USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Indiana > Part 8
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JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
The first examination of public accounts was made in 1853 by Gilderoy Hicks, G. M. Overstreet and Samuel Herriott, a committee appointed by the board of commissioners, covering a period of ten years prior thereto. In 1859 Thomas W. Woollen, G. M. Overstreet and David G. Vawter were appointed a committee to audit the county's finances. In 1877 an investiga- tion of the books of the county was ordered, and Caleb B. Tarlton, H. H. Luyster and John S. Pettit, an "expert," were engaged to make the examina- tion. Their report, showing a detailed account of all county expenditures between the years 1863 and 1877, is found of record in Commissioners' Record "H," page 341 et seq.
Since the passage of the Public Accounting law of 1899 all county offices have been examined by the state board of accounts. Considering the lack of uniformity in methods of bookkeeping and in constructions placed upon the law as to what fees should be charged and what fees properly be- longed to the officers, the result of this rigid accounting system has been highly creditable to Johnson county officials. Not a single officer has been found guilty of peculation or misappropriation of funds. The errors have all been due to mistakes of bookkeeping or to a failure to charge fees as required by law.
The total amount collected by the state board of accounts and paid in to the county treasury, covering an examination of all accounts since 1903, is $868.82. On the other hand, it has cost Johnson county $5,877.34 to have these examinations of the county offices made. A somewhat extended in- vestigation of the working of the new law in this county confirms the follow- ing criticisms : The examinations ought not to be made annually, but only at the close of the officer's term; and secondly, the deputy examiners ought to be men more familiar with public accounts than some who have been sent to this county.
It is expected, however, that the new forms prescribed by the state board and the rules laid down by it as to the amount of fees to be charged and collected, may lead to more uniformity in methods of business, and serve as a check on reckless and careless handling of public funds.
We give herewith a list of all county officers who have served the people of Johnson county, with a brief statement of their official duties, and some notice of facts connected with their administration. Effort is made to show the progress and development made by legislative sanction in the transaction of public business, and to give the taxpayer correct information as to the cost of local government.
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JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA.
THE COMMISSIONERS.
The first authentic record of Johnson county affairs bears date of May I, 1826. As will be seen in another chapter, county commissioners had been elected pursuant to the act of the Legislature in the organization of the county. At the August election, 1826, John S. Miller and James Ritchey were again elected to that office, but the records of their proceedings, if any were kept, has long since been lost.
On May 1, 1826, the justices of the peace of the several townships met at the court house in Franklin and organized as a "Board of Justices doing county business." There were present Archibald Glenn, president, and Jacob Woodruff, David Durbin, John Israel, Thomas Lowe, Patrick Cowan and Spencer Barnett. Their first business was 'to issue a tavern license to Thomas Carter upon "the certificate of twenty-five respectable citizens of . Eddinburgh and vicinity, setting forth that he is a suitable person to keep a publick house in the Town of Eddinburgh; that a house of entertainment necessary in said place for the convenience of travelers; and that he has the necessary house, room, bedding, stabling, etc."
At the same term Robert and Joseph Brackenridge are authorized to establish a ferry across Blue river at or near where the Madison state road crosses the same, and the following rates are fixed : "For each person, 61/4 cents; each man and horse, 121/2 cents; each waggon and two horses, 25 cents ; each waggon and four horses, 50 cents."
The reader of the early records of the county is sometimes puzzled by the unfamiliar fractional coins of the times. There was very little coin in the west during the twenties and thirties. Silver dollars were nearly all Mexican dollars. The four-pence, worth six and a quarter cents, was an English coin, and the "bit" was a Spanish coin worth twelve and a half cents. According to Col. W. M. Cockrum (Pioneer History of Indiana, page 403), "they cut many of these dollars into quarters, and sometimes into eighths when the transaction called for twelve and a half cents. Then, as now, some who wanted to get the best of the bargain would cut the dollar into five pieces, thus making a quarter on each dollar cut up. This became so common that many county commissioners had a diagram made of a cut quarter when a dollar was to be cut in equal parts, and when paying taxes and cut money was used, it had to conform to the diagram or it was rejected. Storekeepers resorted to the same expedient to detect short quar- ters. When blacksmithing was needed, if the account amounted to a quarter
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and the customer had a dollar to pay it with, they took the dollar and laid it on the anvil and the blacksmith, with a cold chisel, cut out a notch of one- fourth of the dollar for his pay. Sometimes a round bit would be furnished when the article was only six and a fourth cents and it would be cut in the middle."
