The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1905-09-15
SOME STARTLING
"HCH FINANCE. {"
A Blasted Execution Debtor and q
$l2,SOO Certified Check"

In our issue of August IL we pub
lished abstracts of some of the testi-
mony taken by Senate committee in
a so-called investigation" concerning
the status of the concern that was then,
is now, and for nearly four years has
been doing the State printing-and the
people of Florida; and asked our breth-
rem Of the State press to preserve it
for future reference, which we hope
they have done.
One of our reasons for wishing to re-
cur later to this evidence was 70 COM
pare it with subsequent disclosures con-
corning the ownership" of the "Capi-
was printed in the official journal of
the Senate, or Capital Publishing
Co.,, as it appears in the imprint on
the official printing.
In the course of that investigation"
|. b. Hilson testified that he was the
owner Of $40,O of the stock of said
company, less one share, transferrtd to
his wife, and that Robert Gamble owned
the remaining $1,000. Within two
months from the time when this testi-
mony was given a deputy sheriff of
Leon county levied upon certain presses
and engines as the property of Hilson,
to satisfy executions outstanding against
him for some small sums adjudged by
the court to be due by him, and the
same were sold at public outcry and
purchased, as heretofore related, by the
proprietor of The True Democrat, but
have never been delivered to him.
At the very time when these execu-
tons were pending against him and he
was apparently unable by paying them
to rescue his property from forced sale,
the opening of the bids for the State
printing took place august y, and the
"owner" of this $40, 900 printing plant,
who could not pay some small judg-
ment debts, was able to put up Ger
tilted check" for SIP, 500, as required by
the Board of State Institutions.
And yet, when the sale of his prop
erty took place, a week later august
y, it was claimed by Mr.. w. A. Rawls,
representing the Capital City Bank, who
was present and bid in a part Of the
property, that Hilson had no real inter-
est in the property levied upon, or in
the Capital Printing Publishingl
Company" for the reason that it was
mortgaged to the bank. This claim, so
far as the property levied on was con-
cerned, was shown to be without fOun-
dation, and the sale was contaminated.
To recapitulate:
Before a Senate committee, in May,
|. B. Hilson testified that he owned
nearly $40, 900 of the $4S, 900 stock Of
the printing company (whatever its
name be-.
In June or July, being unable to pay
some small Judgments, executions were
levied upon his property, and the same
was advertised for sale August T.
August he presented certified
check for $l2,5O0 to the board with
the bid of the Capital Printing Pub
lishingl Company" for the State print
ing.
August z, while the Certified check I"
was on deposit with the board, his prop
erty was sold at sheriff sale.
At the sale it was claimed that the
property was not his, and that he had
no interest whatever in it or in the
property Of the Capital Printing
Publshingl Company" the same be-
ing fully mortgaged
This is high finance indeed, but
the query propounded to the Senate
committee, and which that committee
took good care not to answer, remains
unanswered That question is:
Who owns the "Capital Printing
Publishing Company
Another is:
Who certified" the $l2, 800 check Of
one who owned nothing and could not
save his property from sheriff sale under
executions for small sums?
Another is:
II the Capital City Bank owns the
Capital Printing (Pubishingl Com
pany " did the bank make the bid for
the State printing?
Another is
II il did, did it certify" its own
check?