The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1926-07-02
WASHINGTON COUNTY
AFFAIRS ALL in A MESS
When You Put Republican Auditor Over
Democratic Office Holders There's
The Devil To Pay

across the Sound from us, since
they got to mixing up the poll
tics OF that county, putting IN
Democrats in some county OF
iiccS and Republicans in others.
There is no harmony in the
County administration and out
OF all the diScord the tax pay
erS are learning something
about county government.
e. V. W. Aushor. Clerk of the
Court is alleged To h" short S4.3O7
in his arcountS and suit against
him is now pending and on the
docket of the July term OF the
Superior Court for trial.
Former Sheriff j. f. Reid died
i'm March 1929 and investigation of
his affairs disclosed shortage Of
S:;i 900. His bondSmrn are being
sued. Ex- Sheriff Reid was succeed
ed I'm office by his sou !. X. Reid
who has done the best he could 70
make good his fathers shortage and
has actually made good $4,000 Of
the amount.
An audit of thp accounts Of the
former treasurer Gus Holmes in
dicatrd y shortage of S1,3S662 in
that Scutlcman'S accounts. Mr..
Holmes obli-in-ly gave the audi
tors. 4. Lee Rawlings 4 Co. his
personal check for S1.3S6.62 I" bal
ance his accounts. That WAS in
August 1924. That check has not
been deposited for collection or
turned over To the County TreaSur-
or vet. according to W. j. Jackson.
.Ir.. the County Auditor
Ja"kS"n alleges that the check
is held in the archives Of the
County Board of Education and
makes no bones about saying that
the Board Of Education il shield
in= Holmes.
In the meantime John W. Oar
den. who has occupied the office
of County Superintendent of Edu-
catirn for Is years or SO is being
accused here and there Of all sorts
of irregularities. Jackson charges
that Dar,leu borrowed S2JWN for
the schools and deposited $4,000
of the sum to his personal account.
issuing vouchers for school supplies
against his personal account. =: e.
Jackson also charges. that Dar-
den purchased certaia school trucks
Of the international Harvester Co.
of Charlotte. y. C.. issuing youch-
or therefor i'm the sum of SS.JS4.3J.
Jackson alleges that Darden pre-
Srntrd no original invoice covering
these trucks and that when he got
q statement of the account from
the International Harvester Go. the
hiT1 for the trucks was S1.69O.i3.
or SSS46O less than the amount or
the voucher issued to Darden for
the trucks. Jackson hints strongly
that this difference of SSS4.6o repre-
srntS profit ont of the truck trans
action that Darden took for himself.
This young man Jackson. the
county auditor is the real trouble
maker in Washington. He just
can't seem to understand why the
affairs of the county should not he
on q busineSs-like basis
and when he secs the tax payers
money running thru all sorts OF
rafholpS he raises an alarm ana
talks about it i'm way that makes
the accused county officilS hate him
and call him all sorts of imprint
able names.
But Jackson goes right on talking.
The editor of this newspaper sat
i'm his office in Plymouth the other
morning and heard him make the
bold charge that Supt. Darden
Shonld he removed from office ana
that he had appealed to the County
BOARD of Education and to the
State Superintendent of Public III
Struction to bring Darden to task.
but that neither the County Board
nor State Superintendent A. L.
Allen would make any move against
Dardcu. 'Darden is strongly III
declared Jackson; lie
has held the office until l guess
he thinks it belongs to him; he Is
a great church man. a great secret
order man, belongs to the Shrine
and the Ku Klux Klan and has
Il large following to back him IN al
most anything he does
Turning to his files Jackson pro-
duced an affidavit made by
Washington county artisan who dld
some work on one of the schools III
that county. who swearS that, act
ing upon orders from Darden. he
took loads of materials from the
SrhOOOlhOuSe. carried it to the
premises of Superintendent Darden
and used it in the construction OF
DardenS own nome.
That's the way things Sc ID