Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-08-02
MAY REpuolAre ILLEGAL cLAlms.
u Now Appears that Greenvile County HAS
Debt OF About 100000.
tGreenville News /

members OF the commission have
handled 10000 vouchers and receipts
in the Office extending back over a
period of ten years for no less than
from three to seven times, and if
nothing else does this gives an idea
of the enormous work accomplished
by Messrs. Townes, Patton and
Peden during the past six weeks.
AS announced in the Greenville
News yesterday, the commission had
adjourned for recess until about
the middle of September, when it
will again undertake to satisfy itself
as to the validity of numerous claims
and vouchers found among the
records Of the supervisors Office.
The bulk of this part of the work
has been completed, but there are
smaller matters from various sections
of the county "hich must receive
attention before an entirely reliable
and accurate report can be made to
the Governor and the Legislature of
the financial condition of the county.
While the commission will not say
so, it has authority to rule out such
claims against the county as it may
consider illegal or improper, and in
view of some of the evidence given
to the public it is believed that
thousands of dollars will be repudi-
ated by the county through the in
vestigating commission. Many of
these claims have been negotiated by
the original owners to various bank
ing houses and individuals, all limo.
cent purchasers under the law, who
will have to bear a large part of the
loss. This will be unfortunate of
course, but the interests of the
county are undoubtedly to be pro.
tected by the commission. Such
things are TO be considered later,
however, and not until the report is
published will these figures become
known.
1t is understood the expert report
of the financial condition of the
county shows debt of about $780,
900. About half of this is secured
by bonds and must be paid. The
rest is floating debt and some of it
consists of claims which may he re-
pudiated by the commission. Until
these facts are all threshed out it
will be impossible to give an estimate
of the actual debt of the county.
SO far the commission has taken
several hundred pages of typewritten
testimony from score or more of
witnesses of more or less Significance
and Importance. In this mass of
detail it has obtained evidence which
it believed sufficient to secure the
conviction of former supervisor, j.
K. Speegle, and his sons, Arthur and
j. o. Speegle, who served at differ
ent times as clerks in the office.
Warrants have accordingly been
sworn out against them individually,
charging them with obtaining funds
from the county treasurer under
false pretenses. If there are other
warrants to follow the commissioners
have not seen fit to make application
for them as yet.
Up to the present only one arrest
has been made. Arthur Speegle is
out oE Jail under bond of $1,000.
Governor Hayward has issued
requisition on the Governor of North
Carolina for former Supervisor
Speegle, but as yet Sheriff Gilreath
has not received the papers which
are with the North Carolina officials
to be honored. j. O. Speegle has
never been arrested. There does
not appear to be any hurry to serve
the papers and the authorities
doubtless know what they are about.
The commission has discovered
the minor matters that there
are hundreds of dollars held by
people in various parts of the county,
collected as communication road taxes
and the like that have never been
turned in. There is no disposition
to prosecute for this money. for Il