The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1914-02-27

loan was received full investigation
would have to be made as to whether
5 or not the applicant is a relative by
blood or marriage to any member Of
s the Board, and. should this be impro,
pretty, it would certainly be improprie,
, ~ for the Board to lend money to
WARM friends the question as to
law being already settled by the Su.
prcmc Court the Board then would
necessarily have to settle the question
after all ns to the propriety, which
would b" far-reaching.
! have no criticisms to make against
the grand jury. They did the best they
could with the lights before them, and
unfortunately they could not get all of
the information, This grand Jury was
composed Of men Of ability and honor
and they did their duty as they under
stood it.
Some years ago il became necessary
for the Board to purchase a tract of
land for the county prisoners. This in
%tcntlon of the Board was advertised in
tn" newspapers and only two offers
were submitted, one from Mrs. M. f.
Haley and the other from Thompson e.
Mcclure, the latter being a Section on
Buck Lake. half way between Itta Bena
and Schlatcr, inaccessible, undesirable.
and then five to ten dollars per acre
higher than the other land. The land
offered by M, f. Haley was bought for
$500 per acre. which was much less
than its value. The question as to the
legality of this purchase was submitted
to the Attorney-Gcneral with full in.
formation as to Mrs. M. +. Haley be-
ing the wife of a member of the Board,
and NJ. +. Haley buying land from A
member of the Board, and the Attor.
ney- General very promptly replied that
there was no question as to the Boards
right to purchase this land, and that
Tn" real question was for the Board to
purchase any land where it would be to
tn" interest Of the county, keeping
within the law and ignoring everything
rIs". He cited decisions of the Supreme
Court Now you are to Judge whether
ur Not til" Board made a mistake.
Soon after this Judge Cashln told the
rrand jury publicly that they should in.
dIrI III" Board for buying this land.
The grand jury treated this order with
| silent contempt.
Som" years ngo NJ. 4, Haley bought
certain property from J.. l.. Haley.
THIS vas a straight bonaGde %transac-
ton. At that time M. f. Haley sold
to j, l.. Haley an interest in her home;
the deed was properly drawn and prop
erly acknowledged. This sale was
known to a firm of attorneys in Green.
wood, and by my attorney who repre-
scented me in bankruptcy proceedings
last year. knew Of this sale, but, il be
ing exempt property, was not listed in
the proceedings.
Now, as to the other comments in
this matter, by certain parties: | have
no comment to make except that, IL az
he says, the property of M. E. Haley
is really owned by J. l.. Haley,
would like to get the gentleman to
come down here and force my wife TO
GIVE ME MY PROPERTY; and mas
much as the property has been success
fully handled and is now Of consider.
able value, would like to employ the
gentleman to bring suit against M. Z.
Haley and force her to the
property to me, especially inasmuch az
he seems to have all of the facts.
1t has also been stated that was
the Vice-President of the Itta Bena
Banking and Trust Company at the
time it was elected to handle the county
funds as a depository. This was news
to me. ! have never been Vice Presi-
dent Of that bank nor have | been on
the Finance or Loan Committee. and
have never been consulted about any
loan. ! did not know beforehand that
the bank had applied as depository and
| did not vote on the question when it
came up. ! explained to the Board
that ! was a Director in that institution
and would absolutely take no part in it.
] will state, however, regardless Of the
outcome Of the suit against the county
by the Bond Companies, that the county
will not lose one cen on account Of
this bank business, and | will state
further: that the creditors and deposi-
tors Of the bank shall not lose one cent;
that, if the bank is allowed to liquidate
its affairs in its WI way, that the
stock of this bank will be worth from
40 to 50 cents on the dollar in twelve
months time.
This statement is made frankly a I
have nothing to conceal, and | am sorry
only for the mistakes that have been
made. We at our best make mistakes.
| will serve you to the best of my
ability as long as | am q member of
the Board, and | will protect our in
terest even though it makes enemies
in the future as in the past.
Respectfully,
J. L. HALEY.