The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1939-12-14

ms "HIAe waning LUZ Inc jury TO re-
turn their verdict, and after he was re-
vlved, was taken to his home
"Willful Violation
Neil C. Fraley, Garrett County
States Attorney, termed the pipe pur-
chase "willful violation of existing
laws" and asked the jury in his plea
for verdict of guilty.
Mr.. Fraley had only three witnesses
for the State, Mr.. Meyers, clerk to the
Commissioners; William J. PelI, sales
man for the Maryland Culvert and
Pipe Company, from whom the mater
ial was purchased, and G. Bates
Chaires, formerly in charge of State
roads and number of county roads in
this county.
The defense had approximately So
witnesses, but did not use near that
many in presenting their case.
Ten witnesses testified on Tuesday
morning who were mostly farmers
from communities where WPA roads
were being constructed and where the
culvert pipe was needed. These in
cluded John Bethel, Bittinger; Geo.
A. White, Mountain Lake Park; Clar-
ence Stephen, Bittinger; Ellery F.
Garletts, Selbysport; Scott Harvey,
Short Run; William Upperman, Table
Rock; Howard Barnard, Bloomington;
William McRobie, roads supervisor,
WPA projects, and Robert w. Sheck~
! ellis, connected with the Meadow Noun
| tain CCC camp.
Indictments Listed
The indictment under which the
| Commissioners were being tried stated
that on May 10 the three Commission
ers, while acting in an official capac-
ity, had unlawfully entered into a
contract of purchase for culvert pipe
of more than $780, Defense attorneys
pointed this out to the jury and con-
tended that there was no evidence to
show that the Commissioners had acted
in an official capacity in the purchase
of the material and that the ordering
of the pipe had been a routine matter.
Judge D. Lindley Sloan announced
at the close of the arguments that re-
gardless of the outcome of the case on
trial, the two other indictments would
not be tried until the regular March
| term of the Circuit Court.
The Commissioners are charged in
second indictment with making an
other illegal pipe purchase and third
indictment charges they wrote county
orders on the contingent fund in viola
ton of another law passed by the
1889 Legislature.
Attorneys defending the Commits
sioners were Horace P. Whitworth, of
Westernport; Walter C. Capper, of
Cumberland, and Benny Epstein, reg
ularly employed attorney for the COM
missioners.
Case An Unusual One
The case was an unusual one, involv-
ing the possible BUSTING of public Of
ficials from office, and attracted many
people from all parts of the county to
hear the evidence.
1t was supposed this trial would set
tie the controversy that has been GO
ing on publicly and privately since the
Commissioners took office, but no set
Element is in prospect until March Of
next year, and in the meantime the
present Commissioners will continue
to conduct the affairs of their office.
The present board has had stormy
career since embarking December 2,
1888, following the regular county
election in November. First they pur-
chased road machinery costing more
than 100000 with the purpose in view
of building or improving roads in the
county with WPA assistance. This ac-
ton aroused storm of protest from
group of citizens and resulted in the
passage of the $500 purchase limit law
sponsored by Senator Clifford Friend
in the Legislature.
Then law which had changed the
dates of tax collections found the
County Treasurer with no funds with
which to pay relief expenses early in
1889 until a Mr.. "X" came along and
loaned sufficient money to pass the
crisis. Borrowing power was cut off in
the meantime from the banks because
a searchlight had been turned on a law
which said the Commissioners were
not allowed to pay interest on back
county orders, which had been the Gus
tom for great number of years.
Matters seemingly then settled to
routine activities until the September
Term grand jurors met. The body re-
cessed following a few days investiga-
ton of criminal matters and then re-
turned here on November 6, when they
returned three indictments, as aboW
set out against the Commissioners.
Mrs. Thomas J. Hughes was bust
ness caller at Terra Alta Saturday af-