The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-03

receiVe0 Dy nm. T respectfully refer your honor to
 vs. Hale County which I think settles
 this question. Detailed statement of
 the amount due by MT. Glass will be found in exhibit IT hereto appended. Ex-sherin A. |. Hasty.
 T have examined the accounts of this ofIfcer from September lst, 1900 to date of his resignation in October, 1904 I find that all fines and forfeitures col lected by Sheriff Nasty have been properly paid to the County Treasurer I further find that MT. Nasty, like his predecessor. owes the county for money had and received of the County Treasu-
 Ter on bills passed and allowed by the Court of County Commissioners with out authority of law for services in
 waiting on the Circuit, County. Probate and Commissioners Court, and for at- tending habeas corpus and preliminary
 hearings. A detailed statement of
 which will be found in exhibit T hereto
 appended.
 '.It is due to ex-Sheriff Hasty to say
 that in making bills against the coun-
 ty for the items charged back to him he followed the precedent set by form ed sheriffs and he expressed his in- tention of promptly paying the amount due by him into the county treasury. The amount of said indebtedness Is s3ss.
 Sheriff T. J. Jackson.
 MT. T. J. Jackson was appointed sheriff on October 27. 1904. and prompt iy qualified and is now the sherif Of the County of Marengo.
 sCaptain Jackson is a most compe- tent and efficient officer and the busi- ness of his office Is being conducted along proper lines. Having been in of- | flee only a short time, there was very little to examine. find, however, that Sheriff Jackson owes the county for money had and received on bill passed and allowed by the Court of County Commissioners without author | ity of law as is more fully set out in exhibit K hereto appended, amounting | to SPA.
 Ex-Tax Assessor E. c. Coats. Tn reference to ex-Assessor Coats, l | find that he was assessor for the years 1899 and 1900, and during these years | he made a most competent and efficient | assessor, increasing largely the value | of taxable property and placing on the | books a large amount of land that had escaped taxation for years.
 q find, however, that owing to an err roneous custom which had prevailed in | the county for some time MT Coats | had, and wrongfully, received money | from the county treasurer on bills | passed and allowed by the Court of | County Commissioners without author | ity of law for making the tax assess | ment books of the county.
 "As I understand the law, the asses- | sor's compensation for making these | books is covered by his commissions on | assessed values of property, and under no circumstances can 1t be construed | as a proper charge against the county. 1 I therefore charge back to him the | amounts so received and give him | credit on the account so charged for | s125, whichl he was entitled to, but did | not received for the year 1900. This Is fully set out in exhibit L | hereto appended and shows balance | due the county of $550
 | Tax Assessor T. ". GraysOn. 'sMr. Grayson is the present Asses | sor and has held this office since 1900, | and he has recently been elected for another term. He, like his predeces- l sor. owes the county $450 for money wrongfully had and received by him | for making up the tax assessment books for the years 1901, 1902, 1903 and | 1904. The amounts so received by him | were on bIls passed and allowed by | the Commissioners Court without au- | thority of law. Therefore l charge
 back to him the sum paid him on this l account, giving him credit on same ' | to have, but did not receive, for mak- | ing the land book for the years named | This is more fully set forth in exhibi' M hereto appended and shows bal | ance due to the county by MT. Graysor
 of $450.
 Tax Collector 0. s. Adams. l q have examined the books and ac' | counts of Mir. 0. s. Adams, Tax Collec' | tor of the County for the years 1898 | 1899. 1900. 1901, 1909, 1903, and find that | he has properly accounted for all taxes | due the county for the years named ex' cept for the years 1901 and 1902, foi
 which years he owes the county the l sum of $2S1.77 as balance on the roao
 tax as follows to wit:
 | "For year 1901. 1...........s....$l4o' Ot
 For year 1902. l4l.Tl
 oro,sI ........... .s2ss. .77 l "A statement of the above has been | furnished Collector Adams. who ex' l presses his intention of paying same ] to the county treasurer.
 Court of County Commissioners. | AS to the acts and doings Of tht | Court of Commissioners but little car
 be done beyond giving a statement o l tha disbursements made under theii | orders. My understanding of the law | is that the Court of County Commis
 sioners is a court of limited jurisdlc' !
 anything except what the law sayi l thev may do when exactly the reverse | seems to be the rule of action in many
 of the counties.
 'The mere fact that the Commis
 sioners passed upon and allowed ar | illegal claim does not make the clain | a legal or proper one. Nor does 1t au | thorize the county treasurer to pay 1t | Section 1416 of the Code says No clain | aeatnst the county must in term tim' | audit all claims against their respec l five counties, etc. Section 1417 reads | as follows: No ciaim against thu
 county shall be passed upon or allowed
 bv the Court of County Commissioners | unless 1t is itemized and sworn to bJ | the claimant or some person in his be- half having personal knowledge. etc
 "Referring to the above quotations
 and in this connection l desire to say | that many hundreds of these Dills, al-
 leged to have been passed and allowed | by the Court of Commissioners, shows
 no evidence of ever being presented to
 the Court at all While few of them
 are itemized and sworn to. very large 1 majority of them have not the slight | est semblance of an affidavit to them | and many are not itemized and of | those that are itemized many contain l charges for items which are not prop | CT charges against the County, viz: 1 Charges for writing the minutes of l Commissioners Court. making general, | reverse and direct indexes. holding ha- | beas corpus and preliminary hearings, waiting on the Circuit. County, Probate and Commissioners Courts, making the tax assessment book of the tax asses- sor and for making abstract of same