The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1911-02-11

of his own pockets and then, at t
bill for himself for. team work
He says IL there has been any
violation of law 1t was in good
faith on his part. even in the face
of the fact that he admits he list
ed his own teams under the names
of other men and had them collect
the money and then pay 1t over to
him.
He admits practically all the
facts as charged in which he car
ried on this sort of thing, but
says it was for convenience In
bookkeeping"
Just why it is more convenient
in bookkeeping to charge his own
teams UP to somebody else and
have them collect the money and
then turn 1t over to him instead
of putting them in on his own
name, may not strike the ordinary
citizen, but 1t is expected to make
big hit with Commissioner Pet
erson.
Mounts says there was no secret
about the fact that the teams be-
longed to him. One Finnegan
only last week is said to have VOW
ed with much vehemence that the
teams he put in and collected for
were his own. Now Mounts comes
in and says it is not so, that they
belonged to Mounts all the time
and everybody knew it.
And Mounts says In his an
swer: This board, or at least va
rious members thereof, knew that
he had teams upon the work"
In other words, Mounts says
guilty" but Peterson knew it."
Mounts says that Finnegan was
part of the time foreman on the
Tanwax road and part of the time
he was not.
Yet the payroll shows he paid
him as foreman practically all the
time.
Mounts admits that he drew pay
twice also for some work. He had
$S4 charged up on the general
fund and collected that and then
charged it up on the Tutt-Peacher
road again and collected that. He
says as matter of fact the work
was not done on these roads, but
he was just trying to get even on
the general fund for some other
deals and so collected twice and
put the money in his pocket. He
says he is willing to pay it back.
Mounts indeavors to make 1t
plain where his authority came
from. He says:
Your employe states that in
all matters he acted under the d.
rection of this honorable body"
meaning the commissioners.
In other words, Mounts says
that whatever he did, he did with,
the knowledge of Torgy Peterson,
under whom he was working.
Mounts admits that while Ture
Sandburg was working for him by
the month he had him work on
the roads and charged the county
up with it.
He even admits that he has re-
Gently been working down in front
OF his place grading roads and put
ting up a new fence for his own
benefit, claiming it was needed by
the road.
He even admits that he got
more pay for his teams than he
paid for some other teams when
the law says what the price shall
be for teams.
He says 1t is so that his father
in-law, Fren Jensen, charged up
one of his teams when it was not
working at all, but that it was
done to try to get even for some
work they had done a month be-
fore In hauling machinery for
which they forgot to charge.
In fact, Mounts whole answer is
a practical confession that he kept
crooked records, ran things as he
pleased and at the end of the
month took about what he felt like
out of the county treasury, wheth-
er it represented the actual work
done or not.
The answer is O sensation.
No attempt at denial is made OIL
the charges made against him by
Christy, Olds and Murray, and the
whole document prepared by his
lawyer is devoted to trying to
show that whatever he did was
with the knowledge of the com
missioners and that 1t was ALI