The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-09-29


of said bonds, in accordance with the
agreement that day made and entered
into And on the 5th day of July,
1904. the said board of county COM
missioners of Comanche county, Kan
sas, passed a resolution reciting that
A. A. GODDARD was the owner and hold
er of said $123,000 of refunding bonds,
and authorized the execution of the
funding bonds instead of said bonds so
owned and held by said A. A. GODDARD.
The said A. A GODDARD thereupon sur
rendered $123,000 of six per cent
bonds, and received in lieu thereof
$123,00O of the refunded bonds of Co
manche county, drawing four and one
half per cent. And thereafter, on the
18th day of August, 1904, and IN the
night time, or after the usual hours
of business, the said bonds were regis
tered by the state auditor. S. G.. Wells,
and the state treasurer, Il. Il. Kelly,
and the said school fund commission
ers and said T. T. Kelly extracted a
promise from said S. G. Wells not to
permit the newspaper reporters to
have access to his bond record until
after the election in November. And
for said bonds the said A,
A. GODDARD received warrants on
the state treasurer for the amount to-
wit: $4,000, and, in addition there
to, warrant for the interest, at four
and one-half per cent, which had ac-
crued thereon from July 1, 1904, TO
August H. 1904. That at the date OF
said transaction, towit: August IL,
1904, the population of said Comanche
county was less than seventeen nun
dred men, women and children, ana
the per cent of taxation about SIX ana
one-half per cent of all the property.
real and personal, in said county, all
of which was known to the plalntlf1.
or, by the exercise of any degree OF
diligence, might and should have been
known to him.
That the total valuation of all prop
erty returned for taxation by the as
SCISSORS of said Comanche county IN
1903 was $633, 1852, which amount was
thereafter raised by the state board of
equalization for that year to ST.
036,865.
That the total valuation of all prop
erty returned for taxation by the as
year 1904 was $652,559, and this was
raised by the state board of equaliza-
ton for 1904 to $1,O41,771.
That the total bonded Indebtedness
of the county of Comanche for 1908
and 1904 was and is $156,O0O.
That prior to committing the griev-
ances hereinafter complained Of 1t
had been held by the said school fund
commissioners in fixing the valuation
of the taxable property in any county
or municipality that the return made
by the county assessors should be
taken as the true valuation, and not
that fixed by the state board of equal1-
cation.
That under the law as it was in
1904 the said commissioners were pro-
hibited from purchasing bonds where
the total bonded indebtedness exceed
ed Is per cent of such valuation so
returned by said assessors; or in eX-
cess of the market value thereof
That the said agreement between
the board of county commissioners or
Cofnanche county and A. A. GODDARD
was executed on the 7th day of June,
1904, and the resolution authorizing
and directing the chairman and clerk
- 70 I,A soft A i Yan a.
funding bonds was adopted by. the
county commissioners of Comanche
county on July 5, 1904; and on July
IS, 1904, the said board of equal1za-
ton consisting of the secretary of
state, the state auditor and the state
treasurer, convened at Topeka, In the
state of Kansas, and did, on July Il,
1904, the very date of the formal OF
fer of these bonds by said GODDARD to
the board, make a raise in the valua-
ton of all property, other than railroad
property in said Comanche county,
Kansas, over the amounts returned by
the assessors of said county to the sum
of $1,O41.771. when it was desirable
to raise the valuation in the state S.
100000; whereas, in 1908, the said
state board of equalization desired to
increase the valuation of the state
$4,000, 900, nevertheless an increase
was made in the valuation of 1904
of $4,906 over the increased val
uation of 1903, which increased
school fund commissioners to pur-
chase said fraudulent bonds of
Comanche county, and which it could
not have done had the said state
board of equalization adhered to the
rule previously thereto by it adopted,
that the Is per cent. limitation should
apply to the valuation fixed by the
county assessors, and not by the state
board of equalization, and such change
in the rule SO previously thereto
esta bIished was, as this defendant is
advised, and charges the fact to be,
the result of a determination to pur-
chase said $123,00O of said bonds of
Comanche county, then owned by said
A. A. GODDARD.
That by some kind of an arrangement |
entered into between the said GODDARD |
and the said State Treasurer Kelly and |
said Secretary of State Burrow, and |
said Attorney General Coleman, and |
said superintendent of Public 1nstruc- |
ton Dayhoff, the said school fund COM /
missioners purchased and paid $123, 900 |
for said bonds, and placed the same in |
the permanent school fund of this state, |
with the knowledge of all of the fore |
going facts relative to the fraudulent |
issuance of said bonds-which is also of |
record in said offices in the capital OF |
the state of Kansas, wherein said trans |
action was consummated, and this In |
the face of the fact that there was then |
in said school fund twenty-seven bonds |
of said county of Comanche-many of |
which were due, and had been
for several years and this exclu-
sive of the two fraudulent bonds
referred to. And this
in the fact of the further fact that
there are unpaid in said permanent |
school fund many thousands ofdollars of
western Kansas bonds, in default I'M
paid and unpayable, and not worth the
paper they are written on And this
in the face of the further fact that they
knew or must have known, that the
said county was not, and in all human
DrOba biIity never would be able to pay
said S123.000 evidenced by said
bonds And this in the face of the
further fact that said school fund held
s62 500 of Greeley county bonds, upon
q IT. Ii