New-York tribune., 1908-01-27

AGAINST Back King the Etna Indemnity COM
pany of Connecticut and the Fidelity and pepos,'
COMPANY of Maryland for more than sfoV,V"V' 81
legged TO have been Illegally expended by hihs a.
County Treasurer. The two companies H'O
were the bondsrnen for King.
Final indictments in the were returned On
December 90 when King was indicted twice LOT
rnisappropriation and Back was lndlc'eu i0i '
eighth time for misrepresentation
The political history of Back Is the storS %
opce irconsnicuor,s LAWYER who elected cierA
Of the Board of Supervisors and on salary Q,
81 500 a year gave annual banduefs c"suhs p. "p
Of a thousand dollars and took a party Vi mn
Mssons to California at his own expense lhe<e
operatfons are shown in detail in the Co'i.i
ranort made public recently. which says lia' i"i
a continuous period of a little less lhaIi 'Lli'0
years Back and Charles Hustis. clerk III MS JIM
drew more than $500 month from 'iie 0''
treasury on Backs order. which was never pueS
toned by the County Treasurer and never audi.sd
nv tho sunervisors This undoubtedly pfomp'ed
the following statement in the report; III" an
nuaI examination of the County treasurer ~ DoonS
by committee OF supervisors has IN ofooi.e
County been little more than gieah'Io 'a''
use very mild Characterization
Although he had previously been clerk o w,
supervisors Back may he said to have begun Ms
political career eight years ago. wheh the SUI
visors created the office OF custodian or puoiie
buildings and grounds. salary OF so a year
Rack was appointed custodian. and year by year
the salary was increased until 1t reached Hs' i''
each office making a combined salary OF Ni'''V
year In 1903 the county embarked in Eood roaus
building This was the chief means when bacH
used 10 build up his political machine ana onoer-
mine the influence Of Colonel Dunn and his friehos
From this inception" says the Controher re-
port grew a condition Of affairs whTh Is alhios'
beyond belief. The accounts audited by MI f'Si'h
and paid by the county treasurer upon his order At
first amounted 10 a comparatively insignificant
sum. but the custodian gradually arrogated 70
himself increased powers. until, at the time our N
vestigation begun. he had pracucaIiy
usurped the entire prerogatives OF the Board OF
Supervisors and with the aid Of complaisan1
county treasurer. had absolute and undlsputed coh
troll of the county treasury
From the time of the creation or the of1ce OF
custodian the resignation of Mr. Back. IN sep
tember 1907 about half a million dollars has been
dispersed from the Rroome County treasury upon
the sole audit and order Arthur w. T. Back. and
of this sum $1O6 90 paid directly to Mr. Back
and $17s.SSs Il TO Charles A. Hustis, clerk in
Backs employ, to be by them dispersed
The political strength Of Mr.. Back was built up
on a system of employing the supervisors as high
way inspectors. All the vote getters in the rural
sections provided by Back with places on
the county payroll and at election time he was able
to get almost anything he wanted On this point
Controllers report says: Back managed TO
keep practically every member of the Board OF su-
pervisors employed for the county at some Occupa-
tion the year around, at least saw that they
drew pay and this doubtless strengthened his hold
upon the county finances
In addition to looking after all these matters
continues the report in another place, Back also
acted as attorney to the superintendent Of poor,
made the superintendent's reports. acted as
clerk of the board of supervisors and generally di
all county affairs, including the construction
of good roads Compared with the multitudinOUs
duties of Mr. Back those of Pooh Bah fade into
insignifcance.",
Considerable suspicion aroused by the large
carting bills paid to F. J. LilIis the order
of Back. These amounted to S40l1 81 in thirty-two
months and his average yearly account was about
$500. Since Llis retired from activity. being de
cIared insane early last year and sent to a state
institution. the county carting has amounted u
s225 year The Controllers report speaks OF this
transaction as follows: 1T seems fnconceIvable
that the county Of Rroome could have incurred ex-
penses to the above amount for legitimate Carting
for the county offices and departments
Another sidelight Backs career furnished
early last summer when, in the midst of the
clamor for investigation, he married wealthy
woman of Binghamton. Their married ife not
happy, however, she began action to annul
the marriage Just after her husband was indicted
by the grand jury. She asserted she had been
entced into the ceremony by trickery and fraud