The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-29


Deputy Auditor Drummond was the
next man upon the stand He outlined
the duties of his position, testifying that
he acted as clerk of the various boards
under the county auditor, and had charge
! of the register of redeemed warrants.
| He said Mr. Burns is a familiar visitor
around the auditors office, and is en-
gagged to a considerable extent in pur-
chasing tax certificates for himself and
! others, whom he represents.
Regarding the Lightner deal. he said
| he remembered the application for tax
| refundments by Ducius anSsGassidy, but
was ignorant of the fact that Burns was
the principal in the transaction. He re-
| called that Schoonmaker and Weiss pro-
cured warrants at the office, and that
they get the warrant for $500 on the
| applications of Davis and Dueius.
Mr. Drummond said that the large
! amount of this warrant caused him TO
ask Deputy Griswold if the certificates
| We're all right. Griswold told him they
were, and he forthwith drew the war
rant, and again asked Griswold if it was
all right to give this warrant to Schoon-
i maker Upon being told that 1t was, ne
| delivered the warrant to Schoonmaker
when he called for it.
Did Shoemaker deliver the certif-
i icates when he got the warrants from
| you?" asked Somerby
NO, not to me. 1 supposed that since
Mr.. Griswold had said it was all right to
| give him the warrants and that the
! certificates were all right as Griswold
had also stated, that everything was in
! proper shape, and knew enough to know
that they would not be in proper shape if
| the certificates were not in possession OF
| the office at that time"
Proceeding Mr.. Drummond said he re-
| membered distinctly of drawing the war
! rant payable to Schoonmaker. He knew
| that the application for this warrant was
made by Ducius, but gave the warrant
| 10 Schoonmaker because he was Ducius'
attorney.
Mr.. Drummond testified that he kept
all the reports of the tax committee OF
! the board of county commissioners Ask
! ed II he remembered that the apoIica-
! lions for refundment of taxes Of Ducius.
Davis and Cassidy were the subject Of
one OF the meetings of this comm ttee,
| ne replied that he did not, but he said
! the committee reported to the commits
| sioners that there were regular appIica
| lions for refundment Of the 1891 and 1882
| taxes, and there was nothing left for
the commissioners to do but sign the
| applications, making the drawing of the
! warrants possible.
HOW WARRANTS ARE DRAWN
AS to how warrants can be drawn Mr.
! DFummond stated that they could not
! De made out to persons whose names
were not mentioned in the p5titi-n This
pore directly upon the case of Burns
III the Llghtner deal, and Mr.. Drummond
| further stated that, so far as Burns was
! personally concerned he had no recolIec-
tlon or his ever having received a war
ant IN re1undment except once, when a
very small warrant was granted.
MT. Drummond was unable to recall
any other instances of warrants having
oeeh given out where the certificates We're
! not IN the possession of the office. And
in answer to a question bv Gov Van
SAINT he said that it was the custom to
/ nave the certificate on hand when the
warrant was made out
! On DISCRIMINATION by Attorney ZoI1-
man, Mr.. Drummond stated that his IN
! qu1ry as to the certificates of the war
rants issued to Schoonmaker was made
| OF Mr. Griswold two hours before the
warrants were drawn. He added in
! answer TO a question by Mr. Zolman
! that his inquiry was made as a precau-
! tlonary step, taken to satisfy himself of
the legality and safety of drawing thu
warrant prior to the discovery of the
| certificate.
somerby asked Drummond if Mayor
! Smith had not asked him at the time
if this was not very large application
| and If it was all right. Drummond re-
piled that the mayor did ask this o1es-
| ton and he told him that the law had
been complied with and that there. was
| no other course but to issue the war
rant
JOHNSTON TAKES STAND.
Auditor Johnson then took the stand,
ana In answer to Attorney Zollmans
| question, stated that no claim has ever
been made to him that the county was
defrauded out of one dollar through this
Lightner transaction. Further that no
claim has ever been made that any OF
| the certificates were owned by parties
not mentioned in the applications Nor,
said Mr.. Johnson, has any claim ever
been made that any money paid out on
| these warrants has been been paid to
the wrong parties.
Mr.. Zollman then volunteered a long
statement regarding the legality of pay
| ing 10 per cent interest on the tax re-
! fundments of the taxes of 1881 and 1892
He said that he and Attorney General
Childs concluded, after deliberate consid-
Grafton, in 1857, that this rate was right
and legal
Mr.. Johnson asked Attorney Somerby
! II the state claims that the county of
Ramsey has lost any money by the L 'ght-
ner deal. Somerby said he was not in a
| position to say what the state claimed
whereupon Johnson said that from some
| of the newspaper reports some people
might derive the impression that such
/ has been the case. He said that the
| charge that there are seventeen eertifi-
Gates upon which warrants have been is
sued, still missing, had been freely cir
culated and would create the wrong i'm
! preston.
''As matter of fact" said Somerby
| you, yourself, admit that there are still
| twelve of these certificates missing, and
1 can say to you now that unless these
| twelve certificates are produced very
soon there certainly will be grounds for
| some serious charges"
Attorney Zollman, who is representing
| Johnson admitted the truth of this state
ment, and so did Johnson.
Before the hearing closed for the day
James H Burns made the following
4 statement:
s'Tne tax certificates, both Of state and
| local assessments, which have handled
| amount to between $20, 900 and 81. 600. OF
| that amount less than $1,000 are Of the
void certificates of the taxes of 1891 and
! 1912 The remainder of the certificates
mentioned included local assessment and
| state tax certificates and certificates sold
| by the state at the last forfeited tax
sale All of those outside Of the s7.O0
j which l mentioned are certificates that
| are good and are a valid lien against
! the property and are held and owned bv
| my wife as an investment The eertifi-
Gates amounting not to exceed $1,000, COW
| cred by the April refundments, in which
the Ligntner certificates, amounting to
! $4,SOO are a part, are the only void GER
titicates I have ever held or hold at the
| Tracapt TINA and arc the OTIy cert ffiro To-,