The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-17

a LEGISLATIVE Investigation that /
~ may reach every public Office in the I
state is promised as result Of the .
discovery of gigantic frauds in the pay
ment of state bounties on wild animals /
Already David Beynon Davies. former ]
deputy county clerk Of salt Lake ,
county, Charles :. Jones and one other
man are under arrest charged with
completely in the frauds and other ar
rests are expected within the next few /
days. Davies is said TO have made inn
portant admissions, and the third man
now under arrest is understood TO have
made confession giving many details
OF the affair.
Acting on information received from
this prisoner and from other sources it
Is understood the police now have at
least two well known young men Of
Salt Lake under surveillance. one of
these men is said to have negotiated
the sale Of $1,000 worth of the ceTtifi-
Gates. It IS intimated that the inVesti-
cation may reach men of more than
lOcaI prominence.
1t was said last night that a warrant
had been issued for w. H. Swan,
clerk in the office of the county clerk
of Weber COuntys but the report was
not fully substantiated.
1t is impossible to at present eSti-
mate the extent of the raid on the
state treasury, but il is thought the
frauds amount to not less than Sc, 900
in Salt Lake county alone, with Cache
Box Elder, Weber, Davis Utah and
probably Wasateh counties involved.
The officers are in possession of infor-
nation which leads them to believe the
same men who operated in Utah have
been at work in other states. Evidence
exists showing that similar work was
done at ElkO, Nevada, POcatellO.
Idaho, and in Colorado. BY means of
false sfidavits bounties have been col
1ected in two or more states on the
same hides. according TO statements by
those who have been investigating the
case.
Message Causes Investigation.
Governor Cutters message to the
Utah legislature. with change in the
force of the Salt Lake county clerks
office, combined TO reveal the scheme
which mulcted the state of thousands
Sheriff G. Frank Emery of Salt Lake
county, noting the governors refer
ence 20 bounty payments, began an in
NesugatiOn of the situation. About the
same time. Deputy County Clerk w H.
FarnswOrth became suspicious of an
entry in the county clerks bounty
register and communicated his sUs-
PIGEONS to County Clerk J. u Eldredge
jr. Mr.. Eldredge at once subjected the
bounty register to a rigid examination
and discovered dozens of entries that,
on their faces, were almost absolute
evidence of fraud. Jones. who lis be-
heved TO have also called himself John
Ward was placed under surveillance
| lie was arrested at Ogden Saturday
~taft ernoOn and Davies was placed under
arrest at his home in Salt Lake Satur-
day night. Both are now confined in
the Salt Lake county jail.
IL has already been shown by the
records that the names appearing in
connection with the suspicious entries
were on the bounty register as far back
as oct. 3, 1903. They appeared at in
tervals from that time until Oct. l.
1903, when one or another. represent
ing amounts ranging from $50 to S42I
appeared almost every day until the
first Of the year when the adminiStra-
tion changed. One entry. calling for
1924. appears under date of Jan. 3. 1905
1t is the last.
With few exceptions the entries were
all recorded by Deputy Davies. Other
deputy clerks. among them Mrs. Helena
Mcintosh, G. : Buckwalter and George
g. Armstrong, now district judge re-
corded a few Of the claims This was
done under the direction or by request
of Davies, who had charge of that de-
partment of the Office. No suspicion
attaches TO any one connected with the
clerks Office except Davies. John
James. under whose administration og
The clerks Office practically all OF the
fraudulent work was done. is not ac-
cused OF anything worse than careless
Iesss by those who are investigating
abe matter.
Fraud Greatest Since September.
The frauds were greatest during the
months Of October, November and De
cember Of 1904. The opportunity was
greatest during these months because
Mr.. Eldredge. then chief deputy. was
absent from the office all the time at
tending 10 his duties as Republican
county Chairman, and Mr. James was
IN the hospital most of the time Suf-
feTing from appendicitis This left
Davies in virtual charge Of the office
The clerks Office disburses no money
for bOunties, which helps to explain
why the bounty register was not audit
ed An examination could scarcely
have failed to disclose that something
was wrong.
In the absence Of statements from
those implicated ii is impossible TO give
fun details OF how the scheme was put
into execution. It is known, however.