The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1910-03-10
GREAT VICTORY FOR A. v. OKEEFE SATURDAY

as SpeClal Judge. Inc case wa
tried carefully, and in a sensfbl
decision, Larry dissolved the in
junction, saying that no fraut
was shown in the execution o
the contract, and in all other re
spects, the board of commission
erS would be allowed to use thei
discretion in allowing the con
tract to any bidder whom they
saw fit, that being part of theil
power of discretion. However
Larry ruled that the contract fol
one item, namely the decoration
of the court rooms, was not reg
tllar, and he granted a restraining
order on this item, ruling that il
should be re-advertiSed for. The
decision was a sweeping victory
for O'Keefe and the Board OF
Commissioners. OK. efe then
proceeded to recommence work
on the repair of the court house
In the contract which was ex-
ecuted between O'Ke.fe and the
board OF commissioners, it was
provided that O'Keefe should
present monthly statements Oh
work done, and these should be
allowed by the commissioners.
Under this provision O'Keefe,
presented three bills for work
subsequently done in the repair
OF the court house. This work
consisted of installing new
steam boiler, rewriting the
building for electric lights. and
laying temporary felt roof, un-
til the weather should permit the
tile roof to be placed. The tile for
the new roof was delivered to the
court house. and awaits place
ment now. Meanwhile the attor-
neys for Ness appealed the de-
cisiodr OF Judge Larry to the Su-
preme Court and began action on
the allowances made by the conn
missioners, because of the pend
ing of the original case. The COM
allowed the claims of
O'Keefe, as they were presented
and certified to, by the architects
Griffith and Fair of Ft. Wayne.
At the allowance of each bill, the
attorneys for Ness took an appeal
to the Circuit Court. There were
three such allowances, and three
appeals were made. Upon the
agreement a of both parties these
three suits were combined, and
it is the appeals on these three
allowances made to O'Keefe, that
is now being tried in the court.
The case has grown famous
throughout the county, having
created much bitter factional par
ty sentiment. The fact that the
editor of the Plymouth Demo-
crat, c. w. Metsker, went on
each appeal bond of Ness, there
by aiding in the fight against o.
Keefe, and the county officials in
volved. gave rise to the feeling
against the Democrat editor, by
the host of his own party, who
are in sympathy with the actions
taken by the Commissioners, and
court officials in the case. Judge
Bernetha in a ruling on motion
made last week substantiated the
decision OF Larry on the original
contract case. which is now pend
ing in the Supreme Court, and
the decision of which is awaited
by all interested.
Another side issue of the case
was the issue of $4,000 bonds
appropriated by the county coun-
Gil. Bids were received for the
sale of the bonds, and a bonding
firm of indianapolis were given
the bonds upon their bid. A few
weeks later the company refused
to accept the bonds, as their at
torneys had advised them, that
their issue was with a flaw and
probably illegal. To surmount
this phase, the County Council
met in a special session. and re
scinde.l the appropriation o. the
Si5.ocJ. with bond ;ss e, 20
raise - money and rcappropri-
ated the amount, WI \ he pro-
vision that the money shOul be
raised by issuing promisary
notes OF the county, for the sum
of $4,000 each, due respectively
on Jan. /, 1912, and ON the first
of January of each of the two
succeeding years.
The feature of Friday in the
Ness-O'Keefe, allowance case,
occurred at 2 80 O'Clock in the af
ternoon, when Judge Bernetha
sustained the objection of Attor-
ney Kellison for Arthur O'Keefe
to the submission of bids OF the
bidders on the court
house repair, which was attempt
ed by Attorney Logan for Ness.
Logan stated that he wished to
prove that the contract was not
let to the lowest bidder. The
objection made by Kellison was,
that the introduction of such
bids. would seek to attack the
validity of the contract between
the Board of Commissioners and
Arthur w. O'Keefe. and such an
issue had no bearing on this case.
Judge Bernethla upheld the OBJ
iections of Kellison, thereby
shutting out the issue of the
validity of tfe contract between
O'Keefe and the commissioners.
The attorneys for Ness. took ex-
ceDt;on to the ruling and had OH