The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-06-16
CHARGE WASTE
OF POOR FUND
BY EX-TRUSTEE
Relief Given Men Employed
on County Jobs, Say
Board Members.
PROBE HARDING REGIME
Scores of Bills Question in
State Accounts Group
Inquiry.
BY SHELDON KEY

Probe into alleged expendit1 .es
for poor relief during the closing
days of the administration of Mrs.
Amelia Harding, former Center
township trustee, today echoed with
startling charges of waste and ir-
regularitieS in distribution of poor
aid funds.
Expenditures Of Mrs. Harding in
1880, totaled $4S7, 1906.
Mrs. Harding, disregarding the
already overburdened taxpaying
public last December, had food bas-
ketS sent to her friends, one
deputy sheriff and another a deputy
county treasurer, who still is in pub
lie Office, state board of accounts
members say their inquiry revealed
Scores of other poor relief bills
submitted by one of Mrs. Hardings
grocers, H. j. Boston, and totaling
$17,129.42 for December alone, were
questioned by county commissioners
and have been under the scrutiny
of the state board Of accounts.
Employed; Given Aid
Fred P. Fox, former deputy
sheriff under Sheriff George
Winkler, and Arch c. Phelps, pres
ent deputy for Clyde E. Robinson,
county treasurer, obtained poor re-
lief by use of their wives maiden
names, the investigation is said to
have shown.
Combined income, at that time.
Of Fox and his wife, who lived at
521 North Grant avenue, was $3.50
a month, while Phelps is receiving
$1,000 a year as deputy treasurer.
The Phelps family lives at 523 North
Grant avenue.
After a two months check of
Bostons poor relief bills, commits
sioners allowed him a claim of
SIT, 104.36, deducting $10.74 for poor
relief sent the deputy sheriff and
$14.32 for groceries given the
Phelps family.
Other Bills Questioned
Although the state board OF &C
counts is said to have found no
other definite indications of fraud
upon the county, scores Of other
bills, including those of two coal
companies, are questionable, county
commissioners declared.
Receipts for food delivered to
houses, now vacant, and instances
where families received from two to
four tons Of coal a month are
-aracy ff4oea v,yA0v, ~vvt,ioI, ,1,.,,,4i~
sioners reluctantly stamped their
approval, they said.
Republican county leaders have
announced they will ask Robinson
to dismiss Phelps as soon as the
treasurer leaves the hospital where
he now is confined.
Quiz Hundred Witnesses
In connection with the probe, the
board of accounts questioned almost
hundred witnesses, many of whom
verified the receipt of poor relief
with sworn af11davits.
Twenty-Five other cases where de-
livery slips were missing of persons,
to whom Phelps declared he de-
livered groceries, we're checked dur
ing the investigation.
Excessive poor relief bills were
submitted by Boston, it is indicated
by the statement of Commissioner
George Snider, who said, that the
average monthly grocers bill for
poor relief totaled approximately
$4,000"
Boston's wife also is employed by
the county as clerk in the county
assessors Office.
Snider charged the administration
Of poor relief by Mrs. Harding was
lone Of the worst I ever have seen
perpetrated on Marion county"