At the May term, 1831, the county was divided into districts for the election of county commissioners, Franklin and Union constituting district number one; Blue River, Nineveh and Hesley, number two; and White River and Pleasant, number three. At the August election of that year James Gillaspy, of Nineveh, James Richey, of White River, and Thomas Henderson, of Franklin, were elected to serve one, two and three years respectively. In 1832 Gillaspy was re-elected to serve three years, and in 1833 James Richey was re-elected for a like term. They signed their last record January 6, 1834.
Pursuant to the act approved February 6, 1834, the justices of the peace again organized as a board to transact county business, on March 3. 1844, and elected John Foster president. This organization continued until the May term, 1837, when the county was again divided into districts for the election of county commissioners, as follows: Number one, Blue River, Nineveh and Hensley; number two, Union and Franklin; number three, White River and Pleasant. Archibald Glenn and James Gillaspy qualify at the September term of that year and Wm. C. Jones at the ensuing Novem- ber term. The commissioners were in session two days at the September term, and three days at the November term, and drew a per diem of two dollars. Since 1837 the office has remained a three-year office, one officer's term expiring each year. Vacancies are filled by appointment of the remain- ing members of the board and the auditor. Appointments made to fill vacancies prior to 1853 were made by the circuit court or the judge of the common pleas court.
So many changes have occurred in the office by reason of death, resig- nation and removal, that it is deemed best to set out in some detail the official list.
FIRST DISTRICT.
James Gillaspy was elected at the August election, 1837, to serve two years, and was re-elected in 1839 to serve three years. James Wylie was elected in 1842, but died early in 1845, and James Gillaspy was appointed to fill out his term at the March session, 1845. Gillaspy was again elected in 1845, and served until his death, late in the year 1846. David Forsyth,
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great-grandfather of the writer, was appointed to succeed Gillaspy at the December term, 1846, and was elected for a full term in 1848. Wilson Allen was elected in 1851, and again in 1854, but removed from the county in 1856, and at the June term, 1856, George Botsford was appointed to succeed Allen. Botsford was elected for the term of 1857 to 1860, but died in 1858 and at the December term of that year Reason Slack was appointed to fill the vacancy. C. R. Ragsdale served two terms, 1860 to 1866. George B. White was then elected for one term, but no successor being elected ir 1868, he held over one year. Nicholas S. Branigin, grandfather of the writer, was elected in 1870, but, by reason of White's holding over, served only two years. Warren Coleman served one term, 1872 to 1875; Ransom Riggs, one term, 1875 to 1878; Joseph Jenkins, two terms, 1878 to 1884; Ezekiel W. Morgan served from 1884 until his death, May 21, 1886. Will- iam A. Bridges was appointed to fill the vacancy on June 7, 1886, and served one term in addition. G. Nicholas Hughes served from 1890 until his death, July 24, 1893. Jackson Pruitt was appointed his successor August 21, 1893, and, having been previously elected, continued to serve until 1896. John M. Cutsinger served from 1896 to 1899, and Francis Marion Coleman from 1899 to his death, early in January, 1901. John D. Ragsdale was appointed to succeed Coleman on January 12, 1901, and was elected to serve one term thereafter. John W. Calvin took office January 1, 1906, and served two terms. He was succeeded January 1, 1912, by James H. Ken- nedy, the present incumbent.
SECOND DISTRICT.
