The Saint Paul globe., 1901-08-26
ARE IN KANE'S HANDS
COUNTY AUDITOR JOHNSON DE-
MES THAT CANCELLED WAR
RANTS ARE MISSING
HE COURTS INVESTIGATION
Two Warrants Supposed to Be Lost
Were Found in Frank OIivier's
Desk - County Attorney
Kane Is Silent

County Auditor William r. johnson
declares that there are no new develop
ments in the tax refunding cases which
have been prominently discussed, and in
regard to the story appearing in yester
day mornings G e he gives out the
following statement:
THE statement in the Sunday GIob e
to the effect that two Cancelled warrants.
attesting the application for refundment
T Of taxes and Showing the names of Che
petitioners and the one to whom the
money was paid were missing from the
county auditors office. is erroneous. [
understand how that impression got out
and under the circumstances perhaps the
conclusion was a natural one When I
went to the files for these particular
warrants they were not in their usual
place. 1t was learned, however, that
Frank Oliver, one Of the clerks, had
been using them in making out the regu-
lar statement of refundment and he had
placed them III a drawer temporarily
While using them. As soon as we were
able to communicate with Mr. Oliver We
learned where the warrants were. They
are now in the possession of Course At
torney Kane They were not lost at any
time, nor have any other warrants been
lost"
Speaking more particularly of current
criticism of the auditors office AIR. John
son said:
Il have no apology of any kind to Of
fer. 1t is well to understand that the
auditors office has two departments. or
rather two different classes of work
The first is the drawing of warrants upon
the order of the commissioners, the
courts and of other bodies having au-
thority to give such orders This is pure
ly routine work and can be done thor
ouShly by any honest man. and of
course, / do not believe that / have
thieves working in my office. There is
another department of work, vastly more
important, which relates to tax sales and
refunds. This is of the utmost import
ance to the people, and for many years
great amounts of money have been lost
to this county because of faulty tax titles
caused by various technical errors rpon
the part of commissioners, clerks of court
and other officers. To this feature of tn,
work / have devoted myself since as
sum1ng Office. The system governing this
particular phase of the work l found To
be so lax and unbusiness-Iike that [ call
ed the attention Of the grand jury to *
and pointed out the necessity of re.Vo1u-
uonlzing it. / also predicted that Just
such mistakes as have occurred would
surely occur under this system But the
system exists and 1 cannot change it
myself
After Gen. Pope's Office had finished
the examination of the books. exam
ined them thoroughly myself and check
ed them up and originated system Of
checking which makes it absolutely i'm
possible for any further mistakes of the
same kind to happen, no matter how
crooked clerk may be. / do not know
personally whetner the two tax certificates
which Mr.. Griswold claimed was mis-
laid IN the Office have been presented for
payment or not. If they have been the
matter viii be looked INTO Thoroughly
county Attorney Kane has all the papers
in the case thus far discovered. am
acting entirely In harmony with him and
shall give him all the assistance I can
in, prosecuting any person who has at
tempted to obtain tax refundments fraud
uIehtly The county can lose nothing in
any event, but We propose to prosecute
and punish every person to whom we
can trace fraud of this character. re-
gardiess of who he may be-
The business of this office is immense
and complicated and clerical errors will
happen now and then, but I have given
personal attention to the matter of
strengthening out tax title difficulties and
keeping proper check upon tax refund
nentS, and 1t will be impossible for fu-
ture refundments to be made without the
proper presentation of certificates
AS 10 the criticism Of my Office l am
sure that persons who understand the
nature Of the work done, and who know
that losses of great amounts have oc
Cured to the county through many pre-
Yious administrations on account Of
many technical errors, viii not be dispos
ed to criticise harshly.'
COUNTY ATTORNEY is SILENT.
County Attorney Kane was seen by the
G o e, but declined TO say whether or
no he had the cancelled warrants in his
possession. He said he did not consider
the present a proper time to make any
statement at all as to what action he