The Bienville Democrat. [volume] (Arcadia, Bienville Parish, La.) 1912-1980, 1920-07-01
TO THE PUBLIC
Arcadia, La, June 30, 1870

"A
10 tho Citizens of Bienyille parish:
ON June 26, 1920 Mr.. J. Rush VIM
herly in speech in the Town OF ben
Vile made certain charges against ne
which my friends, who heafd 'lils
speech. think l should answer ana l'o'
let pass unnoticed 90
" understand he charged that my ac
co,,nts had been checked and fouhd
short but that | had paid 1t; that our
ING the session of the Grand jury las,
vaek | would take the witnesses ana
ho,d them and tell them what to swear
and thpD send them to the Grand Jur.
room and that Mr.. Lee Manning
mpuber of the Grand Jury came To
mo if once. at least a hundred times
in connection with the case being Ill
vestigated -.
These charges against me are 1alse
70 fine core and no one knows thls Del'
for than Mr.. Wimberly. My accounts
have been checked annually by the
auditor of the state. On some OF these
occasions there have been errors III III!
hooks and when these errors have Deel
fouud they have been Strengthened out
without any trouble whatever, once
81 twice when was checked up II
was found that a full settlement mad
NOT beep made with the School Board
At another time ii was found that ]
had made an error and had paid
81 10000 too much and this amount
was refunded to me. Only a short
time ago when Mr.. Carl Go1f LETT my
Office TO begin work in the bank :,
had him and Malcolm Currie to checl
m the books and they found that Ger
tain fines that had been collected ha
not been paid into the School Board
which was an oversight in making the
settlement and all the money was OF
hand with which to make this settle
ment and ms soon as it was discovered
tho settlement was promptly made.
I employ the best accountants anf
hnokkeepers that the limited amount OF
frnds allowed for expense will permit
and depend upon them to keep r9y &C
rGnnfs correct. | have secured an(
paid for a S260OO00 bond costing mt
$50 90 per year for the protection OF
the people of this parish, and any time
am found short and have no funds tc
nav such shortage, the bonding com
many will pay every penny Of thi'
amount
Relative to the charge that | hat
tempered with the witnesses or tried t
influence the Grand Jury or advise an.
member concerning any case that wa
being investigated, / brand this as
wilful lie and defy anyone to prov
that |, in any way, tried to Influence
the Grand Jury, or talked with an
witness about what he should or wOul
testify to before the Grand Jury.
have wondered many times, since
heard what Mr. Wimberly stated abou
me, If he could truthfully make tn
statement relative to talking to vii
nesses and trying to influence member
of the Grand Jury that have jus
made
The only interest | had was to sun
mons such witnesses as might be d
rected to summons before the Gran
Jury and / had no interest whateye
in any case that was investigated, a
though | happened to be witness /
three or four matters that were il
yestigated and | appeared before tt
Grand Jury, was sworn and testlfie
lust as all other witnesses did.
The statement that II Mr.. Mannir
came to me once, he came hundre
times relative to matters pending b
fore the Grand Jury is equally fall
and without foundation. Mr.. Mannil
is man who usually attends to b
own business and is capable OF doll
so. He has never been one OF n
supporters In a political way, but tn
does not disqualify him as citiz'
or q Grand Juror and while we do III