davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Grand Jury Testimony Gives Insigh
Into Probe Of Ca|ipatria Wafer Division

R-You-several times, Mr..
Hartzog, in your testimony, you in
dicated that there was little or no
cooperation given your office of the
operating department of the I'm
perial Irrigation District by the
Calipatria division. If that has been
lasting or has been long lasting as
you stated it has, how in the devil
does it come he hasn't been canned
long time ago?
A-Well, in the capacity / was
in, I didn't have the authority to
do those things 1 reported them
to the chief engineer and it wasn't
the chief engineers desire to go
ahead and do that thing.
JUROR-In other words, Mr..
Dowd knew right along that this
condition existed but for some rea-
son he didn't want to take action
to let Mr.. Guest go and replace him
with some one else?
Al think Mr.. Dowd fully ap-
preciated the condition which ex-
ested down there
JUROR-Do you know why he
didn't want to make the change?
A-No.
JUROR-We had lots of stuff in
the newspapers here the other day
to the effect that Mr.. Guest was
discharged. How shall we put it
the firing started it and they put
the heat into effect and they put
him back.
Al guess that is the case.
went down there and supposedly
taken over. He wasn't there in the
morning that l went down. He was
supposed to have his resignation in
my hands q certain morning by a
certain time or call me and tell me
he was on his way up or l was To
take the set-up over waited about
an hour and went down When. I
went to the office he wasn't there
asked the boys in the office if
he was around. They said, NO"
he had been called out of town,
indicating to Imperial or El Gen.
tro, indicating it was to the Dis
trict. I don't know how it was
Worded, but, anyhow, that was the
impression it gave me. 1 knew that
wasn't so, and I flew off a little
bit; I told them l thought it was
time to get down and call a spade
spade, I knew he hadn't been
called away; I was sure he was
just giving me the run around, and
gave them to understand from
that time on I was going to be
the boss there until something else
happened, telling them in the off,
ice so they would know. A little
later one of the boys from the Off
ice came and told me they didn't
think he would be in during the
day. I figured I would stay there
during the day or until that night
to see him. One of the boys came
and told me about 80 he was over
at his residence. I called him and
he appeared all right on the tele-
phone I asked him to come over
to the office, I wanted to see him.
I told him what had happened,
the way it had happened, and that
is the way we got started off.
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Threatened TO Cut
Hartzog' S Salary

JUROR-What position did Mr..
Young take?
. A-Well, he took the position, as
say, that he wanted this man re-
instated regardless of what the con-
dltlons had been and he and l
went into long discussion of what
had happened here before. He ad-
mitted it hadn't been part of the
irrigation District heretofore, it
nad been operated under his die
tation
JUROR-Did he threaten YOU in
any way, was his conversation am
icable?
A-No,-oh, I will say Bill was
pretty well "het" up but he made
no direct threats except he threat
ened to denote me and cut my
wages and all that.
JUROR-Threatened to cut your
wages?
Ayes.
JUROR-What was-how did he
propose to do that?
A-Well, I suppose by thinking
Hc "ouiu nave majority OF the
Board vote with him, 1 don't know
JUROR-He didn't suggest that
he could get your job, did he?
Al don't believe that he threat
ened to throw me out on the coun-
ty right away. AS l remember. he
didn't do that.
JUROR-And you got the i'm
preston that you better put Guest
back on the payroll or something
might happen.
A-Well, in this talk with him.
he made this agreement, that after
this was over, we had passed through
this period, Bill promised us l
could run that division as any other
division, then Guest would have to
report to me rather than to him.
JUROR-In other words, you in
dicate Guest hasn't been reporting
to you but has been reporting to
the Director in his division?
Al think that has been the
case. He hasn't worked in the way
that he was responsible to me.
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Hartzog Tells Lack
Of Cooperation

