The Washington times., 1915-10-01

! ficials. was prepared. The bill to oust
the city officials was filed almost 81
| multaneously In the circuit court The
| chancery probe started amid great ex-
! fever. The revelations were amazing.
Stokes and his associates became not
| able in day. II was found that the
commissioners had approved a budget
5l02l. when the income for the city for
1915 would be only $l.9s0.6lRl5: that
with the new bond issue recenely pass
ed. the bonded city debt was over @.-
Upon investigating the street depart
ment. 1t was found that city mules had
| been worked on the farm OF the com
| missioner Of street sewers sixteen miles
in the country: that feed for the ,ity
teams had been cart"d away 10 the
! country home ~ one Of the commission
| ers: that bricks from the city streets
were used TO build garage and coal.
house for the same commissioner: that
| one paving concern had a secret agree
! ment with the commission whereby
sively by it was to be used. With the
result that this paving company had
secured all the paving contracts. ard
| moreover. It was using paving outfit
a contract therefor. and had paid no
rent for months. On a paving contract
of $250.O0O. a Chattanooga company bid
$3O 900 lower than this favored concern.
! which. 1t developed. was paying a Job
, byist 5 cents per yard for all work done
| to show II how to get woTR In Fash-
! Vile" J. Morgan Wilke-son. commits.
sioner Of streets, as a sequel. resigned
July %.
Probe Goes Deep.
| Tho chancery probe went deeper.
Commissioner Elliott, Of the department
of equipment. could not make a salts
factory explanation Of accounts in his
| department. His son was in the auto
mobile business. and through another
| concern automobiles were sold to the
city on biddings that called for the
make and type sold ny the son. Other
, agencies bid, but offered only this make.
ast dns Hear haa c1st 5st a
| ance $45, 1882. This exclusive OF the
fire department. which was we'll sup
piled with auto engines.
Each commissioner. his secretary
an6 all other employees of conse
quence had automobiles that had been
paid for by the city. maintained by
the city. and operated by chauffeurs
paid 500 to tla5 per month from the
the commissioner of equipment had
employed a former henchman at s.
per day whose duty II was to tear
down buildings in practically good
to the country home Of this commits
sioner.
Another sensational feature of the
hearing was the testimony of Mayor
How're. He defied Stokes and was
found to be armed while in court. He
declared on the stand that. nothing
hut stick OF dynamite or a Supreme
Court order can blow me out OF the
city hall" He told of recent trips TO
New York to sell city bonds. one
taunt recently costing the city S1.150,
for which he failed to turn in an
itemized account. A dinner at New
York hctel costing $465. given to
those interested in buying city
bonds" was charged up to the city,
and bond issue was never ordered
eral hundreds of dollars for trips
East, despite the fact that the bonds
were sold at Nashville and the money
handled through local banks.
Investigation Still Goes On.
The foregoing are only few Of the
revelations made. Mayor Howse and
Commissioners Alexander and Elliott.
before being temporarily ousted. had
elected Park Marshall commissioner to
succeed Andrews and George Stain
back to succeed Wilkerson. After the
custer proceedings. the three commits
succeed Howse, and J. o. Tankard to
succeed Andrews. Alexander until then
was the only hold-over OF the old
regime. A few days later he resigned
} when 1t was shown that as commis-
soner Of the lighting department he
be furnished with electricity free.
Meanwhile the chancery and circuit
court investigations continue. the Tor
! mer to reach missing funds. the iatter
which viii be fipallv passed upon by
the supreme coure this month.