The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1929-03-21
(FrOm The Observer)

sembly of Maryland in conjunction
It'll the Nelligan Committee, alleged
by the friends of the State admins
tration to be engaged in trying to fix
the responsibility for the maladminiS-
tration of the State Roads Depart
ment the writer Of these lines went
down to Annapolis one day this week
and took a peek.
The morning session was over and
it was long wait till the afternoon
session. But Of a sudden while this
poor reporter was busy in the lobby
discussing international problems
with George Lewis, the great body
convened in the old Senate Chamber.
Hurrying in after noting the arrival
of deposed Road Chairman John N.
Mackall with his lawyer, VIM. L.
Rawls, nearly all the seats provided
for witnesses and spectators were
found to be occupied. In the last row
on the left were a half dozen seats
but when the writer undertook to
occupy them the rgeant-at-arms
warned: "You can't sit there: those
seats are reserved for the defense"
Notice to all the world that this
was a trial, instead of the investiga
ton alleged by the followers of the
administration. So it was that Mac
kali and his lawyer sat on the left
while this spectator found a seat way
up front on the right and almost fac
ing Lawyer Edwin G. Baetjer, Jr,
who seems to be anxious to catch per-
jurers who perjure against the reign
ing house of Richie.
We wait until there arrives Chair
man Senator Scott Beck of Kent, his
brow bullying like the famous brow of
Daniel Webster. He stoops and whis
pers to Lawyer Charles McHenry
Howerd and Joseph Napoleon France
but takes no whispering note of Law
yer Alexander Armstrong, G. 0, P,
sitting alongside.
In the chamber are secretaries and
messengers of the Governor waiting
to catch word to take to the Execu-
tive office upstairs. Also many others
not identified.
At one end of the long table sit
Haskins & Sells, the men who made
the latest road audit and who also
made the system of accounting for
the Roads Commission through which
thieves walked without touching the
sides. They are seated next to Mr..
Baetjer, the figure wizard of the
Baltimore bar, as well as strong
friend of the reigning Governor.
Close by is Richard B. Tippett, grim
and cold. Comes late Speaker Brooke
Lee and takes a seat behind Mr.. Arm
strong and close to him is Secretary
of State Winebrenner, like Lee,
Mackall champion.
On the witness stand is Daniel H.
Carroll, Deputy State Auditor, who
seems to have gotten into disfavor
with the Richie administration by
digging out the Roads scandal in the
course of his official duties.
Mr.. Baetjer in mild tones resumes
the examination of Carroll begun in
the forenoon. He recites long propo-
sition and Carroll has to say eyes"
The spectators think-some of them
it sounds like a frameup. When
Mr.. Baetjer runs down Mr.. Arm
strong brings out the statement from
Carroll that State Auditor Lewis M.
Melbourne, a Ritchie-Lee appointee,
objected to carrying the audit of the
Roads Commission books further
back than the one year in which the
stealing was first discovered. Mil
bourne's alleged reason was that
prior years had already been "audit-
ed"
At this statement by Carroll the re-
porters who had been browsing over
their pipes came to life for few
minutes. Haskins & Sells took some
notes or one of them did.
At one point Carroll said something
about a bill for tar figuring in the
accounts. Some snickered at the
mention of tar pots in a whitewash
hearing.
Brooke Lee whispers something to
Haskins & Sells.
Carroll says the Governor was noti-
fled of the scandal the day after
Mackall was notified. At that time
the overdrafts amounted to more than
$4,000 but there were other revealed
stealings the aggregate of which Car
roll did not state.
Later in the week it came out that
Richie and Mackall had the main
facts as to the scandal for more than
a week before the story leaked into
he daily papers. They were keeping
Z all in the dark. They were cover
ing it up for political purposes. Mac
kali wanted to hold on to his job
Richie wanted desperately to hold on
to his.
Lee puts one question-not import
ant-but framed in such way as to