East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-06-12

Oregonian) kindly permit me the
use Of your columns TO make an eX-
PLANTATION of the findings OF the re-
cent grand jury. The tenor of their
report in relation to my case puts me
IN such a position that I must either
explain it, or suffer great loss OF rep
utation.
I am positively certain that I can
show this up to any delegation OF
business men in such a way as TO
clear myself of any intentional wrong.
II is difficult to do so In newspa-
per article, because of my inability
10 reproduce in print all data In con-
nection with 1t.
A full understanding can be had on
fy BY reference to the lists in my Of
fice. when used in conjunction with
verbal explanations. But fairly
good understanding may be obtained
from this article.
During the spring OF 1904 Mr.. Tenn
pie, w. P. Temple and myself, agreed
on a valuation for all OF his property.
both in the country and in the city.
This agreement was arrived at by
making a compromise. He claimed
that his farm property had been taken
too high. 1 found that one quarter
had some outcroppings of rock upon
It and another had small sandblow.
But admitting this, the former as
sessment had been reasonable in it.
self. But in comparison with some
other land nearby, could consistent
" make slight reduction. This l
- @
satisfactory his assessment upon his
town property which myself admit
ted was rather high.
During the summer this agreement
was broken and l placed my own
valuations on his property, which I
had perfect right to do under the
law. (See article 1910 OF the code).
Agreement Was Broken.
OF this agreement no one on earth
except Temple and myself had any
knowledge. Except as 1 can prove my
statement by the verified assessment
lists in my custody, there is no posi-
tive proof of this agreement. But
taken in connection with those lists
its proof is complete.
Temple appeared before the board
of equalization early one morning be-
fore Mr.. Sailing. county clerk, and a
member of said board. had arrived
And he may have come before the ar
rival of Judge Bean, which I do not
remember.
Temple told me that he had brought
along some lists which would indicate
our former agreement. l asked hin
II he was willing to stand by tina
agreement now, and he said that h
was. BY Judge Beans permission
Temple and myself undertook to set
tie the matter ourselves He begal
to call off the farm values first
which I set down on the roll in tn
equalization column. Now, 1 consid
cred this farm property too low takel
by itself. When he came to the cit
property he called off a false value
that is a value below our agreement
To this I objected. 1 told him 1t wa
all off and that he would have t
take the case up with the other mem
bers of the board.
Now, mind you, they did not knoI
the conditions upon which our for
mer agreement was reached, and
may have failed to make it sufficient
ly plain to them at the time of my OF
lection, but Temple knew it.
Sailing and Bean reached a decisio
on the equalization OF his propert
during my absence. Their decisio
was written up by one of them in tn
minutes at the time. l did not sc
that part of the minutes until tn
close of the meeting of the boar,
when they turned them over to N
with instructions to enter up II
changes thereby ordered to be mao
in the roll.
Had Been No Agreement.
When 1 came to that part of Il
minutes relating to the Temple pro-
erty assessment no mention was mat
that any reductions had been ordert
on the Temple farm land. AccordiI
to my view, the farm land had n
been equalized. Because no two
us had agreed on 1t. It requires tv
members to act officially. Bean al
I had not agreed. Sailing and Bet
had not agreed. No agreement h;
in reality been reached. But tn
probably understood that Temple al
I had disagreed only on the tov
property. But Temple we'll kno1
that my acceptance of the count
property hinged on his acceptance
the city property.
/ therefore carried out the chang
in the roll according to the minut
OF the board, which necessitated L
erasure of the values that I had d
down on the farm land, after L
meeting of the board.
Remember, now, that no one b
Temple and myself had knowledge
the agreement between US. When
asked one of the office men to ma
the erasure, he raised some obie
uons. l did not heed his objectio
at the time but upon reflection I co
cluded that would not make I
erasure in the original roll until
could first see Mr.. Sailing or Jud
Bean, and learn from them what tn,
understanding was.
During this very day 1 was engae
in the study Of huge mass of ra
road statistics preparing an argume
which I intended to make before I
county court in defense of nv ra
road assessment. The whole mat
slipped my mind. 1 never thought
II again until Temple alleged in
AFFIDAVIT that / had altered the r,