Omaha daily bee., 1902-08-31

WASTE my powder on politlcal fdeao
ducks, but since 1t is your last viii
that the cadaver shall be dissected and
cremated in public. regardless Of the
stencil, I shall comply, with an apology
to the public.
You say you have come into possess
sion Of a note for state none borrowed
by me. How did you come into Its
possession and what right have you to
keep it? While you may be ignorant
of the simplest functions Of your office,
no more right to any due bill or prom
issory note for money belonging to the
state than you have to pocket a state
bond OF to carry away the furniture of
the executive mansion belonging to the
state. II you believe that the state
has a valid claim against me or any
other person for state money borrowed
from the treasurer, it is your duty to
instruct the attorney general to make a
formal demand for it's payment and to
enforce collection by due process Of law.
Anybody reading your letter might
imagine that the note in your hands
represents a large sum of money which
l am either unwilling or unable to pay.
l am credibly informed that at a recent
gathering Of old settlers you had the
audacity to charge that a note over my
signature for $4,000 had been found
among the papers Of former State
Treasurer Hill and remained uncollect-
ible among the assets of the state
treasury. Nobody but a white-livered
f~alsiier would have circulated such a
deliberate and malicious Islander. Every
~schoolboy in Nebraska knows that If a
note signed by me for $4,000 or $500
or any other sun had turned up among
the assets of a state treasurer, the state
would have made an effort to collect it
or at least get a Judgment through The
courts.
You knew when you circulated that In
famous SANDER that the document you
claim to have In your possession calls
for the payment Of $3.50, with a credit
Of stills endorsed on the back. How
this precious document was confded to
your care and keeping will be readily
surmised from its history.
In the closing months of 1898 reports
reached me from the state capital to
justify the suspicion that the state treas
urer was specializing with state fundA
Among those reports, one of which 1
have kept a memorandum, reads:
The reason State Treasurer BARLEY and
Ed Bignell are so thick is because they
are partners in deals on the Board Of
Trade. They cleared over $4,000 on corn
just after the hot winds and soon after
wards dropped some $40, 900 on c., b. &
@. stock. During this last deal they got
dissatisfied with the way the Chicago end
Of Harris Bros. q Co. was handling their
orders and Bignell vent there to see them
and came back satisfied. BARLEY and Big
nell are the boldest operators in Lincoln
today.
In the last days of December, 1893, 1
called public attention to the condition
Of the state treasury in an editorial,
from which the following is an extract
More than a month ago the representative
Of The Bee at the state capital appraised us
that startling disclosures might be expected
any uhy fGihIlNo 70 the 6ldI6 treasury.
There is said to be a discrepancy Of over
$1,000 between the auditors books and
those In the treasurer's ONCE. After spend
ing more than two weeks in checking up
the discrepancies between the books Of the
treasurer and auditor the books failed to
balance by about $685. 900. The tangle in
the state treasury indicates that there is
something wrong in the methods Of ac-
counting. The enormous volume Of out
/. standing warrants indicates the most reck-
less hnaneiering. According to Auditor
Moore the state debt now exceeds 1000. 600
and the debt Is still increasing at the rate
OF SIS, 900 q month. This state OF affairs de-
mands immediate attention.
The next day l received a letter from
G. r. Royce, our Lincoln correspondent.
now with the Chicago Tribune, stating
that Treasurer BARLEY claimed to have
a number of notes, amounting alto
gether to $500. p~urporting to be signed
by me. / at once wrote BARLEY the
following letter:
OMAHA, Dec. 90. 1s9s.-Hon. Joseph
BARLEY: Dear slr-Have just received q
letter from Mr.. Royce. our Lincoln corre-
spondent. which among other things con-
tains the following: 'Mr. BARLEY has
limited, to me several times that he has
certain notes in his possession and signed
paper. He claims that he purchased them
In order to prevent some amdavits which
company them from belag printed and
says that he did It entirely In your In
terest and did not want you to know about
it,"
This is the nrst intimAtion I have thai
anybody holds any notes signed by me
which remain unpaid. barring notes held
by local bankers and creditors. secured by
collateral. II anybody has sold you such
notes they must either be spurious OF
puFloined notes. / have never repudiatec
a legal claim or debt. even II such deb
had been outlawed.
certainly do not consider It proper OF
your part to buy up such pretended claimi
without giving ms notice or an opportunit!
. to pay them, II genuine. OF repudiat'
them II fraudulent. II anybody has mad,
} andavit intimating that have repudiate'