The record. [volume] (St. Maries, Idaho) 1913-1918, 1914-06-09

That the charges made by
Councilman Biteman against Ger
tain others of the city officers
were of a serious enough char
acter and were sufficiently sub
stantialed to warrant an investi-
cation was the general opinion of
the taxpayers gathered at the
mass meeting at Skeletons q
Warren's hall Saturday evening,
and steps were taken to that end.
James Nevins, f. r. Scott and
i. q. Shaw were named as a COM
mittee with instructions to name
two others to act with them i'm
making a thorough Investigation
into Mr.. Biteman's charges and
into all other transactions of the
city officials.
There was a large attendance
of the taxpayers of the city at
the meeting and they all seemed
intensely interested i'm the pro-
ceedings.
The meeting was very inform
al. No chairman was elected
and no efforts toward any organ
izatiOn were made.
After a number had gathered
in the hall Mr.. Bitemau took the
floor and reiterated the charges
that he had previously made
through the columns of this pa
per and in private conversation.
He charged Councilman Geist of
having illegally obtained money
from the city for plumbing on
the city Jail, the bill being put in
in the name of one Mr.. Richard
son, then in his employ, without
his knowledge or consent, and he
gave the voucher number of the
bill. He also accused Mr.. Geist
Of having, in the same manner,
collected from the city for labor
and material used in putting a
sewer under the railroad track,
and also claimed that the charges
that there were number of 9TH
were exOrbilant. He stated
er like instances, but he did not
go into particulars. He further
charged that Geist was a mem
ber of the auditing committee and
audited these bills.
The most serious charge which
he made was in relation to the
contract for putting in the sewer
i'm sewer district No. five. He
stalled that Mr.. Geist was on the
sewer committee that acted with
the sewer commission i'm letting
the contract and, although he
did not expressly mention Mr..
Geist by name, he insinuated that
he was the party interested in the
contract and that Mr.. PurVis, in
whose name thee ontract was
drawn was only a iigurehead. AL
though he did not expressly men
tion the name, his inferences and
statements were so strong that
no one present could mistake his
meaning or his intention To
charge him with being the party
interested in the contract.
He expressly charged that this
contract was not let to the low
est bidder; that the lowest bid
was something over $1,000,
while the contract price was Si3-
600.
He also charged that the sew
er was not put in according to
specifications; that it lacked from
one to three feet in places of be-
ing put down to the depth called
for in the specifications. He al
so charged that he had been in
formed that the blue prints
called for a manhole in every
block, while one had only beer
put in in every other block, anC
also that in a great many in
stances the joints of the sewer
pipe had not been cemented to-
gether as called for i'm the speci-
iications, and yet the contractor
had been paid the full amount
of the contract price.
He stated that he had objected
in the council to accepting anC
approving the report OF the sew
er commission but had been over
ruled.
He called attention TO the con-
tract for removing the bodies
from the old cemetery to the new
and stated that at the time th'
question of letting the contrac
came up in the council the mayo
stated that there were ninety
five bodies TO be moved and tina
friends would pay for MOVING
thirtyiive and that at the price t'
be charged it would cost the cit.
about 81, 200; that when the bill
came TO be audited it was foI
moving i2O bodies. Only thre'