The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1899-02-02
THE SCANLAN BONDS.
Evidence in Behalf Of the Bondsrnen sub
mitted Yesterday.

1895 bondsmcn TO open the Judgment entered
/ by the Borough was resumed at the court
house in Potsvillc yesterday afternoon, John
| +. Whalen. Esq, the solicitor for the Tax.
payers Association, who is associated with
NJ NJ. Burke, Esq in looking after the
borough's interests taking mp the cross-ex.
animation of the witness
/ At the morning examination Mr.. Scanlan
testified that all the payments he made from
Jan 10, 1896, to Jan. s, 1898, amounting in
the aggregate to S2i, $3.50, were made as
| payments on the 1895 tax duplicate
| Mr.. Whalcn handed to Mr. Seaman the Bor
ough Auditors report for the fiscal year end
| ing March, 1898, and the witness said the
report credited him with all the payments he
referred to in his testimony. Mr.. Whalon
ADDED force to this by taking item for item
and the witness sid they were all duly
or dted in the report
Mr.. canlan ADMITTED that the Auditors
report credited him with 81 ,O1sO6, Mar 1,
1897, and 81 0OO May Z, 1897, as payments on
the 1896 duplicate, hut said he had made the
payments for the 1895 duplicate. He was
asked when he got his 1895 duplicate and
said it was in January, 1897 He denied
that he appeared before the Finance commit
tee of Council and talked about these
amounts, but admitted that he was allowed
the siXty-day commission on the payments
credited to the 1896 duplicates He said he
was not aware that the allowance had been
made until the Auditors report was pub
ished, or that the payments had been applied
to the 1896 duplicate. He said he made no
complaint or objection in regard to it. nor
did he appeal from the Auditors statement.
Mr.. Whalen then switched to another
branch and asked Mr.. Scanlan if he did not
write letter to Council under the date of
Feb. A. 1897 He replied that he did not.
Didn't you write to this effect
GENTLEMEN 1t has always been my un.
derstanding that all payments made by me
| into the borough treasury since the settle
ment made NOv'r. T. 1895, by the Finance
Committee, of my account of the duplicate
Of borough taxes for 1894. (the balance then
/ found against me being S25, ,54B g3), shall be
applied on account Of my indebtedness on
said 1894 duplicate, and l have repeatedly
directed the payments made by me from time
to time to be so credited; and the surplus
thereof after fully paying off the balance
due on my 1894 duplicate, to be credited on
account of my 1895 duplicate | hereby
affirm in writing and reiterate the verbal
requests and instructions. thus heretofore
made and given by me, and / fully approve
OF the application by Council of all monies
paid in by me since December, 1895, and
credited or to be credited on the 1894 and
1895 duplicates respectively, as herein above
stated.
Witness said he did not write the letter.
but he thought Mr.. Straughn did Witness
did not know it was written until Mr..
Straughn brought it to him and asked him to
sign, and he did.
WAS not that letter that you admit sign
ing prepared because the $1,000 which you
had asked to have applied to the 1894 dupli-
cate was so applied, and there was some
question about it afterwards2"
Mr., Scanlan said he did not know whether
it was or not
Don't you know that that the credit of
s., 900 of Jan. 16, 1896, was applied or ex-
tended to the 1894 duplicate?"
Yes, sir; know it since I saw it pub
lished"
Didn't you know it prior to that time P"
Yes, sir"
Didn't you ask to have it so applied ?"
mo, sir. | told them the money was there
and they could apply it where they liked"
Then there was an agreement between
you and Council, at least it was agreed By
you that that application of the SIS, 900 to the
1894 duplicate might be made ?"
No, sir There was no agreement at all "
'You knew they were going to do thatP P'
Eyes sir; l was there when they did it,"
And they had your consent to do it ?"
"Yes, sir"
WAS not the same true of the So, 900. the
81, ,O1s and the 81 900 that were credited to
you on the 1896 duplicate, and the other
items referred tor"
Mr. Scanan said he did not know anything
about it and he was not present when it was
done That he had no recollection of their
being any adjustment of his affairs by the
finauce committee, in which the SO, 900 item
was taken into account. He recalled having
met Messrs. T. J, James, Gable and Mcclure
aud going over the items of the 1895 dupli-
cate, but not the 1896 duplicate, and the
$4,000 item was on the latter duplicate. Mr..
Scanlan said he made his collections on the
1895 duplicate before he received it, and
when asked if be had collected the bulk OF
the taxes for 1895 before he got the duplicate,
replied Yes, sir; I guess did"
This admission is an important one, in view
of the fact that the bondsmen set up, as one
of their reasons for having the judgment
opened, that the Borough Council did not
give Mr. Scanlan a warrant to make colec.
tions on the 1895 duplicate.
In answer to questions on redirect exami-
nation by Mr. Wadlinger, concerning the
letter of Feb. A. 1897, Mr.. Scanlan said at
was brought into the store. | was told about
it and understood such a letter was to be
written. 1t was brought in by one of the
Councilmen, and he asked me If l understood
what it was. l said yes and he said Will
you sign it p and l said yes and l signed
the letter. The letter came from then
getting another letter from another party
They wanted to put themselves on the safe
side | suppose, and l signed it. The letter
was brought to me by Mr.. Straughn. He was
chairman of the finance committee, think. u
Mr.. Whalen then took up the subject OF
the letter and asked, We'll, you understood
the points in that letter and what it meant
didn't you ?"
Mr.. Scanlan replied, Il didn't read it, nj
sir. / understood the Council got letter.
got one myself from one of the bondsmen Of
1895. He objected to the money being trans
ferred to the 1894 duplicate, and l under
stood that the School Board got one, too; and
Mr. Straughn brought that letter to my st II,
and asked me to sign it, and did so without
reading it OF anything else. He gave me