Omaha daily bee., 1912-03-02
MAY PROBE FLORENCE PAYING
Joshua P. Brown Takes Armful Of
Evidence to Grand Jury.
NO MORE INDICTMENTS ARE IN
Grand Jurors State That Some True
Bills May he Expected satur-
day and some of Them
May he Sensational.

Charges against members of the Flor
ence city council and other city officials
were made before the Douglas county
grand jury by Joshua :. Brown OF Flor
ence yesterday. Brown Is an adherent
Of Mayor John S. Paul of Florence. who
stands alone against the council and the
other officials. The matter over which
the mayor and the other officials are at
war is the now famous Florence paving
case, one phase Of which now is pending
IN the supreme court. i
Paul, Brown and another Florence man,
who is on PauIs side OF the controversy,
appeared to testify before the grand jury.
After the inquisitors had disposed OF some
police routine matters and had examined
witness or two in regard to the South
Omaha corruption charges Paul went into
the grand jury room. Paul was armed
with bundle containing many copies OF
the Florence Tribune and several letters
and written documents Of some sort or
other. He was before the grand jury for
about an hour. His examination was
completed shortly before noon.
Mayor Paul and the other Florence men
were instructed to return for examination
in the afternoon.
Try 10 Deceive the Press.
Mayor Paul and those associated with
him made every effort to thwart the ef-
forts Of newspaper men to learn the
nature OF the matter under investigation.
Paul represented himself to the reporters
as South Omaha man and Brown posed
as a citizen OF Calhoun.
Details regarding the charges the Paul
faction has made against the other side
cannot be learned. nor can 1t be ascer-
tanned what action they hope TO have the
grand jury take. This much is known /:
that the testimony is calculated to prove
improper conduct OF the Pam opponents
in connection with the paving matter and
possibly In relation to other matters.
As a result OF testimony given by
Brown the grand jury has issued sub
poenas for several other Florence men
with a view TO having Browns story
either corroborated or refuted.
Causes Much Litigation,
The Florence paving fight commenced
about three years ago. when NJ. Ford was
given a contract for paving In the town.
Paul opposed the contract at the time
and ever since has fought the PROPOSE
ton. Law suit after law suit has been
started until the matter now Is so thor
oughly entangled that even the lawyers
have difficulty In understanding Il.
Tho question OF the validity OF the act
under which the paving originally was
ordered now has reached the supreme
court and a decision is being awaited.
Following q supreme court ruling on
one phase Of the dispute the city council
two weeks ago adopted a concurrent res
olutlon ordering the, city clerk to re-
fund to taxpayers taxes they paid when
the paving was charged to owners Of
AUDITING property. The mayor. who has
favored taxing the entire city for the
paving IL anyone Is taxed. refused to con-
cur. A week ago the council adopted a
plain resolution ordering the treasurer
TO refund. So stands the situation today.
Again at noon the grand jury failed to
return any indictments. Several grand
Jurors said some true bills Will be pre-
scented tomorrow. Some OF them may be
sensational
Whether the grand jury will continue
its probings or take a recess for a week
or two will be determined by the grand
Jurors today.
With q view Of locating and plugging
an alleged leak" through which in
formation regarding the deliberations OF
the grand jury is supposed to have been
obtained, the grand Jurors questioned a
representative Of newspaper just be-
fore the noon recess was taken.