East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-07-13

There viii be no shortage in the
accounts Of my office. for should the
experts find that any money is due
the county treasurer from me I will
pay the same to that official as soon
as am notified. Yesterday was told
that the sum of $12, 900 was due, and
l at once gave my check for that
amount. AS to the alleged Irregular
tiles that have been reported in my
office, do not care to say much
aside from the above until the matter
has been fully investigated, for the
reason that the real situation cannot
be known until then"
The above statement was made by
Sheriff t. ID. Taylor this morning
when asked 10 say something regard
ing the wild stories of shortage"
in the sheriffs' office.
How the rumors that first began to
circulate last evening originated Is not
known. for the county judge, the COM
missioners and the district attorney
all state that no report has yet been
made by the experts who are examin-
ing the books; that the work is not
yet completed. and that no authorita-
tive statement has been given out.
District Attorney Phelps stated this
morning that his attention had been
called to the matter, but that he
would do nothing in the case until the
work was entirely completed. which
would perhaps take two weeks more.
and that at present he knew OF no
shortage in the office, and that no
one had any authority for stating that
there is such a shortage.
No Exidencc of Fraud.
While it is hard to get at the facts
in the case owing to the unfinished
state of the experts work and the
general desire Of the officials to wait
until more can be learned, 1t is ap-
parent that there has been nothing
fraudulent done on the part of Sheriff
Taylor, and that the only offense, If
any. is delay in turning funds over to
the treasurer. Under the law sher-
iff is required TO turn all funds over
to the treasurer each Saturday How
ever, II is said that there are few Of
fices that follow this out to the letter,
and that the same has never been done
here. According TO Sheriff Taylor, it
has been the custom in the office to
turn the money over to the treasurer
when the rolls were balanced. and this
could not be done every Saturday
evening. The last payment, before
the one yesterday. was made on June
25.
Some wild and exaggerated stories
have been told regarding the alleged
shortage in the sheriffs office, and
some have taken advantage of the op-
portunity to make political capital out
of the matter and have consequently
exploited the subject as much as pos
,sible, notwithstanding he great injus-
tice they were doing the sheriff. How
ever, the sentiment has been almost
unanimous that no Intentional wrong
mas been done by that official, and
that when all is known his character
will he without any stain of dishonor.
Alleged BIalIeIey Shortage.
What is generally regarded as the
most serious irregularity which the
experts have found, is the alleged
shortage of $4,000 in the accounts of
ex-Sheriff Williem Blakeley, as there
is no possible excuse why all funds
collected during his administration
were not turned over to the treasurer.
However. no blame is believed to rest
with Mr.. Blakeley in the matter, and
It is said by his friends that should
there be any shortage in his. accounts
they are unknown to him, and also
that any amounts found to be due the
county from his term will be prompt
ly paid.
During Mr.. Blakeley's tenure of Of