The San Francisco call., 1908-05-28
DARGIE GROWS RICH
ON 30 YEARS. GRAFT.
Grand Jury Secures Records
Showing How County Treas
ury Has Been Looted

OAKLAND, May 27.-A record of the
graft of 80 years duration. which has
enriched W. E. Dargie and impover-
ished the county treasury, was laid be-
fore the grand jury today when a list
OF the useless or overpriced stationery
stored in the basement OF the hail Of
records was finally submitted. Special
attention has been given the part
played by the active majority Of the
present board of supervisors In adding
10 the accumulation of needless sup
plies for the county and of much
needed cash for Dargie and his Tribune.
A session of last week suff1ced for
the acquisition of data regarding
printed blanks stored in the basement,
and that of today was devoted to re-
viewing the countys generous stock of
leather bound books, which Dargie
printed. Full Information regarding
the prices paid, the amounts on hand
and the sequence Of ordering the ma
terial is before the grand jury. There
IS also information regarding the price
for which the stuff can be secured in
the open market today. Printing
prices paid by the county have been
carefully compared with bids secured,
and the cost of books for which the
county paid Dargie extravagant sums
has been set in parallel columns with
the cost. for which private firms. pur-
chase similar books.
DUPLICATE OF STOCK
From this deadly parallel much Of
the subsequent history Of members of
the board of supervisors will spring,
st is expected. as result of the grand
jury inquiry.
sosv a n.-e
stock in the basement has been men
toned is. "Oh. that old stuff down
there was ordered by county clerks
and boards Of Supervisors that had
their day in the SOS and 9o's. and the
present county administration has had
nothing to do with it Much solace
had been derived from this view, as il
was construed as giving the Mitchell
board Of supervisors a clean bill Of
health and as setting them up as spot
less
2 The grand jury. however. has made
special point Of discovering just how
much material the present board has
ordered duplicated when there was
plenty stored in the dark places down
stairs. And after determining how.
many instances Of this sort occurred
defenders OF the existing regime VIII
be further called upon to explain why,
more was ordered at rates far in ez-
cess Of the regular market price
The question which the public has
asked for years. why has the county
government been SO anxious to throw
cash into the Golfers of Dargiey may
be answered when Chairman John
Mitchell explains the attitude and
actions of the present board.
COSTLY REPAIRS ON DOORS
The county's collection Of high priced,
wooden. unpainted doors was also a
matter Of interest to the grand jury to-
day, for Store Keeper Frank Perata
carried a list of their number. kind
and cost along with his memoranda of
books. These doors are used to form
voting booths at polling places and
have the distinction OF costing for re-
pairs twice the figure for which Su-
pervisor II. D. Rowe publicly offered
TO replace them new.
There are 1900 doors altogether, and
the board of supervisors had them re-
paired before the general election Of
1906 at a cost OF $4,000. About 55 strap
ping political hirelings were given op-
portunities to labor with the doors
prior to the election. They were ap-
pointees of Supervisors Mitchell, Hor-
ner and Kelley, with County Clerk
Cook contributing quota.
No one was ever able to detect the
alterations in the doors which might
be supposed to have resulted from so
lavish an expenditure OF money. but
apparently il satisfied the board and
the bills were passed
Supervisor Rowe, the minority mem
Der. offered to furnish new doors for
$4,000. but, while his lack of tact was
painful to the exquisite nature of his
fellow members, they stuck to their
guns and rnanfully spent the Sc 600