Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-04-20
County Attorney Questions
Sheriff Closely About,
Items of Expense =
OFFICER DENIES HE
INSTRUCTED DEPUTY
Maintains That He Did Not
Advise Assistant on
&! Number Of Meals
(From Tuesdays Daily.)

I'll
II (From Tuesdays Daily)
9her,ff cremsr continued In the
Z cress examination this afternoon
70 offer his own explanations for
alleged overeharges, mistakes In
accounts and excessive expense
llDfs. ho maintained that he left
an bookkeeping matters Of the Of
s noe In the hands Of his deputy,
Charles Doran, and that every.
thing rested With him.
The finishing Of Sheriff Cremer's
I terdmony in his own behalf and the
cross examination conducted by
County Attorney Daugherty have
{ today featured the custer proceed
ings trial OF the sheriff which is being
heard at the district court house be-
! fore Judge A. N. Hobson Of West
\ Union, special jurist The states
witnesses on the rebuttal were expect
Cd TO be heard and the arguments be-
gun before adjournment this evening.
On the cross examination many Of
\ the subpoenas and warrants were
zone over and questions asked the
1 sheriff on them. He identified the
books and records Of the Office He
said that he knows how to keep them
ana does not now consider anything
very dinlcult about them. 8.h
] Had Another Book.
ss When asked if there was not an
\ other book which he kept himself, the
witness said that If the cross exam
1ner was referring to the book of civil
fees for serving foreign processes he
i did not keep 1t himself but rather it
was kept by Mr. Doran. He later
identified several entries in his own
v handwriting beginning with the first
one In the book He also acknowl-
\ edged improper entries. some Of
which had been transferred later to
the proper book. The sheriff said
that he has not reported them to the
county or accounted for them in any
way.
When he FLED his yearly report
January (, 1916, he did not Know that
Y they were not in It, The book shown
the witness was claimed by him to
{ be the only one he knew about. When
asked why there were no entries in
1t prior to August, 1915, he said that
!, he supposed there were AS far as
he knew, there were foreign papers
served during the early part of his
4 :, $ba1y oil IN
4 ono book.
Thought Expense Right.
In referring to several cases, in
which excess charges for expense are
alleged, the sheriff said that he put
down as his items for expense what he
considered correct and the amount to
which he was legally entitled.
He claims he was told to change
expense items to the mileage column
i and that that was the reason he per-
] sisted In doing it. He figures that he
ran the number of miles charged in
serving some Of the papers and main
tains that that was his sole reason in
Nsting them as he did.
Paid Travis Bill. t.~
On the direct examination Mr.. Crem-
er said that he went to Peoria, ILL.,,
4 after James Travis and paid for the
u trip. He did not turn this bill into
I the county nor does he expect to. The
4 reason he did not was because he felt.
If that, while he was not entirely to
blame for letting Travis get away, yet
I ne deemed it his duty to get him back
I lie he could He says he let him go
~, ho county OF cnopoctiop
and he felt that Judge Hunter blamed
\ him for letting the prisoner get away.
He said that after the custer case
was started against him that Judge
Hunter called him into his office one
1 day and told him that he had found
out that he was not so much to blame
3 for Travis getaway and that he felt
differently about it. To these state
7 ments, County Attorney Daugherty OBJ
jected on the grounds that Mr.. Gill
I more, who was examining Mrs Cremer,
was putting the words into the wit
ness mouth To this the court an
swered that they were pretty leading
and to avoid it II possible.
The sheriff claims that he spent
nearly week getting witnesses for
the Brooks cases and several times
had to ride horseback for 4 two days
hunting them. He said the roads we're
30 bad part of the time that he could
\ not get through the Fox river bottoms
4 with buggy and most certainly not
with car. 49,, .
Has Gone Unpaid.
The sheriff maintained that he has
/ done a great deal of work. in enforc-
Ing law, for which he has never re-
ceived any pay. He cited number
OF these instances among them being
d times he had answered calls in the
middle of the night to apprehend sup
posed chicken thieves, investigate a
burning school house, see why an auto
load Of people had stopped on the