Excerpts from testimony of w.
E. Hartzeg, superintendent of water
delivery and drainage:
Q-Do you have difficulty in get
ting cooperation out of the Cali
patria division of the Imperial Ir-
rigation District, or have you had
during this period of time?
AIN many instances we did have
trouble. 1 say I'VE" because I was
working under Mr.. Dowd and things
that would come up would be dis
cussed with him and I would try
to get them into effect and would
fail generally speaking. In the case
of the employment of different en-
ployeeS, we in two or three cases
protested the employment of GER
tain ones and they would go ahead
and put them on the payroll any,
way over our protest
Q-Did you know about this Sit
uation in regard to this man Pond
prior to the date the audit was
made?
Aust a few days prior to that
was the first time that I knew be-
cause I didn't come in close con-
tact with thing of that kind. It
was field work mostly that / was
looking after. .
Q-NoW, MT Guest, as superin-
tendent of that division, has he,
Guest, complied with the same rules
and regulations and requirements
with regards TO hiring men, and. in
the operation of the District equip
ment as the other superintendents
have?
A-No, have never had the same
cooperation that I have had with
the other divisions.
Q-Has he refused to comply with
the regulations?
A-Never made an open refusal,
just didn't do it. And in the work
in the field, if 1 would make a sug-
gestion about the work or suggest
a different way or manner of do
ing the work, he possibly might a
gree with me and just go ahead
and do it in the same old way. You
know, we thing we are making i'm
provements; we are trying TO make
improvements. All the way along.
First, with our spray work, they up
and sent it home one morning with
out any discussion with me what
ever. I think, while it was new at
that time, it has since proved to
be one of the biggest steps forward
we have made. And the dredge
maintenance and the canals, they
are yet run at about the same ex-
penditure they have had for years.
Some of the other divisions have
cut their dredge expenditures to
about third of what it was.
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Explains Dredging
Work on Ranch

Q-How about this Browning
dredge they took and dug a sump
hole on Guest and Quick's ranch
to pump water out of the canal, to
pump water for their ranch. Did
you order that done?
A-No, that was done in this way.
They told me they had had some
work to do on "z' heading. There
is heading right at that point on
the opposite side, said they needed
a channel drain there. knew pref
ty we'll about the situation in that
locality so in day or two I went
up there, intended to get there while
the machine was there. They had
to make long move with the ma
chine, I forget just where from; I
think from somewhere in the mid
die of the Valley. When I seen the
work it looked to me like there was
two hours work they done on our
ditch, which was maybe all right.
l don't think 1 would have moved
the machine a long distance to have
done it. And following that they
moved the dredge around on the
other side of the ditch and did this
work on the land owned by Quick
and Guest. They dug out and put
two waste bitches from their field
into the Highline, which Mr.. Dowd
or I didn't know about until the
recent storm, we were up there
inspecting the damage done and
found these pipes uncovered by the
storm.
GIN other words, the superin-
tendent, when he got the Brown
ing clamshell up there worked an
hour and half on District busi-
ness and the rest of the time on
his own stuff?
Al think about two hours is
shown on the time.
Q-Now, on this work on private
property, where do you draw the
line; now. you must have a line
there somewhere or they would be
using Irrigation District equipment
to pillow their fields with.
A-They are not supposed to use
District equipment any place ex-
cept in connection with the deliv-
cry of water or it might be on
drainage sometimes, but at no other
point. We don't go out and level
land or not supposed to do that or
anything of that kind.
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Warned Testimony
Must Be Voluntary

Q-Let's see, now, is that-yes
that is it. Now, that transmittal
sheet shows that WilkinsonS check
Number 1011, was used to pay Bill
Blair's cash item shown on this
bill of $2410, and a cash item OF
Cain, Whici- as Account Number
476, $16.34, total check of Wilkin-
son is $40.44. Now. that shows on
your transmittal sheet down here
as being the Cain account and the
Blair account was paid by the Will
kinson check.
A-Let's see, ii was forty
Q-Just a minute before yol
make any statement. l am askire
you if you want to explain that
item to the Grand Jury. Now, you
don't have to unless you want to
A-Well, let's see.
Q-And remembering what the
Foreman told you, that whatever
you say can be used for you OF
against you in case they should see
fit to bring an indictment against
you on this count or any other
count, whatever you say you must
say freely and voluntarily without
hope of reward or promise of i'm
munity. Before the Grand Jury you
are not entitled to advice of coun-
sci so as District Attorney I am
telling you you do not have to say
anything about it unless you want
to. On the other hand, the law
says it is the duty of the Grand
Jury to explain away charges if
they can, SO, if you can explain it
away they will be willing to listen
to you.
Al don't imagine 1 can explain
this, but 1 imagine there are some
of the Others there 1 could. That
was
JUROR-Do you know of any
others you would like to explain?
A-Well, there are some of those
Excerpts from the testimony OF
Charles E. Guest, former water
superintendent at Calipatria: CHE
refers to Albert Pond)
Q-NoW, that one was paid by
Wilkinson Brothers two checks,
S25.50 ana $l2.15, why wasn't That
sent in to the Imperial Irrigation
District, that was there about a
year, a little better.
A-Of course, it was supposed to
have been sent in. He was supposed
to transmit that money each day
Q-Don't you check him to see
whether he does what he is sup
posed to do or not?
A-Ordinarily, yes. I will tell you,
to be honest with you, had too
much trust in him. I suppose he
naturally done it because nobody
suspicioned him at that time.
Q-Did you know that since 1882
that he has been doing things like
this or taking money?
A-Well, I didn't know, no, be-
cause it was "a when 1 went back
up there and I had no suspicion
that he had been doing it at all.
1 had all the confidence in the
world in him, in other words, up
until this turned up.
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Pond Reports
Something Else

