El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-07-16
OVER $4,000 IS
RETURNED To THE
COUNTY TREASURY
More Is Due as Result of Re-
cent Audit, Which Gov
cred Only Fee Officers.

More than $4,000 Of the $500 found
by the county audit to be due to the
county from certain fee officers, has
I been REPAID to the county in the in
terva1 between she completion Of the
audit and the making OF the report
Dublic- The amounts repaid IN this IN
terval are as follows -.-.
District clerk Escajeda, 1893; county
iudre Evlar, 1852; county attorney
Price. ssO9.2o; county clerk ltI IL
Ss61s.55 turned in under protest)-
Amounts still owing the county, ac-
cording to the report, are as follows:
Justice McClintOck. S113S10; justice
Murphy, s202.S0; constable. SS-.s eA-
county attorney BridgersY 4bS4-49.
The audit OF the tax collectors OF
flee has not been completed No audll
was made Of the sheriff's and survey
or's offices
The present audit does not touch IN
anv way upon the general accounts or
financial transactions Of the county
itself. involving the disbursement in the
three years Of some S1,sOO,000 of the
PEOPLES money. The present auolt
covers some Of the fee offices only, the
total transactions running up to only
a comparatively few thousands. as
contrasted to the SS,6OO,00O or mere
abouts Of in-and-out handling Of pub
lie money in the general business OF
the county not touched upon in any
way by the present audit
Dispute Over Fees.
In the cases Of the justices Of the
peace q question was raised as 70
whether or not the fee system applied
at the time Of the audit In other in
stances, it was claimed that faulty
Bookkeeping methods was responsible
for delay in the payments. In COM
menting on the audit, Roy Barnum,
one Of the auditors. said: There is a
dispute and an argument among office
holders as to the amount Of excess fee
these officers are entitled to-"
A total OF S69445 was shown by the
audit to be due from district attorney
". ". Bridgers when he was county
attorney. The audit covered the period
from Nov. 80. 1911, to Nov. 80, 1872.
Mr.. Bridgers said that he did not have
any chance to check up. The first
year I was in office 7 came nearer get
ting what 1 was entitled to under the
law than I did any other year" said
Bridgers- The district attorney wanted
time to 20 over the auditors report
and he was given until July Is, when
the commissioners viii hold q regular
At that time county attorney
P R Price was instructed to hand in
an opinion covering the contention OF
the Justices Of the peace on the ques-
ton Of the fee system applying to them
at the time covered by the audit
As for the justices Of the peace, the
auditors reported that they found
number OF cases on the docket and no
record Of any disposition having been
made Of the cases. A number Of de-
PENDANTS in criminal cases, the report
was, had been released, without any I
record being made of the disposition
Of the case. Most Of those paid no
fines" said judge E. B. McClintock- /
Those were cases where women and
children uvOuld have been left without Z
anything to eat Murphy let a lot OF !
-hese go. I figured that If they had !
1een placed in jail their families would
rave been on the pauper rolls and the {
defendant would have been kept in the I
county jail at the county expense In /
-hese cases the county stood to lose I
We just lost our costs. There /
ire cases where a defendant was just 1
ined 81, the officers lost their costs, /
Tut the dollar was turned over to the 1
county treasurer"
THE justices were entitled to more 4
han their books showed" said Mr.. Nc
;ain, one of the auditors.
VIII Try TO Reform