ARKANSAS. 



year, 393 ; discharged, died, or escaped, 295 ; re- 

 maining on Dec. 31, 1889, 675. The report for 

 the year ending Jan. 1, 1891, is as follows: 

 Convicts on Jan. 1, 1890, 675; received or 

 recaptured during the year, 349 ; discharged, 

 died, or escaped, 334; remaining on Dec. 31, 

 1890, 690. Of the number remaining on the 

 last date all but 90 were employed outside of 

 the Penitentiary walls, 310 being engaged at 

 farming, 140 at farming and cutting wood, 75 

 at cutting wood, and 75 in railroad building. 

 They were stationed at nine different localities. 

 The present convict lease expires on May 7, 

 1893, but although there is great dissatisfaction 

 with the lease system, the General Assembly did 

 nothing this year toward its abolition, except to 

 appoint a committee to investigate the subject 

 of prison management. Any change from the 

 lease system will involve the construction of a 

 new Penitentiary building. 



The Woodruff Defalcation. Late in 1890 

 rumors were current that the retiring State 

 Treasurer, William E. Woodruff, had been using 

 the public funds for private purposes, and would 

 not be able in January to turn over to his suc- 

 cessor the full amount with which he was charge- 

 able. Gov. Eagle, in his message to the General 

 Assembly on Jan. 13, recommended that -a joint 

 investigating committee of both Houses be ap- 

 pointed. A resolution providing for such a 

 committee, consisting of two members from the 

 Senate and three from the House, was promptly 

 passed, and the investigation was begun on Jan. 

 24. Treasurer-elect Morrow had taken control of 

 the office one week before the latter date. The 

 joint committee made its first report to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly on Feb. 12, in which it said that 

 Woodruff could not produce nor account for 

 $63,740.57 due from him to the general revenue 

 fund of the State, and recommended that legal 

 proceedings be taken against him. Six days 

 later his bondsmen came to his assistance and 

 paid over the full amount of the shortage. The 

 General Assembly, however, acting upon the 

 recommendation of the committee, passed a 

 resolution directing the Governor to suggest to 

 the proper officers the necessity of beginning 

 criminal proceedings against the delinquent 

 official, and on Feb. 27 he was arrested. Bail 

 was furnished for his appearance at the next 

 term of the court. Meanwhile, in addition to 

 the joint investigating committee, a joint stand- 

 ing committee on Treasurer's and Auditor's ac- 

 counts, which is regularly appointed at each 

 session, had been examining the condition of the 

 Treasurer's office with the aid of experts, and 

 about March 15 it made a report to the General 

 Assembly, in which it claimed to find a further 

 shortage of $69,288. On April 4, just before 

 the close of the session, the joint investigating 

 committee made its final report, in which it 

 placed the additional shortage of Woodruff at 

 only $25,724.06. As neither committee had 

 made an exhaustive investigation, an act was 



gissed on the same day authorizing the State 

 ebt Board toN&ke up the investigation, and 

 complete the worR.jn a thorough manner. This 

 board consisted of the Governor, Auditor, and 

 Secretary of State, but the last named, being a 

 bondsman of the ex-Treasurer, declined to serve. 

 The other two members entered upon their du- 



ties on April 23, and, going back to a period 

 prior to the ex-Treasurer's term, proceeded to 

 make an exhaustive examination of all the 

 transactions of the office. In this investigation 

 the ex-Treasurer was represented by J. L. Bay, 

 an expert, who attended nearly all the delibera- 

 tions of the board, and who from time to time, 

 in order to make up any deficiencies, tendered to 

 the board securities which the ex-Treasurer had 

 still retained in his hands. On Aug. 17, while 

 the board were still engaged in its work. State 

 . Treasurer Morrow caused the arrest of Bay on 

 the charge that he had abstracted certain scrip 

 and other securities to the amount of $100,000 

 from the custody of the Treasurer, to be used 

 to offset the indebtedness of Woodruff to the 

 State. The foundation of this charge proved to 

 be that Bay had taken these securities from a 

 box belonging to the State and placed them in 

 another box in the same vault. A trial of the 

 case resulted in the discharge of the prisoner on 

 Sept. 17. On Sept. 30 the State Debt Board 

 published its final report, in which the shortage 

 in securities was found to be as follows : State 

 scrip, $20,526.57; bond scrip, $5,011.34; 6-per- 

 cent, funding bonds, $24.19 ; 6-per-cent. fund- 

 ing bond coupons, $11,150.86 ; county scrip, 

 $314.02; State scrip (contingent), $101,780.01. 

 Total shortage, $138,789.95. 



The ex-Treasurer, through his agent, Mr. Bay, 

 had tendered to the board scrip and other securi- 

 ties of a face value largely in excess of this 

 shortage, but they were not accepted as a proper 

 tender. The courts must pass upon the legality 

 of these tendered securities before the exact 

 amount of the shortage can be known. 



Late in June an indictment against the ex- 

 Treasurer was found by the grand jury of Pu- 

 laski County, but his trial was postponed to 

 await the findings of the investigating board. 

 It began on Oct. 19, and after a long and some- 

 what dramatic course ended late in the month in 

 a disagreement of the jury. 



To protect the State against further defalca- 

 tions, the General Assembly this year passed an 

 act requiring the Governor to appoint secretly, 

 at least once each year, one or two expert ac- 

 countants, whose duty it shall be to examine and 

 report the condition of the Treasurer's office. 

 They shall be sworn to keep their appointment 

 secret until they appear in the office to begin 

 the examination. 



World's Fair Convention. The General 

 Assembly of this year having adjourned with- 

 out providing for representation of the State at 

 the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, 

 Gov. Eagle issued a proclamation on May 26, 

 calling a convention of delegates from the sev- 

 eral counties to meet at Little Rock on Aug. 5 

 and devise means of raising money to secure a 

 creditable exhibit of the State at the exposition. 

 At this convention forty counties were repre- 

 sented by over 200 delegates. A resolution re- 

 questing the Governor to call an extra session of 

 the General Assembly, for the purpose of passing 

 a World's Fair appropriation bill, was voted 

 down. It was then decided to incorporate a com- 

 pany, called " The Arkansas World's Fair Asso- 

 ciation," with a capital stock of $100,000, di- 

 vided into 50.000 shares of $2 each, to which 

 popular subscriptions should be invited. The 



