COLORADO. 



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to be defective in form by the district judge in 

 January, 1890, but another grand jury then in 

 session 'framed new indictments which were held 

 to be in proper legal form. The first case 

 brought to trial under these indictments was 

 against the Secretary of State and Collier & 

 Cleaveland, contractors for State printing. The 

 trial began on April 22 and continued nearly 

 three weeks. On the part of the prosecution 

 strong efforts were made to show that the Secre- 

 tary of State had approved the excessive print- 

 ing bills of these contractors in pursuance of an 

 unlawful agreement by which he expected to 

 share in the profits of the contracts. The jury, 

 not finding sufficient evidence to sustain this 

 charge, brought in a verdict of acquittal, but add- 

 ed the following supplemental statement : 



The jury are convinced that there have been gross 

 overcharges made in the bills presented to them for 

 consideration. 



We are convinced that the Secretary of State did 

 not have that regard for the interests of the people 

 that a proper appreciation of the duties of his office 

 demands ; that there was gross carelessness and neg- 

 lect in the procuring of supplies and arranging for the 

 economical purchase of same such carelessness and 

 neglect as call for like censure. Though other State 

 officials are not on trial at this time, we feel that equal 

 if not greater carelessness prevailed in the office of the 

 State Auditor and on the part of the measurer of State 

 printing, for without such neglect of duty on the part 

 of these officers it would not have been possible to 

 secure warrants in settlement of accounts that were 

 manifestly wrong not only in the items charged, but 

 also in tlie computation, which should have been appa- 

 rent to an accountant of the most limited experience. 



This verdict rendered useless a trial of the 

 other conspiracy cases, but its effect was such as 

 to prevent a renomination this year of either of 

 the State officers censured by the jury. 



The question whether the warrants, which had 

 been issued to pay the excessive bills, were valid 

 obligations of the State could not be decided at 

 this trial, nor, indeed, until the holders of such 

 warrants should present them for payment. The 

 State Treasurer was instructed by the Attorney- 

 General that certain warrants m favor of the 

 contractors for printing, furniture, and station- 

 ery, were probably invalid and should not be 

 paid, and in his monthly calls for warrants the 

 Treasurer expressly refused to redeem such (the 

 total amount so refused being about $136,000) ; 

 but no action was taken by the holders to enforce 

 payment until late in the year, when a firm of 

 New York brokers, holding a warrant for $5,000 

 issued to Collier & Cleaveland, petitioned the 

 district court for a mandamus to compel the 

 Treasurer to pay the amount due thereon. A 

 decision in this case had not been reached at the 

 end of the year. 



During 1889 charges appeared in the public 

 prints to the effect that State Treasurer Bris- 

 bane and his predecessors had converted to their 

 own use all interest accruing on the public funds 

 deposited in local banks. To ascertain the 

 truth of these charges, and to recover any sums 

 so converted, the Attorney-General, in January, 



390, began suits against each of the persons 

 implicated. In February the Grand Jury of 

 Arapahoe County took up the matter and framed 

 indictments against Treasurer Brisbane and ex- 

 Treasurer Breene, his immediate predecessor. 



Criminal proceedings against earlier treasurers 

 were barred by lapse of time. These indict- 

 ments were framed under that section of the 

 revenue law which makes it a misdemeanor, 

 punishable by a fine not exceeding $10,000 for 

 each offense, for any State Treasurer to make a 

 profit on the public funds intrusted to his keep- 

 ing. The case against Mr. Breene was carried 

 to the State Supreme Court on a writ of habeas 

 corpus, and, by a decision rendered in May, the 

 court found that the section of the law under 

 which the indictment was drawn was unconsti- 

 tutional and void, because the title of the act of 

 which it was a part gave no indication that such 

 a section would be found therein. The State 

 Constitution provides that " no bill except gen- 

 eral appropriation bills shall be passed contain- 

 ing more than one subject, which shall be clear- 

 ly expressed in its title; but if any subject 

 shall be embraced in any act which shall not be 

 expressed in the title, such act shall be void only 

 as to so much thereof as shall not be so ex- 

 pressed." This disposition of the criminal pro- 

 ceedings did not affect the civil suits against the 

 same defendants, but no progress had been made 

 in these before the end of the year. 



Political. Early in August a call was is- 

 sued inviting delegates of the Farmers' Alliance, 

 the Union Labor party, and other organizations 

 in the State, to meet in convention at Denver 

 late in the month for the purpose of agreeing 

 upon an independent fusion ticket for State offi- 

 cers. The convention met and formed a ticket, 

 which underwent some changes before election, 

 but in its final form contained the following 

 names : For Congressman, J. D. Burr ; for Gov- 

 ernor, J. G. Coy ; for Lieutenant-Governor, J. H. 

 Brammeier ; for Secretary of State, E. S. Moore ; 

 for Treasurer, J. N. Carlile, the Democratic 

 nominee ; for Auditor, W. S. Starr ; for Attor- 

 ney-General, W. T. Hughes ; for Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction, J. M. Long ; for Regents 

 of the State University, L. H. Smith and S. G. 

 Duley. 



On Sept. 15 the Prohibitionists met at Pueblo 

 and nominated the following ticket: For Con- 

 gressman, G. Richardson ; for Governor, J. A. 

 Ellett ; for Lieutenant-Governor, Eugene Ford ; 

 for Secretary of State, P. A. Rice ; for Treasurer, 

 G. S. Emerson ; for Auditor, R. W. Anderson ; 

 for Attorney-General, John Hipp ; for Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction, J. A. Ferguson. 

 The usual anti-license resolutions were adopted. 



The Republican Convention was held at Den- 

 ver on Sept. 18. John L. Routt, the first Gov- 

 ernor of the State, was nominated again for that 

 office. For Lieutenant-Governor the convention 

 selected William W. Story; for Secretary of 

 State, Edwin J. Eaton ; for Treasurer, John H. 

 Fesler ; for Auditor, John M. Henderson ; for 

 Congressman, Hosea Townsend ; for Regents of 

 the State University, 0. J. Pfeiffer and W. H. 

 Cochran. Attorney-General Jones and Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction Dick were renom- 

 inated. The resolutions included the following : 



That the Eepublican party of this State demands of 

 the Eighth General Assembly of Colorado the passage 

 of such a law as shall reform the present fee system 

 and establish fixed salaries that shall be reasonable 

 for the county and other officers. 



That we demand legislation providing for the cov 



