The San Francisco call., 1905-08-15
Dalton and Rowe
Wrangle Over
Charges.
Some Officers Say
Accounts Were
Stuffed.

I OAKLAND, Aug. 14.-The Board of
Supervisors this morning took up the
investigation of the alleged fraudulent
stuffing of the stationery bills of the
various county offices. The work will
be taken up again to morrow after
noon. County Assessor Henry ?. Dal-
ton Deputy Tax Collector w. B.
( Hodges, Under Sheriff Jed Hanifin and
/ Deputy County superintendent of
Schools Z. G. Crawford were called as
witnesses. ;s.
Assessor Dalton said he believed his
bills We're correct and that he had CIV
en- no authority to his chief deputy to
make any cuts in them. All the other
+ officers however, said. they were GER
tain that they had not ordered or re-
ceived any such amount of stationery
as had been charged up to them. Dep
uty Tax Collector Hodges said he had
never ordered Ethiopian paste by the
dozen quarts or Stafford ink in the
same quantities, although he had been
charged up with these amounts. He
l had been charged with a dozen gross
of blotters but had never ordered more
/. than two dozen at a time. Asked the
direct question as to whether the bills
are in the same condition as when he
o. KID, he said that he believed that
they. were not and that they had been
raised subsequently.
Under Sheriff Hanifin said he had
never ordered paste by the quart nor
| pencils by the gross, and had never had
! baIl-pointed pen in his Office, yet he
had been charged with large quantities
of these articles.
ERASURES ARE SEEN.
In the Office of the superintendent of
Schools the same state of affairs eX-
listed. Erasures had been made on some
of the bills, and large amounts of sup
plies substituted where only small
quantities had been ordered and re-
ceived.
The session started off briskly with
an interchange of words between Su-
pervisor Rowe and Assessor Henry p.
Dalton. The latter objected to the pro-
ceeding being considered an investiga-
tion OF him or his Office He stood by
his bills and said there was nothing
wrong with them so far as he knew,
Notwithstanding that County Expert
John Sabin has cut them down nearly
$500 for six months.
In reply Supervisor Rowe said: 81 dom t
want you to try to make yourself out the
great and good man whom somebody else
is prosecuting. You are trying in. that
sly, little cunning way of yours to make
this pretense, and it don't go with me.
/, Nobody says this is an investigation of
yeu or your office, but of, stationery
bills" ..-
Chairman Mitchell called the men to
order and said that personalities could
not be allowed and ordered the investiga-
ton to proceed Deputy District Attor-
ney w. H. L. Hynes then took up the mat
ter, and calling upon Dalton as the first
witness asked him in regard to his bills
and their amounts and how he accounted
for their being as large as they were. He
said that the only way he could account
for it was by comparing his bills with
those of the County Clerk, and said that
he employed more men, whereas his bills
were less than the Clerks.
CLERKS OFFICE AFFAIRS.
In reply to this Deputy County Clerk
George Pierce made a statement to the
effect that the County Clerk also sup
plies the five courts, the Public Admins
traitor and in all nine departments, and
that the County Clerks stationery bill
did not represent the amount used in
that office.
AT the conclusion of the proceedings
none of the Supervisors was willing to
say what he thought would be the out
come of the proceedings other than that
there certainly would have to be some
sort of a system of ordering supplies
and perhaps the appointment of an order
clerk. The bills for six months are before
the board. They amount to about $4,000,
and have been cut down by Expert Sapln
nearly $1,000. OF this amount Assessor
Dalton's bills have been trimmed nearly
half An effort has been made to show
that furniture that Dalton purchased
through Otto L. Hasse, the manager of
the Central news store, was charged up
in his bills as stationery, and that only
in some such way can he account for the
use of such quantities of material in his
office.