The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1909-05-07
TEN ARE ON THE LIST HEADED
BY ARMSTRONG AND
WENGER.
SOME STRONG COMMENT
One Whose Name Is Not Given Is
Out Of the State, and Will Be
Looked Up.

| ing, Saturday, and with the report re-
turned 20 indictments for 10 men. Ten
OF these men are, or have been, con-
nected with the prison, directly as
| warden or acting warden or as con-
| tractors or purveyors of prison sup
| plies.
OF the remaining nine, eight are
| Jackson plumbers and not concerned
in the prison matter at all. The nine
! teenth man is a former resident Of
Jackson, now living elsewhere in the
! United States, and whose name all
the newspaper men on the job agreed
TO withhold, TO the end that the Off
GERS may lay hands on him. He is ac-
cused of certain Jackson city deal
of no great public interest. The list
of men indicted and made public fol-
lows:
ALLEN N. ARMSTRONG. ex-prison
warden.
JOHN C. WENGER, acting warden,
Jackson prison.
MILTON DAILY, agent for binder
twine machinery, 115 Dearborn street,
Chicago.
j. A. EMMINGER, president Hoov-
er & Gamble Co., Irvine machinery
manufacturers, Miamisburg, Ohio.
CLYDE B. ELWOOD, agent for a
brick company, Jackson, two indict-
ments.
CHARLES A. ELLIOTT, we'll dig
ger. Jackson.
FRED SNYDER, swill dealer, Jack
son.
GEO. ]. MAINO, boilermaker, Jack
son.
NJ. ]. NORRIS, grocer, Jackson.
CARL G.. TRUMBLE, druggist,
Jackson.
]. j. DOWSETT, J. H. MAHONEY,
LUTHER II. NEWLY, LUTHER A.
NOWLIN, J. e. MURRAY, SEBAS-
TIAN ]. WRIT. WILLIAM WRIT
and w. ]. BELL, all members of the
so-called plumbers trust of Jackson
ONE OTHER MAN, formerly Of
Jackson, indicted for a Jackson city
matter, name known, but withheld
till warrant can be served.
Some of the comments in the jury's
report are here given: Most of the
time of the jury was spent in investi-
eating the affairs of the Michigan
state prison. This institution is I'M
der the control of a board of three,
appointed by the governor. The mem
bers of the board receive no compen-
sation for their service. 1t meets
once month and spends a few hours
hearing reports, allowing bills and
| transacting other business. Our in
vestigation disclosed the fact that the
members of this board performed
many of their duties in a perfunctory
manner, and for this reason their
judgment to the state was Of little
value in purchasing materials, allow
Ing bills, or even in the enforcement
of their own rules. Bills have been
presented before this board, and have
been allowed and paid without any
one in connection with the institution
having actual knowledge of the cor
rectness of the claim. Responsibility
was divided and shifted from one to
another of the employees, showing a
lack of system in receiving and ac-
counting for material and supplies
which would not be the case IL proper
methods were adopted and enforced
throughout. Lumber was purchased
and the bills paid, and afterwards the
lumber account was found to be TO-
900 feet short, showing that the meth
button was wrong, or that the lumber
was never received.
! Purchases by the warden OF all sorts
of supplies have been made and con-
tracts awarded for them without adj.
vertising for bids.
Our investigation disclosed a con-
spicuous lack of proper system in
nearly all the departments of the pris-
on, and in the methods of the various
boards connected with It, There ap-
peared to be general lack of knowl-
edge of the law and rules under which
members of boards and officials are
supposed to perform official duties
Pardon board members to whom inn
portant matters were referred in
volving the liberty of inmates of the
prison have delayed fling their report
or opinions, apparently consulting
their own convenience, instead of
promptly and theoretically perform
ing their duty.
We found one instance of a mem
Der OF the prison board using his
official connection for the purpose of
assisting himself during the late finan-
cial depression. Currency was scarce
and hard to get i'm the small town
where the official conducts bank.
Unable to secure currency himself on
drafts made upon Detroit banks, he
did not hesitate to invoke the aid OF
the warden to get his drafts convert.
ed into currency. and he rather naive
lv admitted that IL did not make any
difference TO him, even II state funds
were used, so long as he got the cur
rency. State funds were used, and
while no loss 70 the state occurred in
this instance, we call attention TO Il
to show how easy It is for some men
In official positions. even with honest
intentions, to mix the public business
with their own.
At the beginning OF our inquiry into
state matters. we were delayed by the
almost universal disposition on the
part OF witnesses to deny knowledge
NJ ANYTHING wrong with the purchas-
ing OF the binder Irvine plant. Every
one connected with that matter insist
ed that II was new machinery and
some of those who participated in its
purchase seemed very hard to con-
vince upon this point.