MIR. POND-Not in particular to
this case. I would like to make q
report myself to something else that
has been going on that I would
| like to have the Grand Jury know
about, too.
THE FOREMAN-You don't care
to make any statement in regard
to this case?
MR.. HEALD-What he wants to
know, do you want to answer any
questions that the Grand Jury may
see fit to ask you?
ADO I want to answer any
questions they ask me?
MR.. HEALD-About this case.
A-No.
MR.. HEALD-Beg pardon?
A-No, sir.
MR.. HEALD-NoW, have you got
some statement that you want to
make?, s..s
A-Well, yes, would like to have
a few things to say about some
thing else that has been going on
up there think they should know
and think it should be stopped
and the people up there want it
stopped. .t
MR.. HEALD-Is that statement
that you want to make involving
yourself?
A-No.
MIR. HEALD-It involves some
other person?
Ayes, sir.
THE FOREMAN-More in the
form Of a complaint?
Ayes, it would probably have
to be complaint made.
THE FOREMAN-Is it a COM
plant as far as you are concerned?
Ayes.
THE FOREMAN-It isn't any,
thing in regard to yourself, it is
in regard to others?
Ayes.
MR.. HEALD-Go ahead.
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26

form.
Excerpts from testimony of Al
bert Pond:
MR.. POND-You say, do I want
to make a statement?
THE FOREMAN-Yes. I'D.
MR.. POND-Well, I probably will
before I get out of here.
THE FOREMAN say, now, do
you want to, with that understand
ing? Do you want me to read this
to you again? Perhaps I better:
AS Foreman of the Grand Jury it
is my duty to instruct you as fol-
lows: You do not have to make any
statement unless you desire to do
SO; any statement that you do make
now can be used for or against
you in any proceeding which the
Grand Jury may hereafter see fit
to file or bring against you; what
ever you say now, you must say
and state freely and voluntarily
without any hope of reward or any
promise of immunity. With that
understanding, do you desire to
make a statement?
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
People Objected
To Harfzog' S Moves

JUROR-Go ahead and tell the
rest of the story.
A-Well, I started in then. I had
man there that was to meet me
there at that time that I thought
I wanted to put in there as division
superintendent, and then pretty
quick I got word to be at a meet
ing at Calipatria down there in
the evening at 600 o'clock, and
went to this meeting, and these
people seemed to think I was all
wrong in what I was doing, and
asked me-
JUROR-Who was these people?
A-Well, one of the WilkinSons,
Mr.. Hoober, Mr. Sinclair, Mr.. D. B.
BroWnell, and Bates of the B. G..
Company. They wanted to know
why this had happened and 1 went
into this thing, the details and the
management there from my angle
of why it had happened; and, of
course, they couldn't see that side
Of it. They went ahead to say they
had special system up there and
they were satisfied with the water
service they were getting and they
didn't really think it was any of
my business anyway, n youngster
and new man on the job to come
down there and change their men
around. and I told them if they
wanted to run it as separate po-
litical unit that l thought they
should secede from the union and
change the name; if they was 60
ing to run it like it had been run
I didn't think I was the man for
the job. They then got around to
the point where they wanted him
to be reinstated pending the dis
posal of the Pond case. And that
is what happened at another meet
ing in Brawley, I agreed to do that
thing, reinstate him without any
provisions as to the Pond case.
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26

