El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-02-24
CHARGES AGAINST
CRUCES OFFICIALS
Grand Jury Recommends
They Be Discharged and
Civil Action Is Taken.

I
Las Cruces, n. NJ. Feb. 24-Tbe
grand jury of the third district court.
after four days session, has rendered
! its report, recommending the removal
| of city officials, and was DISCHARGED.
I In dismissing the grand jury, Judge
Medler praised the members for the
/ work they had rendered and said that
he was proud of this grand jury and
/ that 1t IS a credit to any county in any
state when the grand jury conducts
| business as this one has done He fur
Their stated that the sooner the bust
! ness men and taxpayers and all citi-
| ZenS OF the county realize that the bus
| mess of this court must be properly
| carried out and the laws relative to
| matters in hand strictly enforced the
/ sooner they will realize that this is
I their court, operated in their interest
/ and for true enforcement of all that
! the law stands for.
The action of the grand jury, recon-
/ mending the removal Of the city Off
| Gals Of Las Cruces is attracting much
attention and is the chief topic of con-
[ VersatiOn.
/ Civil Action Started.
Civil action was begun against the
/ town trustees in judge Medler's court
| after the grand jury had Investigated
/ the conduct of city affairs. charging
/ the officials with incOmpetencey and
| inefficiency.
| some Of the Charges.
| Paying over about $11,O TO Bash &
| Gray and not protecting the town
| against loss, was charged; also allow
/ ing the contractors to abandon their
work, discharging c. G. Taylor, the en-
/ gineer representing the city, before the
streets were repaired and contract full
filled, and allowing the streets to re-
main eNcavated torn up and INSTRUCTED
for a long space of time, also was
charged.
1t also was charged that there was
Encouragement Of the city water and
sewer plants, failure tO,pass proper or
dinances with regard to the same; fail
ure to place the plants on paying
basis; failure to make any charge for
use of sewers to those connecting with
sewer who are not using city water.
Other charges were: Failure to en- |
plOy a pefsOn learned in law to advise |
them in the performance of their du-
ties; failure and neglect to keep the /
streets Of the town clean and free from !
rubbish and waste material; neglect !
and refusal to assemble and hold meet /
ings adequate in number to transact /
the cityS business; when meetings were |
held. neglect and refusal to remain a /
sufficient length Of time to discharge |
duties Of office: causing repairs to the |
streets of the town TO be done IN an /
unskilful and understandable manner, I
and at a cost to the city greatly IN ex-
cess Of the value thereof.
The report says: The grand jury
in view of the above charges, recon-
mended the court that the defendants
be removed from Office" III
The officials Involved.
who were cited to appear before the
court on March 1 and show cause why
the presentment should not stand;
Mayor James P. Mitchell, Jesus Ma
wares. VIM T. JacOby, Estevan Lucero.
and Theodore ROuault, jr.
The action Of the grand jury is based
on statute of 1907. and amounts in
effect to a recall. giving the officials
full opportunity before count to show
cause why they should not be re-
cient notice and in the event Of re
mOyal from office the vacancies are ]
filed by the court during the unexpired
term for which the officials were
Concerns Consolidate.
The Myers company of FL Paso has
consolidated with the T. ROuault COM
pany Of this place and its place OF
business will be the new ROuault
building about to be built at the site
-ormerly occupied by Mr. Rouault on
L C Hill. L. N lawson and Homer
!. Gault, of the reclamation service.
vent by rail to Canutillo yesterday and
we're met at that place by an FL Paso
lutO and mOtOred up the valley to !
santO Tomas few miles below Las
,ruceS. on the west side Of the river
they returned in the evening to II
'aSO. where Messrs. Hill and Lawson | n
emained and Mr. Gault returned to Las d
4 bridges on the Rio Grande. between h
ere and Canutillo and the reclamation
Ulcers dislike fOrding the river at this v
eaSOn- Of the year. h
Washington Entertainment p
The Washington birthday anniversary
Entertainment held in the Presbyterian v
hurch was. wei attended and highly
nJoyed BY all The church was artis-
-cally decorated with the national
OIors- The singing of the national / "
OngS Of different nations were fea- / n
Ires OF the evenings entertainment / a
ONE Of these were sung by a quartet [
me oIhers were sung by a chorus OF p
bout 20 persons il
The decorations were left in the
1urch Tor the Sunday services Rev I "
nos Mitchell preached a patriotic ser | N
ION on Sunday morning. The evening ! II
ervlce consisted chiefly of a song ! r
arvice.
Beautifying the Park g
The trees in the park have been
immed and the flower beds fixed up
IT spring planting and many have
ready been put out N
The dance held at the armory was
rgely attended. The armory was ar
stically decorated / nthe national col
The Phnathea class Of the n E.
lnday school entertained the young
sOpIe Of the church at the home OF %
cir pastor. Rev. Mr.. Campbell. The ~
casiOn was one of great social en-
yment.
Herbert w Yeo. who has charge of -
e reclamation work at Las Mesa ar o.
we'd home Friday evening to spend
ashingtOn's birthday anniversary. as
e reclamation service observes this 49,
y. ~
The Washington birthday entertain SSSC
ent in the Presbyterian church was III
Id Saturday evening. ~
Mrs. c. /. Hill, of Dona Ana. and - -.
r house guests, Mrs. Geo. Hill. of I ~
heeIing, ". Va, and Mrs. William 81
Id, Of Columbus, Ohio. were enter OF
ned at dinner at the home of H. W ~ ~
o. on Miranda avenue IN IN
Walter Johnson and David Gambler sc
; cnaudfurr fav~ 1aV-e ~ their homo I