In the second district William C. Jones was elected in 1837 and served two years. In September, 1839, Daniel Covert qualified and served four . years, one of which rightfully belonged to the term of his predecessor. Peter Shuck served from 1843 to 1846, and was followed by Austin Jacobs, who served only two years. Jacobs' term was filled out by Peter Shuck, who was elected and qualified in August, 1848, to serve one year. Samuel Magill was elected in 1849, but died within a year, to be succeeded in June, 1850, by Melvin Wheat. Melvin Wheat was twice elected to the office thereafter, serving in all a little more than eight years. Milton Utter served one term, 1858 to 1861. James M. Alexander was elected to serve two terms, but resigned September 6, 1865, and was succeeded by Peter Shuck, who for a third time became county commissioner. Shuck filled out Alexander's term and was elected for one term, retiring in 1870. William J. Mathes served
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one term, 1870 to 1873, and was followed by John Kerlin, Peter Demarec William H. Shuck and David S. Gross, each serving the regular term of three years. William J. Mathes was again elected for the term beginning in 1885, but died October 9, 1886, and it being so near election time no suc- cessor was appointed. James H. Vandivier was elected in 1886 to fill out Mathes' term. Strather Herod served from 1888 to 1891; Henry Fisher, 1891-1894; William M. Neal, .1894-1900; Harvey M. Kiphart, 1900-1907; Milford Mozingo, 1907-1913. Thomas E. Norton qualified at the January term, 1913.
THIRD DISTRICT.
Service in this district has been more regular. None have died and only one resigned, viz .: Jacob S. Comingore, who resigned in December, 1854. The official list for this district is as follows: Archibald Glenn, 1837-1838; James Richey, 1838-1841 ; Samuel Eccles, 1841-1851; Jacob S. Comingore, 1851-1854; Joseph Harmon, 1854-1859; Moses Parr, 1859- 1862; James F. Wiley, 1862-1874; John Clore, 1874-1877; Robert Jennings, 1877-1883; George Cutsinger, 1883-1886; James Collins, 1886-1892; Otho W. Trugle. 1892-1898; Daniel Britton, 1898-1905; James A. Fendley, 1905- . 1908; George Wilde, 1908-1914; Harvey Harrell, 1914 -.
The duties of the commissioners' office are numerous and extensive. They are the most important officers in the administration of the business affairs of the county; they have many important judicial duties, and a lim- ited legislative authority. They let contracts and supervise the construction of all county buildings, and attend to their repair. They let all contracts for supplies furnished by the county, and pass on all claims to be paid by the county. They audit all reports and accounts of county officers and the war- rants of township trustees. They approve official bonds of county officers, and fill all vacancies in county offices. They may exempt the poor from the payment of poll tax, refund taxes erroneously charged or paid, and pay certain bounties. They appoint inspectors of elections, divide the county into election precincts, and may purchase voting machines. They grant licenses to retailers of intoxicating liquors, passing on the sufficiency of remonstrances thereunto, and ordering local option elections. They con- stitute the county board of health and appoint a secretary thereof. In all highway and drainage cases they have concurrent jurisdiction with the cir- cuit court. They now act as a board of free turnpike directors, although after January Ist next this duty will devolve upon the county superintendent
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of highways. They may afford relief to the poor, build county asylums for the poor and orphans.
Under the new law for the registration of voters, they appoint the officers therefor. They establish the boundaries of townships and originally appointed most of the township officers. They grant franchises for the use of the highways. They only have authority to borrow money and pledge the credit of the county for its payment. These are only a few of the respon- sible duties of this office.
The salary of the office in Johnson county is three hundred dollars. It has also paid three dollars per day for services as director of free turnpikes and ten cents per mile for each mile of free gravel road.
THE COUNTY COUNCIL.
Pursuant to the act approved March 3, 1899 (Acts of 1899, page 343), the board of commissioners divided the county into four councilmanic dis- tricts, as follows: No. I, Franklin township; No. 2, Blue River, Needham and Clark; No. 3, Pleasant and White River; No. 4, Union, Hensley and Nineveh. Under the terms of the act the first council was appointed by the judge of the circuit court and consisted of the following members: First district, David H. Miller ; second district, David G. Webb; third district, J. Wesley Paddock; fourth district, William M. Province; at large, John A. Polk, John D. Whitesides, Abner Hardin.
In September, 1900, Silas A. White was appointed to succeed Hardin, resigned.
The purpose of the act was to create a council with authority to super- vise and limit the power of the board of county commissioners in borrowing money and fixing the rate of taxation. The members receive only a nominal salary, ten dollars yearly, not sufficient to pay their expenses.