NoJs
The lengthy grand jury tram
script, if published in full, would
require Is newspaper pages solid
with type. The following are ex-
cerpts, taken from the testimony Of
key witnesses, and give an insight
into the running story. I.r
The testimony is in question and
answer form, with District Attorney
Elmer Heald directing the ques-
tioning.
Excerpts from testimony of M.
II. Bloodgood, certified public ac-
countant: (The "he" referred to is
Albert Pond, now under indict-
mHnt)
Q-Now, Mr. Bloodgood. that is
all of the items, the specific items
that I have listed for you to pre-
sent now. Now, were there other
discrepancies or other irregulari-
ties that you found?
Ayes, we started back in 1888
and :. =. might explain first what
the procedure is SO you will know
what am talking about When they
receive this money on water ac-
counts they are supposed to issue
a receipt for it, particularly if it is
cash, and it is entered on these
transmittal sheets and indicated
upon there whether cash or check,
and the transmittal sheet is bal
anced up and he goes to the post
office and obtains money order
for the amount of cash or curren-
cy that might be included in the
remittance and sends this money
order together with the checks by
mail to the Imperial Office. Now,
what he actually did-we started
back in 1888 on the carbon copies
of the receipt books and checked
each receipt on that tranSmittal il
possible, and we found instances
that were too numerous to include
in a report, where he would receive
the money this week and perhaps
two weeks later, ten days or two
weeks later, he would transmit it.
IF other words, he would just hold
it up there for that period of time.
The usual procedure is that today
he would transmit yesterdays COL
lections and follow right down the
line. One instance we found where
he collected an item, $22.68 cash
on December-in December of 1893,
which did not reach Imperial until
June of 1884, and two other items,
one in the amount of $500 and
oneA$45.20 which had been paid in
August of 1898, which did not reach
Imperial accounting office until
July, 1899, and then were sent in
the form of a post office money
order from the Calipatria office,
but not on regular trarsmittal.
In other words, they were just sent
direct and credited on certain in
dividual water accounts. AS I say,
there were any number of those
types of instances where the re-
ceipts Tapped. He would hold them
from a few days up until this in
stance I just mentioned, which was
ALMOST a year. Then we found a
great number of receipts that had
been issued that we could not find
on the transmittal letters. These
that we have gone over here were
few that we were able to get
something definite on. Any number
of them, the receipts were written,
no record of having been trans
mitted to the Imperial office.
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Some Receipts
Never Turned In

JUROR-What was Mr.. Ponds
title? s...
"A water clerk.
JUROR-How long had he held
that, what date, do you know, that
he was given that?
AL believe he stated that he
Went to work there about 1924,
~ or '25, something along there.
.RJROR-You only went back to
JUROR-Did you find the dis
crepancies right from the time of
the beginning of your audit?
Ayes. started in '33 on the
basis of the statement made by
Mr.. Pond himself-that is how we
got started-by tapping these re-
ceipts. holding them and using them
and later putting them in, but it
came to the point where some OF
them he didn't send in at all.
JUROR-He admitted that he
handled it?
Al heard him admit that, yes.
Q-Approximately what Is the
total amount in dollars and cents
of the various Irregularities?
A-The total amount of all types
of discrepancies some of which may
be satisfactorily explained amount
ed to $7,181.65. .s.....
JUROR-That is the total amount
of your estimate Mr. Pond actu-
ally embezzled from the District?
A-No, ! wouldn't say that he
embezzled that total amount. This
is the total of all types of discrep-
ancies. Included in that is one type
of item for which we can't get any
plausible explanation. When these
prenumbered series of receipts were
started, in each years annual au-
dit we would check each one Of
them-and the check will indicate
they are there-onto the transmit
tai sheets of the cash items. During
the time he used another receipt
book which we never saw and was
never presented to us when we
went around to make these annual
auA1its, and great number, in fact.
about $4,000 in this book that ap-
pear to be duplicates of receipts
eiat were issued out of this official
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26

