Warren sheaf., 1905-07-06
JURY Holds many !
ON CRAFT Charge
THE MILWAUKEE BODY INDICTS
TWENTY-ONE PUBLIC
OFFICIALS.
CONFESSIONS LAY
BARE MANY CRIMES
Bribery Also Alleged in the Thirty
Eight Bills Which Are Handed
Out-Transactions of the County
Board.

Milwaukee, July 3. Wholesale
"grafting'' which, it is alleged, has
been going on for several years in Mil
waukee county, is expected to be laid
bare through the result of indictments
returned by the grand jury, coupled
with other indictments which :. were
handed down by two previous grand
juries and which cases remain yet to
be tried. Late Friday the grand jury,
which convened ten days ago, handed
down 38 indictments duplicating 21 in
dividuals. Judge Brazee in the munich
pal court, at the request of District At
torney Frank E. McGovern, ordered the
issue of capias and for the arrest Of
those indicted.
List Of Indicted.
The list of individuals for whom
capiaSes were issued is as follows:
Herman Haasch, ex-supervisor; Frank
Burkhardt, ex-supervisor; J. j. Galew-
ski, ex-supervisor; Fred c. Shultz, news
paper reporter; Peter J. Mead, ex-su-
pervisor; Charles Besfeld, ex-super-
visor; G. F. Reichardt, supervisor; Tony
Klefish, committee clerk county board;
William H. O'Keefe, supervisor; Au-
gust Pulls, ex-supervisor; Benjamin Ba-
den, supervisor; Charles Bottenberg,
ex-supervisor; J. F. Dittmar, ex-super-
visor; Albert c. Bade, ex-supervisor;
w. c. Wegner, ex-supervisor; Frank
Fowle, supervisor; Frank G. Oelfein,
ex-supervisor; Arthur S. Green, SUPER
visor; Max Reinnoldt, ex-supervisor;
Julius Stamm, real estate dealer; Fred
Hartung, ex-supervisor and present as
semblyman.
Bail Furnished Rapidly.
AS rapidly as arrests are being made
bail is being furnished in the sum of
$1,000 on the first indictment and $500
on each additional, where more than
one indictment has been returned
against an individual All the indie
ments charge bribery.
Result of Confessions.
The bundle of indictments handed
down is said to be the result of confes-
sions obtained first by District Attor-
ney McGovern from Otto Seidel, Jr.,
the register of deeds and former su-
pervisor, and Edward F. Strauss, also
an ex-supervisor. These two men later
went before the present grand Jury
and, it is said, laid bare the history of
many questionable transactions of the
county board.
To Cover Big Deals.
The present investigation, it is said,
will cover several big deals. -Four years
ago site for new morgue was pur-
chased by the board of supervisors.
and it is said $4,000 was divided
among certain members of the board
after the deal went through Another
deal was executed, it is alleged when
large addition was built to the coun-
ty hospital, and still another deal when
furniture was purchased for this addi-
ton. Repairs to the county court
house have been added at various times
in the past few years, and it is alleged
contractors were compelled to pay lib
eral amounts to members of the county
board before contracts were awarded.
Another matter to come up is a charge
that during the last campaign one or
more employees Of the county clerks Of
flee was employed at the headquarters
of the republican county committee
and drew double pay. The grand Jury
has not yet concluded its labor, and
ether indictments are expected to be
landed down at any time.