Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-08-11
PROCEEDINGS BROUGHT AGAINST
SUPERVISORS BEING HEARD
TODAY.
TREASURER on STAND
]. v. Curran, F. w. Simmons and 8. II
Harper Testify-Former Claims
Bid Of Bechtel Firm Best
Proposition Offered.

1uo question: Us u Wu0tueI lAC
board of supervisors and Treasurer J..
v. Curran Of Wapello county will is.
sue bonds through the house of G. M.
Bechtel & Co., to cover the outstand-
ing warrants Of the county, will lie
with Judge d. M. Anderson after to-
day, as the hearing on the injunction
has been held. Gilmore & Moon repre-
scented the plaintiffs and the county
officers were defended by County At
torney Seneca Cornell, who was as
sisted in the defense by Judge Water
man of Davenport, appearing for G. M.
Bechtel & Co., the bond firm with
which the bond contract was made.
1t will be recalled that the board
and treasurer were restrained a few
weeks ago by temporary injunction
from contracting bond issue with
the Davenport firm. The hearing Is
on the motion Of the defense to dis
solve the injunction. Judge D. M. An
derson Of Abba, who will sit during
the August term of district court,
came to Ottumwa this morning to
hear the proceedings. Few outside
of the interested parties were present
at the hearing.
Curran on Stano.
Treasurer Curran, F. w. Simmons
and Capt s. H. Harper were placed
on the stand by the plaintiff after
which the counsel began their argu-
ments. The amount of the outstand-
ing indebtedness Of the county on
June l, was stated by Mr.. Curran to
be $41,691.4O, part of which, Sl3-
345.73 was an overdraft. This he
stated was in his judgment the same
as the county fund, while 1t tech
nically was not considered such. He
said that it was caused by the cash1ng
of warrants on the county fund out OF
funds other than what is known as
the county fund. The reason for this,
according to the treasurer, was to
save interest to the county, as all OF,
the warrants were county debt
which drew an interest of per cent. !;
Did Not Advertise Issue.
When questioned as to why the
firm Of Bechtel g. Co., was given the
bond issue, he stated that his ex-
perience led him to believe that firm
the best at that time to do business
with, and also that there were two
other houses that were to send repre-
sentatives. but that they failed to ar
rive until the deal was made. He said
the bond issue was not advertised and
that he did not ask any of the local
banks to take them, but that he did
not believe the local banks would do
so, because three of them had turned
down a school fund warrant drawing
6 per cent for the face value Of 500
and that he still had the paper in his
Office.
Banks Discount Warrants.
He also stated that the local banks
were discounting the county warrants
from I to per cent and that the
banks were clamoring for the cash on
the warrants that they had cashed.
He further stated that number OF
others likewise had besieged him for
the cash on their warrants. This he
said was responsible for the over
draft. The pay roll was in some In
stances discounted by the banks, said
he, and there is bill from Appanoose
county in the Office Of the auditor for
the discount on the Junkin trial costs.
Simmons Makes Offer.
F. W.. Simmons stated that he
would be responsible for the bond II
legally passed by his counsel and give
premium Of 2h per cent for them. He
said that the reason he did not make
an offer on the former bond issue CT
about a year ago, was because ne was
not then interested in the issue. he
could not state whether banks were
discounting the warrants, nor that
the warrants were not bringing their
face value. He said he was not
aware that there was to be an issue
of bonds until he noticed the action OF
the board through the newspapers,
and assigned. when asked his reason
for interest in the matter now, that he
was interested in the affairs of the
county as tax payer. He stated that
he knew in general way OF the in
debtedness of the county.
Said Bank Paid Par.
Capt. S. H. Harper was asked If be
knew Of the banks discounting the
county warrants, and said that Presi-
dent ]. G. Jordan Of the Iowa National
bank told him that bank was accept
ing all of the county warrants pre-
sented them at par.
Hits at Plaintiff.
The arguments began about 1O:30
by County Attorney Cornell, who said
the parties that brought about the
action were men who did not know
what they were doing-that it was
done on suspicion and only for delay.
He claimed that the treasurer was
not compelled by the code TO advertise
the sale of the bonds and that the
treasurer's Judgment was better in
such matters than that Of the tax
payers because of the varying opin.
ions Of the latter as to what bonds
should sell for.
Following the arguments, Judge
Anderson took the matter under adj
visement and will make ruling
- oh time n I.