sense. Now, you supposedly dis
charged man for cause, you in
dicated he failed to cooperate with
you and failed to perform his du-
ties as he should, his, operation
doesn't show up well in comparison
with the others, and using your
statement as a reason you had am
pie reason to discharge him. What
had he done or what is the condi-
ton that has arisen to make you
change your mind has he done
anything to indicate he has chang
ed his mind. This is tax payers
money; it was tax payers money
yesterday and it will be tax payers
money tomorrow. What occurred
TO indicate to you you were justi-
fled in reinstating him?
A-The sum and substance of
that is those fellows thought we
were all wrong and they were rea-
dy to put on publicity campaign,
dynamiting me and the Board of
Directors and everybody else if we
didn't do this.
JUROR-Is it true they threaten
ed TO boycott the power if you did
MT reinstate him?
Al don't know, I think maybe
there was some-I wouldn't say
positively, but think I heard some
thing of that kind but l wouldn't
say positively.
JUROR thought maybe there
might be something like that
Al know there was lot of
things said that maybe shouldn't
have been said
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Seven Boys Held
In Burglary Case

Seven boys, ranging IN age from
Is to 10 years of age, we're among
the occupants of the county Jail
at Ell Centre Saturday because of
their alleged burglary of service
station at Calipatria Thursday night.
Tools, candy, and chewing gum
comprised the bulk of the loot.
The boys listed a variety of occu-
pations as they stood munching
candy during the booking process.
One boy said he had no occupation.
two said they were school boys and
one said he was schoolboy and
a fruit worker. A caddie, a laborer,
and dairyman completed the list.
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Hartzog Called to
Meeting by Friend

JUROR-At a meeting in Braw-
ley, what was the meeting in Braw-
ley, tell us about it.
I was called up by friend who
apparently knew something about
what was happening and asked me
if was busy. I told him 1 thought
1 was. He said 1 better come down
l got down there. In the meantime
he had called Mr.. Hewes, Mr.. Young
and we had a good long discussion
on this thing at that time, and
that is when later in the day ag-
reed to reinstate him.
CAT the request of Mr.. Hewes
and Mr.. Young?
A-No, it wasn't at the request
OF Mr.. Hewes at all. He didn't say
one way or the other. In fact. l
think the most of our talk was be-
tween Bill and 1 each together the
others went out of the room and I
think just Bill and 1 was in the
room.
JUROR-Bill who?
A--Bill Young.
JUROR-This thing doesn't make
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Charges Guest
Never Liked Him

Al know who the instigator of
this whole thing against me and
where it came from and where it
started from. 1t came up seven
months ago or eight months ago.
if you want to bring it up, by Char
lie Guest up there, I have been
working with him. He has never
liked me. He has been working
against me ever since I have been
there. He has a ranch UP by Nj
land. 1t lies outside of the District.
not in the District at ALL He has
two pumps installed and the Dis
trict has been paying a man to run
those pumps which doesn't con-
cern them at all. 1t is clear out OF
the bounds of the District. This
man who runs the pumps is paid
by the District by the month. And
he has had men working on that
place. He has had lumber out OF
the yard, material out of the store
room and lumber out of the yard
and used it, and it has never been
taken care of, some of it has, and
some of it hasn't; and can get
the men and they will testify, if
you want them, can give you
their names and they will be glad
to come before the Grand Jury and
testify to this thing.
QUESTIONS BY MIR. HEALD:
Q-What materials did he take?
Ale has, took lumber and he
has took bolts.
Q-Was there any record kept in
the office by you?
A--No, there is another fellow
in charge of the storeroom there.
Later testimony: ...... 3d..
Q-You have stated before that
you didn't want to tell the Grand
Jury anything about any of these
other matters involving yourself?
A-Well, there is nothing I can
tell them. They have got everything
there.
Q-Do you want to try to explain
any of it? You have right to ex-
plain it away if you can, if you
want to try it. 1t is up to you. The
records are here now and if you
can explain it, the Grand Jury, I
am sure, will be glad to have it ex-
planned away; If you can, you have
that right.
Ayes, WELL I don't know whether
Imperial Valley press., 1939-11-26
Migratory Worker
Jailed as Drunk

Paul Bowling, 80, whose address
for a week has been the federal
migratory camp at Brawley, was in
Ell Centre police custody Saturday
charged with drunken driving.
Patrolman Roy Dupont said Bowl
ing left a cafe without paying his
check. Bowling was halted when
Dupont drove a police car in front
of the Bowling machine.
BoWling's case was set for Mon
day in police court. He has a wife
and child, staying at the migratory
camp.