The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-10-10
KELLY, THE EMBEzzLER.
{ Continued from PAGE one.l

money intruSted to him in a deal to
swindle the employer, as the state of
Kansas was swindled in the Comanche
county bond deal. What would the
business man do with such a dishon-
est employe, even though he paid the
money back?
The State Journal, by the way, is
solely responsible for the exposure of
the Comanche county bond deal and for
the exposure of Treasurer Kelly's en-
bezzlement. No one else, outside of the
school fund commissioners. Mr.. Kelly,
Mr.. GODDARD, and two or three others
about the state house who had to know
of it officially in order to get the deal
through, knew anything about the bond,
deal until informed of it by the State
Journal. And it is not certain that
even Attorney General Coleman knew
of Kelly's enbezzlement until the State
Journal brought it to light, although he
may have known it.
Governor Bailey should not be in
tinidated by the charge that his Sec
bond deal just the same as Godards,"
and that if Kelly was guilty of en-
hezzlement in the GODDARD case, he
was in the Bone case also, which
ought to excuse him.
1t is a fact that he would be guilty
in the Bone case if he loaned Mr..
Bone some of the states money as he
did Mr.. GODDARD. The Bone incident
600, and if the statement were true
it would simply make Kelly doubly
guilty.
The Bone Incident.
The State Journal. not having had
access to the records of the school
fund commissioners, being barred by
Dayhoff, never heard of Mr.. Bone
selling any bonds to the school fund
until the Capital exposed it. 1t in
vestigated the matter this morning.
Here is what Mr.. Bone says about it:
About eighteen years ago district
No. L in Clark county, which is the
city of Ashland, my home, built new
school house, but it was burned down
just about the time it was completed.
There was lot of mechanics liens on
it and a new building to be built. with
the result that the district was ST., 900
in debt. That has all been paid off
except $500, which came due this
year. This. the district wanted to re
fund. Judge Price, the director of the
school district, wrote to me and asked
me to present the matter to the school
fund commissioners and ascertain if
they would buy the refunded bonds for
that amount, which was less than even
10 per cent of the assessed valuation
of the district and a gilt-edged invest
ment. 1 told the whole story to Mr..
Burrow and Mr.. Coleman-Mr. Day
hoff was not present at the meeting
and asked them. in view of the hard
luck of the district, to take the bonds
at per cent. Mr.. Coleman was in
clined to do it, but Mr.. Burrow refused.
So I wrote back that the commission
would take the bonds at II per cent. |
I'm order to save Judge Price from
making two or three trips to Topeka, |
the bonds were sent to me by regis |
tered mail, I am a. citizen of the |
district. 1 turned them over to either |
the state auditor or treasurer think
Mr.. Kelly-and 1 asked Mr.. Kelly |
what method we should take to call
in the bonds which we were refund |
ing. He said to leave it to him and
he would notify the fiscal agency in
when they should be presented there
and notify him, and he would sthen |
have the warrant issued for the |
new. bonds That is all l. know
received or handled a cent in |
any form in the deal, L never re
ceived any commission from anybody. |
and 1 simply received the bonds and |
turned them over as a citizen of the |
school district and to accommodate the |
school district officers. That's all there |
is about it. The thing 1 didn't like
about it was that Joe Burrow should |
have made my district pay Az per cent |
on its bonds after he had unloaded |
$4,000 of Smith Center bonds on to the |
state at per cent, making a couple of |
thousand dollars for himself out of the |
deal. The Ashland bonds were every
bit as good as the bonds he sold the
school fund"
Treasurer Kelly's official interview in
an endeavor to explain is mainly a
TRADE against those who are opposed
to him politically. He says:
:" The story the State Journal pub
lished this afternoon, Mr.. Kelly said
last night to reporter for the Capital,
is only another evidence of the men
dacity of the highbinders and scoun
drels who have been pursuing me since
1901. My offending has been simply
that 1 beat them in the game of poll
tics.
"'They charge nothing more now
than they charged last December.
h. I@1
rolls of the house in 1903, who made
straw men, who issued vouchers for
that never were performed,
who stole vouchers from the auditors
same, who made perjured oaths, who
sold legislation to corporations, who
banded together to protect gamblers,
are now in their last gasp trying to de-
To discredit me before the pub
lie they have hired man to investi
gate my office, and this man has been
my accounts from top to bot
tom and he has found so little that
they have withheld his report from
the public
Mr.. Kelly can surely beat us at
politics any day in the week. but we
are now talking about something
which happened in July and August
last and are charging something more
than was charged last December.
Incidentally, in speaking of Kelly's
reference to legislative matters, the
State Journal would recall the fact
that it was this paper that first object
ed to the vast number of employees in
the legislature. 1t made the charge at
the time that the pay roll was padded
with employees for whom there was no
use. 1t did not stop with making the
charge against the house alone, how
ever, but it also made the charge
against Mr.. Kelly's state senate, which
was worse than the house.
AT that time the Topeka Capital had
nothing to say about padded payrolls
in the house. It's publisher was can
didate for state printer. One of the
Kansas City papers had nothing to say
about it: both its Topeka representa-