The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-10-31
ADVERTISEMENT
DIR. HESTON'S REPLY TO HANS
URDAHL.

ADVERTISEMENT
DIR. HESToN'S REPLY TO HANS
URDAHL.
To the Voters of Lake County, s.
D.-Gentlemen: 1t seems necessary
to address you and present to the
public some Information bearing on
the attacks made on me by Mr.. Hans
Urdahl in a recent article published
under his name and by him in The
Daily Leader. He evidently believes
ne can urn the attention Of the pub
lie away from his w record by at
lacking me and that In this way he
may get votes for his return TO the
senate. Hence he m out with a
long article of abuses and crimes |
am supposed to nave committed.
What all this has to do with his
election to the senate | do not see,
but he probably does. l did not
come to this community to fight and
tear down men or institutions. II
came to build, not destroy. / regret
/ am not allowed t proceed in peace
with my public work which never
was more important than 1t is to-
ludg"Uul OuI 0ltudlhth ClV 10 ho1
unfortunate and so we must make
the best of what we have. In the
long, complex and confusing letter
there are but few things of real i'm
portance. These only ! will answer.
First, the charge that | was I'm the
habit of borrowing club funds. This
I emphatically and specifically deny
in toto. Not a word of truth in all
the figures and statements to this
effect. / never borrowed n dollar
from That or any other trust fund 1 N
connection with this institution. The
items In the Urdahl letter of $25,
1926 and $453.85, claimed as having
been put to my use were obtained
under these circumstances: The
young woman acting as cashier dur
ing the months of January, Febru-
airy and March had charge of W
separate funds, book funds and club
funds. The book fund is my own. l
had last school year to install a book
room to supply textbooks for stu
dents. | furnished all the funds for
this, the same as / did to buy coal
for my house. I sold the books at
) the lowest price possible, just to
make pens of freight n han
! ding of the books. / never made a
/, cent on these books-in fact, as near
as | am able to figure the year out.
I will lose over 500 on the expert
: ment. But that book money was my
| own and did not belong to students,
, nor faculty, nor the regents. II was
this I took and left receipts for. be-
nn,,u0 Y 1aA nCHnd ppnf Tnn1nc IN
check up the sales of Miss Baker that
; we might keep track OF the business.
, The two amounts taken and mention
: ed in this Urdahl letter are $35 and
$125 and are charged to the club ac-
: count incorrectly, and the circum-
> stances under which the checking UP
, was done must be here introduced to
make this clear. I have already
stated that Miss Baker, the account
: ant. had both the book funds and
club funds in her care. While | was
east attending a meeting of educators
in February and just about two days
after I left here, Mr.. Urdahl proposed
to Mr.. Golf, In charge of the institu'
ton, that an auditing be made Of
club accounts and went at it. II
would seem that Urdahl thought Il
e would be a good time to do this fol
he knew that there had been somt
! confusion in my office force, due Il
Mr.. Westaby's going to war in haste
and not turning over affairs fully anC
2 further to the fact that a student
u Mss Baker, the young woman II
Q charge of the accounts, was new a
the work. Through his checking III
or whatever you call 1t, Ii seemI
= there appeared on the face a consid
cradle shortage. The money, h,
! states, could not be found. and Their
was some excitement, to be sure. +
was 1900 miles away at this time
g knew nothing of the situation. i
i was under these circumstances tha
y they counted into club funds my TIVE
bills given for book money.
Let me state here, all the fund
: were found later, when Mr.. Westab,
was able to get back here April !
He and the public examiner soon sep
arated all our funds and then the,
found that Mr.. Westaby had 81,
462.12 in the Lake County Nationa
bank, which he had placed there wa,
back last fall, before leaving. bu
had hurried away to war withou
checking over his accounts. Thi
amount he deposited on the follow
ing dates:
July Is, 1871. ......$ 1926
September 1, 1917. 1900
October %, 1917. $500. 5000
October 26. 1917........ 5000
November 2, 1917 ...... 1894
Total .$1,462.1
The transfer to my book accoun
of $453.S5 by Miss Baker was her Ell
ror. which she explains herself, an
was transferred back to the club ae
count as soon as / learned of tn
mistake.
Affidavit.