currence, was an appended statement
that no papers or books were lost. AS
recent developments have shown, this
based on an assertion made by Judge
Wells to JOURNAL reporter on the
day Of the fire, at Strong's restaurant
10 this city, when the judge said
"Aslde from the Inconvenience oI
being without a court house and the
loss Of the building itself, the county
will lose absolutely nothing, as all the
papers and records were saved"
The people Of Polk county are con
siderably stirred up over the situation
and 1t is likely that the whole matter
will be sifted to the bottom.
The pertinent question Is; "DiC
anybody burn the court housei If Sc
who ?"
DELINQUENT TAXES.
Can be collected from copies of the
rolls now at the state house, but there
is no way to ascertain how much IL
due from previous years, or what ha:
been collected and not turned over
The only way TO get at settlement
with Sheriff Plummer for the past
would be to get copies Of all the re-
ceipts for taxes issue to ali the tax
payers In Polk county.
The fact tnat Van Orsdal, Union
ist sheriff, was elected by only foul
plurality is also matter of interest
as he undoubtedly intended to have
the books OF his predecessor expected
aod N aattla,nant n,ala hofano tho.