The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-03-07

/ Senator Willis Johnson. treasurer of
the commission since Hoyt Sherman
resigned, was next called to the stand
and voucher No. was shown to him.
rs that correct?" queried Mr. Smith.
Yes, sir"
Did you take receipt for it,"
No. SIR
| "Why2"
1T was not the practice at that
time
You were a member of the commits
sion?'
Yes. sir
And you were giving statements to
the commission of moneys expended
without receiving receipts"
Yes. sir; it was the custom at that
time
Z Will show you the duplicate for
! that voucher. It is for the same
amount, 1890, and it is signed April
Il signed it. but 1 don't remember
| just where 1 did
Il viii show you voucher No. u for
| S141-55, in which there is an item of
| $3.50 for car fare to st. Louis and re-
| turn. Is that right2'
1T is; but took no receipt for it,
! 1T appears from the same voucher
that on April % you paid $1,000 for
! stage fare to Marysvale. After looking
| at voucher No. ! and voucher No. u,
| can you reconcile this matter of April
| 23?''
There must be mistake somewhere.
1 am not a walking encyclopedia, and
/ cannot recall everything that hap
pened two years ago.
| You are a business man. are you not.
| Mr. JOhnson?"
| 4 am
How long have you been in bust
| ness2"
About six or seven years"
oil L
| ness to conduct the affairs of the state.
where the money OF the state is in
| volved, in this way?"
| The witness was much embarrassed.
| but after moment admitted that he
/ did not think much about the matter
| at that time, but now he would admit
/ il was not good business policy.
How His Laundry Was Paid.
! A number of vouchers were then
| handed the witness and he was asked
! to explain if any receipts had ever been
received for the money expended as
| stated by the vouchers. To all these
| questions he said he didn't know or he
didn't remember Finally Mr.. Smith
! picked up voucher No. 211, and after
reading therefrom one item of so cents
| for laundry, said:
rs that yours"
No; and it is not there" replied the
| witness.
III show you that it is there" said
! Mr. Smith, and he did, whereupOn Mr..
| Johnson admitted the soft impeach-
| ment, but added that it had no right
! to be among the items attached to the
i voucher
| Now, SIR said Mr.. Smith. "it ap-
] pears from all these vouchers that you
have paid out $5S6.SO without taking a
| receipt for any of them. Have you any
explanation TO make as TO why you
| did sop
| NO. sir; have none"
Representative Joseph then took the
witness in hand, and asked him to state
| whether or no a story published in a
| local paper Feb. 4 was true
Mr.. Johnson demurred, saying: 4
want to state that 1 will make any re-
/ ply asked me by the committee but |
| will not testify as to newspaper arti-
| cIes'
| Mr.. Joseph was insistent and after a
brief interchange of words, Mr.. John
| son said:
Il will say that that part where it
| says the money was on hand when the
| legislature convened was not according
! to the words I used as l recoIect the
| matter now"
| Mr.. StoOkey wanted to know why he
! refused the money at first and why
his possession for a week To that
! query the witness replied:
! Z have already stated that 7 de-
| clined to receive the money when it
| was first rendered me because | was
| requested to surrender the vouchers in
| my possession. Subsequently, when the
! money was handed me by Mr.. CannOn's
/ lawyer my duties in the legislature
| were such that l had no opportunity to
| deposit it in bank until the end of
| the week"
| Discrepancy in Books and Report.
! Mr. Joseph read from the minute book
| under date of Jan. Il, 1905, from the
! report of Hoyt Sherman TO the effect
/ that there were no moneys on hand at
| that time. The witness said that TO
| the best of his recollection that that
| the witness in hand.
| When did you become member of
| the commission"
| About two years ago"
! You have said that you always rode
on free pass. How do you explain 1t
| that on several occasions you rode
| from Salt Lake City to Marysvale and
| return, and on each OCCASION you
! charged SI030?"
Il can only explain that I have al
ways incurred greater expenses than
| l have charged.
Name them and you viii be paid"
! The witness could not recall for the
| moment any instance where ne con-
| tracted bills such as ne stated. but later
| he recalled a few instances wherein he
! had paid for private rigs to get from
/ CircleviIle, TO MarysVale, and had
! charged only the regular stage fare. He
| said in explanation of the fare from
J Marysvale 20 Salt Lake. that he had
| charged for il, Notwithstanding that he
/ had pass, because, as member of the
| Legislature, he was entitled to mileage.
One OVerdraft Found.
+. w. Wilson. cashier of the Com
/ mercial National bank, was called and
| he produced the balance sheets of the
! commissions accounts while money
! was On deposit in the bank from Oct.
! 10. 1903, to June IA, 1904. In answer to
/ Mr.. Smith he said that there was an
/ OVerdraft of S2,S0S-91, May ,, 1904 After
/ stating that he would send statement
! of the commissions transactions with
! the old Bank of Commerce, Mr.. Wilson
/ was excused.
| Professor Horace Cummings, who
| had charge Of The educational exhibit
/ at St. Louis for the state of Utah, was
/ called, and stated that he was APP
! pointed one year. ago and that his re-
/ port would show how every dollar was
| expended that passed through his
/ hands, but he could not recall all the
| various transactions Off-hand. In reply
| to this. Mr.. Smith said:
! Professor. the books are not clear
1 as to the expenditures of the commits
| sion, and we want TO get at the bottom
! of things by going over the papers
/ rafeceuDRa1 to call