The most important meeting of the council is their annual meeting on the first Monday in September. In August prior thereto, each county officer is required to file with the auditor for the use of the council a verified esti- mate, properly itemized, showing the probable cost of his office for the ensuing year. Township assessors are also required to file a similar state- ment showing the amount of money needed to make the tax assessments in their several townships.
In the case of each county officer he must make an estimate showing the cost of his office in four items, first, his own salary; second, deputy
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hire, if payable out of the county treasury ; third, office supplies; fourth, all other expenses authorized by law.
In the same manner the judge must itemize the court expenses, showing separately the amounts required for bailiff hire, jury fees, witness fees, pay of special judges, etc.
The board of commissioners are likewise required to file with great particularity an estimate of all county expenditures paid on their order. Briefly stated, the classifications are: I, county buildings and repairs; 2, bridges; 3, repair of bridges; 4, commissioners' court; 5, county attorney; 6, pauper attorney; 7, board of health; 8, repair of free gravel roads; 9, elections : 10, bonds and bond interest; 11, judgments and costs; 12, in- mates of state benevolent institutions; 13, publication of delinquent tax lists ; 14, employees of county ; 15, county board of review; 16, all other ex- pense.
These estimates are submitted to the council and, upon the basis fur- nished thereby, appropriations are made by the council and a tax levied sufficient to meet the appropriations. The auditor is required to keep sep- arate account of these appropriations, and no appropriation may be over- drawn. Any unexpended appropriation at the end of the year reverts to the general fund.
No county officer can bind the county by any contract beyond the amount appropriated for a particular purpose. Nor may any warrant be drawn on the county treasury for any purpose not covered by a special ap- propriation, except for money due the state of Indiana, the school fund, the various townships, and for money collected by the county in construction of ditches and roads, or for taxes erroneously paid.
The law is a salutary one, but its true purpose may be circumvented by special meetings called later in the year to make appropriations for special purposes when those regularly made have been exhausted. And yet emer- gencies may arise, such as flood damage to highways and bridges, that render these special meetings imperative.
The following persons have been elected or appointed to the office since 1900: .
At Large-John Baumgart, 1900-1906; John D. Whitesides, 1900- 1902; William M. Province, 1900-1902 and 1910; John Calvin, 1902-1906; Milo A. Clore, 1902-1910; W. C. H. Coleman, 1906-1910; Eli P. Hay- maker, 1906-1910; David H. Keay, 1910-' -; Daniel Campbell, 1910-' -.
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First District-Isaac N. Mclaughlin, 1900-1914; Ed. Throckmorton, 1914-' -.
Second District-Michael A. Roth, 1900-1906; Thomas J. Durbin, 1906-1910 .; James L. Griffith, 1910-' -.
Third District-John N. Paddock, 1900-1902; George W. Mcclellan, 1902-1906; Thomas N. Rush, 1906-1910; William I. Luper, 1910-' -.
Fourth District-Thomas Cravens, 1900-1902; W. C. H. Coleman, 1902- 1906; George F. Paris, 1906-1910; James A. Foster, 1910-1912; Cecil Smyser, 1912-' -.
THE AUDITOR.
The county auditor is the principal financial agent of the county. Upon his warrant, usually drawn under the order of the board of commissioners, the judge of the circuit court, or pursuant to special legislative enactment, all money is drawn from the county treasury. From the returns of the township assessor and additions thereto made by the state board of tax com- missioners, the county board of equalization and the county assessor, he prepares the "tax duplicate" for the use of the treasurer. He keeps a com- plete record of all accounts with the treasurer, and serves as clerk to the commissioners' court. He loans the school funds entrusted to the county and enforces payment of the collection thereof by suit on the note or by sale of the mortgaged premises on the fourth Monday in March. In the event that the lands mortgaged do not sell at the annual sale for the amount due to the school fund, the auditor bids the same in on account of the fund, and after appraisal sells the same.
He receives the enumeration of school children taken annually by the township trustees, reports the same to the auditor of state, and apportions the school revenues controlled by the county to the various school corpora- tions. He is ex-officio a member of the board of review to equalize assess- ments of property, and since the passage of the Public Depository law of 1907 is ex-officio secretary of the county board of finance.
