Omaha daily bee., 1899-09-02

trlct clerk 10 your honorable board. was
known after examination TO contain certia-
Gates wrouRfully issued, amounting 20 S54s.
These certificates were spotted BY this
department and the warrants allowed to
issue for same and held In the hope that
upon presentation the cause OF the wrongful
issue could be made apparent. This action,
however, for some cause, leaked out and, as
a consequence, none of these certificates
we're presented or warrants demanded.
On pay roll No. 21,562, filed January 4,
1899. this board is notified by the district
clerk Of the cancellation OF the above
certificates wrongfully issued, aggregating
S549, the stubs of which are now so marked,
but on demanding the certificates | was told
by the clerk in charge that he could not
produce them. Query, What has been done
with them? These certificates, numbers and
amounts are hereinafter shown and IL will
require an order of the board instructing
the county clerk to cancel the warrants is
sued therefor. One certificate. however,
land there may be morel for $50 was issued
to a party who did not serve as juror;
neither did he know OF its Issuance. This
party's name was signed on the back of the
certificate and II was sold to a warrant
broker of this city, who recetpted the war
rant register for same and obtained the war
rant. and the records In the district clerks
office show that the party answered and the
district cerk certified that the service was
performed, l cannot longer refrain from &C
quainting your honors in your official ca
pacity Of such abuses.
Again, / have now on my desk a claim,
21,643, fled January IL, 1899. by the clerk
Of the district court for S629.15 for services
as member OF the board Of insanity and as
clerk OF said board. In this claim is in
cluded charges for 116 days attendance at
meetings OF the board between June ",
1898. and December 81, 1898, at SO per day
and amounting to $34S. I am led to be-
lieve, from information received, that the
major part of this 116 days service was
never performed. The statutes provide a Zee
for this service at the rate OF 50 per diem
for time actually employed, and l have the
written opinion of the county attorney that
this docs not include time not actually en-
ployed.' | await instructions from your
honorable board before ! can determine as
to my report on this claim.
This is accompanied by a list OF the can
celled certificates, the amount for which eacf
was issued and the number Of the warran
that was drawn to pay it.
After a thorough consideration Of thu
facts, the committee OF the whole presented
a report in which it concluded that thu
abuses charged existed and this was signed
by every member of the board. The report II
still on file as follows:
Board Finds Facts as Stated.
OMAHA, Neb., Feb. 81, 1~S99.-Your COM
mittee of the whole, to which was referred
a communication of ]. H. Tate, county
auditor, calling attention to certain matters
in the office of the district clerk relating &c
the issuance Of jurors and witness certiti-
Gates in violation of instructions from the
Board Of Commissioners, also the wrongful
issue Of certificates to jurors, amounting &c
S549, together with the $50 certificate upon
which a warrant had been obtained, and
Tho ftrthnr rnfnrnnRn To n rlal" med 10
service as commissioner of insanity, beg to
report:
That upon a careful consideration Of said
communication and an examination or all
the matters connected herewith. shown oil
record, your committee finds that the abuses
therein referred to are facts, and the con-
tinuance of same should be resisted by this
board, and to this end your
recommends that no further allowance be
made to the clerk of the district court FOR
issuing juror or witness certificates. Your
committee further shows that a commune
cation has been referred to it by Albyn L.
Frank, in which he admits an overcharge
of $50 in his bilr for services as insane
commissioner. This, together with any
other errors in said bill, should be deducted
before its allowance. Your
further recommends that the county clerk
be and hereby is instructed to cancel the
following warrants, t~owit-(Pay roll 2l,562-
being the $549 in fraudulent certifcates).
Your committee further recommends tbai
the county treasurer be and he is hereby
instructed to refuse payment of warrant
2,14S for the sun of $50, issued August G.
1898, the same being wrongfully obtained,
all the foregoing warrants having been
issued on the general fund, fiscal year OF
1898. H. E. OSTROM.
JAMES P. CONNOLLY,
A. G. HARTE,
THOMAS HOCTOR,
PETER HOFELDT.
yerifcntiOn of the Frauds