The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-29
HEARING ALMOST OVER
EVIDENCE IN COUNTY TAX RE-
FUNDMENT INVESTIGATION
Is ALL IN
JOHNSON ON WITNESS STAND
III ANYTHING HAS BEEN IRREGU-
LAR, HE SAYS HE WILL
RIGHT 1T
MANY MISSING CERTIFICATES

The Ramsey county tax refundment in
| vestigation before Gov Van SAINT may be
closed today. The hearing was in prog
ress all day yesterday and all the testi-
| mony was taken, except some which Gen.
Pope may desire to sumbit today. The
! public examiner was called out of the
! city yesterday on business and may not
return before tomorrow In that event
the hearing will be continued until such
time as VIII be mutually satisfactory to
both sides.
County Auditor Johnson was himself on
the witness stand yesterday morning
! Replying to vital question from At
! torney Somerby as to whether or not he
would tolerate such lax methods as seem
| to have been in vogue by the officials
under him in the county auditors office,
! Mr.. Johnson said:
81 do net care to give any opinion as
J to the conduct of Mr.. GrisWold or other
| of my deputies in advance of the court.
When this hearing has been completed
! and both sides have had ample time in
! which to fully set forth their cases, I
! will determine what is right and wrong,
and if find that there has been anything
wrong in the affairs of my Office L viii
not stand for it."
| Thus far in the investigation no speci-
| fic charge of a criminal character has
! been made against Mr.. Johnson. In fact,
no charges have been formally preferred.
! 1t is the plan of those conducting the
investigation for the state to complete
! their investigation first, and if they sue
! ceeded in demonstrating that Mr.. Girls
| void or any other official in the county
| auditors Office has been guilty of NAL
feasance in Office it viii then be time TO
! turn the matter over to Mr.. Johnson, AS
| the principal Of his deputies he will, Of
! course. have to either ratify or reject
| what they have done. Should he ratify
! what shall have been proven unlawful, it
! will then devolve upon the state to pre-
fer charge against the county auditor.
ADMITS GRISWOLD WAS DERELICT.
| Mr. Johnson admitted that according to
/ the testimony given the day before by his
! deputy, Mr.. Griswold, the latter had been
! derelct in his conduct of the office,
| which was under his charge in the alb
| sence of the auditor. He further stated
| that he would not knowingly permit an
| employe to grant a warrant without hav-
| ing the certificate in his possession. This
according to the testimony of both Mr..
| Griswold and Deputy Drummond, has
| been done in the absence Of Mr.. john
| son by his deputy, Mr.. Griswold 1t
| appears that Mr.. Griswold is placed in
an unfortunate position, as his principal
| has stated that such methods would not
! be tolerated by him.
| With reference to the seventeen missing
! tax certificates upon which warrants
have been issued, which certificates were
! called into question by Gen. Pope day
| before yesterday, Mr.. Johnson testified
! that four had been later found in his Of
| flee and that one was discovered among
the array of papers and documents
which Gen Pope obtained at the county
| auditors office This still leaves twelve
certificates unaccounted for. Johnson
! persists in saying that thcy Will yet pe
| unearthed and produced.
Former Assistant County Attorney
| Zollman then called G. w. Blood, w. O.
Denegre, Frank J. Obst and Albert M
Lawton, who were examined as to the
extent of their dealings in tax certificates
and their knowledge Of the conduct Of
affairs at the county auditors ofhce
Their testimony was practically the same
and was not particularly important
| They testified that they have bought a
good many void tax certificates and have
obtained refundmentS at the auditor s
| Office They said that, so far as they
! were aware, they rad always been &C
! corded the same privileges and rights as
| had James II. Burns, adding that Il
they were being deprived of any special
| privileges which Burns had been given,
| they WOulQ Inakc Lie SlSCbNClS anu
register a protest The object of this
/ evidence was to prove that Burns had
| not been accorded special faVors by the
! county auditor and his force of clerks
and deputies in his dealings in the tax
refundment cases.
DISPOSITION OF $500.
| Before starting on the hearing again
| yesterday afternoon it had been con-
| sidered wise by the Pope faction to intro
| duce that part of Gen. Pope's report IN
which testimony is offered to show what
| disposition was made of the $4,000, the
| amount received in warrants in the So
| called Lightner deal. But this was later
! dispensed with,a it appears in the sworn
! testimony in the report of the public ex-
/ aminer and is equally available for use.
The facts are, as the report shows, that
on April 80, Schoonmaker. the attorney,
! went to the county auditors Office and
| applied to either Drummohd or Griswold,
| he had forgotten which one, for the war
rants on tne Ducius' certificates They
| were made out and delivered to him. He
| drew the money from the county treas
| urer, took it TO the American Exchange
| bank and turned it over to James H.
| Burns, publisher of the St. Paul Herald
! and former county auditor, whom he met
! at the bank The amount was that item
| so often mentioned in the investigation,
$4SO9.
Burns, the report says, deposited this
| amount to his own account as agent
| He then had cashiers check for IS, 700
| drawn and this he gave to E. B. Young,
| of the firm of Young Sc Lightner. Young
/ then delivered the certificates and the
| mortgage to Burns. Burns states, in the
report, that he then took the certificates
and put them on desk in the office of
! the county auditor, where Griswold said
| he afterward found them,
The session yesterday afternoon began
with H. P FarweI on the stand. Mr.
Farwell does considerable buying of city
and county certificates for himself and
his clients and was called by Zollman to
disclose whether or not he had ever re-
ceived any special privileges at the coun-
ty auditors office or knew that Burns
had. He stated that ne had rot received
such favors and had no reason to believe
that Burns had. He also stated that he
believed he would have found it out if
Burns was being specially favored and in
such case he would nave made a COM
| plant.
Regarding what was done with the GER
| tificates after ne passed them in for the