The Bienville Democrat. [volume] (Arcadia, Bienville Parish, La.) 1912-1980, 1920-07-01
TO THE PUBLIC
Arcadia, La. June 80, 1927

| have been llllOrlueu that WI
Rush Wimberly in speech at bleh-
lille on Saturday, June 26, l92o naae
.ertain charges against me, both as
.itizen and as an officer Of this par
sh, which charges may be summed up
substantially as follows;
That | had thousand dol
lars of your money down in my
leans and that six hundred dollars
of it had prescribed and that you
would never get 1t back
=. That the Grand Jury was
picked jury and that Mr. s. H.
Manning, one of the jurors was an
enemy of his and that they had
not spoken in years;
8. That before any witnesses
got before the Grand Jury, either
| or Mr. Currie, the Sheriff, would
see the witnesses and instruct them
about how to testify or swear; ana
t. That had stated that II
he, Wimberly, was elected DIS
trict Attorney, that | would move
out of the parish.
Answering these charges IN reverse
order | may state that have never
made the statement that if Mr.. VIM
berly was elected District Attorney,
would move out of the parish. l de-
sire it plainly understood that Mr..
Wimberly nor any other man can run
me out of the parish. My record is
before the people and so is Mr.. VIM
berly's. The people can judge.
Relative to my meeting and talking
to witnesses and advising them what
to testify, this wilful lie, without
any foundation whatever and l defy
Mr.. Wimberly to produce a single wit.
ness who appeared before the Grand
Jury who will bear him out in this
false statement.
As to the second charge, the Grand
Jurors were selected just as all Grand
Jurors have been selected, and in ac-
cordance with law. The Jury Com
mission, of which | am member by
virtue of my, Office as clerk, tried to
select, and | believe did select repre-
sentative body of men, whose character
as citizens could not be questioned; two
of the men selected were relatives OF
Mr.. Ed r. IOe and whose case Mr..
Wimberly seems to champion both as
an official and as a citizen, and all
the men who were drawn on the Crane
Jury, | know to be good, true, law abid.
ing citizens.
About Mr.. Mannings not having spok.
en- to Mr.. Wimberly for many years,
know nothing, neither did the other
members Of the Jury Commission, S
far as | know. nor did it concern us
in the selection of a Grand Jury. mol
lis Mr.. Manning disqualified to act as
Grand Juror on account of this
fact.
About the Clerks books having beef
|audited and my accounts being shor
lone thousand dollars; six hundred dol
liars Of which had prescribed, this il
also wilful lie. In the first place
there has never been an audit of thu
books of the clerks Office, so far as
know. However, about four or fiv
years, ago, the auditor checked up tn
books and records of the Police Jur,
and pointed out certain items consist
ing of stationery, pencils, ink and othe
miscellaneous Office supplies which n
the auditor, claimed under his cor
struction of the law, should not hav
been paid for by the Police Jury bu
, by me as Clerk out of my fees fron
the Office.
A copy of this report was sent t
the Police Jury and | understand
copy to the District Attorney. az
peared before the Police Jury and el
planned to them what these items col
/ sisted of and | knew that during tn
eight years of Mr.. Cr0wsons admir-
: istration, these same items had bee
. paid for by the Police Jury and tn
. loldest members of the Police Jury sta
i d that they had been paid for by I'll
/ Police Jury as far back as there We
: and record and the matter was SUI
United to the District Attorney for h
). lopinion and he acquiesced in this al
advised that, under his construction
the law, it was permissible, If not e
tirely proper for the Police Jury to pa
for this under the law, and the matt
!, has not been questioned since that tim
u SO far as | know, until Mr.. Wimber
> became SO sOlicitous of the interest
: the people on last Saturday afte
: noon.
. | don't remember the amount clail
=, :. ed had been paid by the Police Jul
:, Ias | don't have a copy Of that repol
: ut my recollection IS that it was SON
u hing like $24400. During Mr.. Gro
i on's administration, Mr. Wimbel
q was attorney for the Police Jury t
: some years and / know Of my own pc
: sonal knowledge that these items we
paid for by the Police Jury when
u was its legal advisor and had the Q
~ portunity to advise them not to p
~ for such items above mentioned.
4 Mr.. Wimberly was so interested
- your affairs, why didn't he prott
d your rights then?
~ Mr.. Wimberly knows that ! cam
y support his candidacy for the Office
" District Attorney because | know
e much about his record as a citiz
? and as an officer and, in my opinit
~ he is making these statements abe
n me to divert the minds OF the peol
le from his own dark record. Respectf
nc lly. w. j. MURPHY
le paid advertisement
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