In the case of a vacancy in the office of township trustee during vaca- tion of the county board and in case of a vacancy in the office of township assessor at any time, the office is filled by appointment by the auditor. He issues licenses to keepers of ferries, to transient merchants, to non-resident peddlers, to soldiers and sailors for peddling goods, to exhibitors of shows and circuses, and to liquor dealers licensed by the board of commissioners.
The auditor has authority to take acknowledgments of deeds and
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mortgages, and administer oaths. He receives and files applications for mortgage exemptions. All official bonds of township trustees and assessors are approved by him.
He is elected for a term of four years, but, like the county clerk, is not eligible to serve more than eight years in any twelve. In our county he must give bond in the sum of ten thousand dollars, and receives a salary of two thousand, three hundred dollars. Under section 5967, Burns' R. S. 1908, authorizing the county council to make an allowance to the county auditor for the additional work imposed upon his office by the operation of the statute creating county councils, the auditor is now allowed six hundred dollars extra salary. For spreading the taxes of the city of Franklin on the duplicate he is paid one hundred and twenty dollars by the city. For his services as clerk of the board of finance he receives fifty dollars. For mak- ing the township assessors' books he is allowed one hundred and fifty dol- lars out of the county treasury, and for his services as member of the board of review a per diem of three dollars. Under the law he also places on the duplicate all taxes assessed by the towns of Edinburg, Greenwood and Whiteland, but for this work he receives no extra compensation. The total cost of the auditor's office in the way of salaries and office expenses for the year 1912 (excluding the per diem allowance named) was $3,946.43.
By a special act of the Legislature, approved January 14, 1846 (Acts of 1846, page 115), the office of county auditor in Johnson county was abol- ished and the duties of his office imposed upon the county clerk. By the new state Constitution of 1851 the office of auditor was made a constitutional office, and by the act of June 16, 1852, fixing the fees for all services of county officers, the auditor was allowed certain fees and allowances, but was not entitled to receive more than eight hundred dollars in any one year.
The auditor continued to receive compensation in fees only until the act of 1879. when all county auditors were placed on a salary, but in addition were allowed to charge and retain certain special fees. In the year 1891 (Acts 1891, page 424), the Legislature passed a fee and salary bill, provid- ing definite and fixed compensation for all officers of the state and county, and all fees collected by county officers were required to be turned into the county treasury. This salutary measure, cutting off almost wholly the special fees and allowances claimed and retained by county officers, has been supplemented by the act of 1895 (Acts 1895, page 319), and the act of 1907 (Acts 1907, page 330).
Some amusing comments on county affairs are found in the records
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kept by the county auditor. Among them, few are more entertaining than the reply of E. N. Woollen, auditor, to a report of a committee appointed by the county board to examine the accounts of his office. He prefaces a very full defense by the following words: "Believing that great injustice has been done me in the report of the 'experts' hired by your honors to investi- gate the county records, I respectfully ask that this, my vindication, may be placed upon the records of the board in order that the antidote may follow the poison."
The board of commissioners sometimes neglected their duties, it would appear, for in 1877, W. C. Bice, then auditor, issued a call for a meeting of the board in which he takes occasion to recall the commissioners to a sense of their obligations. He says: "Whereas, as the board of commissioners of Johnson county, Indiana, have spent much of the time of the regular session in wrangling and dissension to the neglect of important business, an emer- gency exists for the convening of said board to complete unfinished business."
The list of those who have served the county as auditor is as follows :
Jacob Sibert
1841-1846
Jonathan H. Williams
1851-1855
George W. Allison
1855-1859
Elijah Banta 1859-1863
William H. Barnett 1863-1871
E. Newt. Woollen 1871-1875
William C. Bice
1875-1879
William B. Jennings
1879-1887
Thomas C. M. Perry 1 1
1887-1891
Thomas J. Coyle
1891-1895
David A. Forsythe
1895-1899 .
Ben P. Brown
1899-1904
Oscar V. Nay
1904-1908
William B. Jenning
1908-1912
Herbert L. Knox
1912-
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The office is an attractive one and conducive to longevity, as there has never been a vacancy in the office by resignation or death.
COUNTY TREASURER.
Following the English form of county government, brought to us by way of Virginia, the county revenues were at the beginning collected by the
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