The Lewiston teller. (Lewiston, Idaho) 1900-1905, 1903-03-10

w." for the the Legislators 10 the
ae" .,s and excitement incident to the
O ':.a;np up of the work Of the session is
VIA" ,,sa The disclosures made by the iegis-
SOU .s committee. composed Of the MEM
Jaw. ,be state affairs committees of the
oe'' souses The 6rst development to
~" '..,c, special attention had TO do with
ave- y s,rmer secretary Of state, julie Bassett.
u -. sxnerts that had been working on
~. ~. .oots for some time found dis
,.rcv of <ss5 that was so plain Mr..
u,ssett marched up aud covered the
so,,spe without protest. Had he not
'a :.'su the benefit Of every doubt, the sum
s .,a have been much larger. The
.s.ls we're IN such shape, howe yer, that
~. .xnerts did not want to include in
;;.orpnancy anything that could not be
clearly proved. in case the matter went
;.,o The courts. Mr.. Bassett claims that
~. sum represents redits he extended
:. ;rl;viduals and corporations filing
b no,.rs in his flee. He entered them
~ the books as paid. when i'll realty, he
stated. they we're not. However, it
!, is plain to be seen if the books had not
been exported the state never would have
-,,s;,e3 a dollar Of the money. The
,nost charitable statement that could be
made in the Bassett case is that he is a
very Door bookkeeper. the carelessness
exhibited in the handling Of public
money being but sample Of the man.
go, in which the last democratic adj
minis,ration juggled the funds Of the
state.
Then there was the penitentiary in
vestieation. Some people wonder why
The committee took up the time to inves-
,;pate a dead and gone matter. The
reason was that it had never been fully
and fairly investigated. The investiga-
| ZION by the Hunt Bassett prison board
was farcical, although it brought out
enough to condemn ex.Warden Arney.
thew formed the basis for charges against
the democratic administration during the
campaign, it was thought we'll to prove
them. Therefore, there was double
reason to bring out all the facts as a
natter Of fairness to all parties concerned
and to demonstrate that the republican
party's charges were not based n thin
air.
The committee went fully into the
question of transportation Of state
property. The evidence showed that not
only did ex.Warden Arney supply the
ranch of his brother Harry, near Boise,
with practically everything needed to
run it, and do all his repairing work at
the prison, using state material, but that
he furnished prisoners to pillow. seed,
harvest his crops, spray his trees and, in
fact, do all the work for which the aver
age farmer has to pay good wages. A
full abstract of the evidence adduced
would fill columns. 1t may be stated,
however, that witnesses testified that.
among the things taken to the ranch of
Arney's brother, were the following:
Flour, groceries Of all kinds, meats,
CHECKERS, live and dressed. hogs, portable
forge, all sorts of blacksmith and car.
penler too's, chains, harness, the pro-
duct of fifteen days work by the prison
carpenters, including tool chest, china
closet, griudstone frame, ETC., and a
great variety Of other things commonly
used on a farm Furthermore, the
wagons and buggies Of Harry Arney
were repaired at the prison and his
horses were shod there. In other words,
Warden Arney used the state property
and the prisoners to keep the farm up to
such state of perfection that it sold
recently for a large sum.
The committee also went into the case
Of Mrs. Josie Kensler, the sad-faced
woman convict, whose life term has been
rendered the more intolerable by the re.
morse that follows confession that she al.
lowed herself to be DECEASED by prison
omciai under the roof that was supposed
10 protect her from the advances o
oeasts, aud that, after having told the
uu'n about cri a'inal operation on he'
'na' resulted from her prostitution, she
was induced by prison officials to perjurs
s'seli 10 protect them on the promiss
mat she would be pardoned. Thes<
"'"ss-these facts--have told on poor
l'tt'e, grief racked Mrs. Kensler. anf
when she appeared before the commi,te,
SUI 'o'd her terrible aory, between sobs
great Jumps rose in the throats Of the in
ves.igators and feelings were controlled
with difficulty.
Mrs. Kensler, ii will be re membered
'.s All affidavit that Warden Arney
and DR.. ]. X. Dubois were responsible 70
u'ha' operation OH her. They xer'
e'@a' but, much to the surprise O
'one' when the case came up 70
preliminarc h;